Here’s the positives: Wingo gets railed on a lot but have always liked him. Numbers show he was pretty good last night. Des- pretty good D. Moore- our best DB. Has been injured a lot, but also Kimber has played ahead of him, which I don’t understand. Jackson- gotta have back next year. Searcy and McClellan could be stars Florida Gators highest-graded defensive players on PFF vs FSU: DT Cam Jackson 76.6 DT Desmond Watson 74.0 LB Derek Wingo 71.7 CB Devin Moore 69.6 DT Chris McClellan 69.0 EDGE TJ Searcy 68.4 S Jordan Castell 68.4 STAR Sharif Denson 68.0 DT Caleb Banks 66.5 S Bryce Thornton 66.0
Also should have added Castell will be a star and here’s the positive: every guy on that list should be back next year. Wingo a major positive as @bobbybaker86 mentioned don’t want to have to throw Freshman out in starting roles consistently. If we have James and an improved Wingo or Scooby we can add those talented Freshman in spot and not starting situations. That being said, I definitely expect Graham to play a good bit next year.
Spot on with Wingo. He was all.over the place with a hurt elbow too. Good for him. I liked him coming out of STA. Losing all of our starting LBs was probably the biggest blow we've had all year. Shamar James' play was rated as some of the best in nation. And LB is probably the most important spot on the D too and we lost all of them.
Totally agree. That is the key. The teams that we are playing are loaded with upper classmen and grad transfers on Defense except LSU. Guess what LSU has a terrible defense
Yea I just…hate our lack of stability at LB. I’ve been one of the rare ones that think Wingo has always put out solid film but hasn’t been put into position to utilized his greatest asset; his ability to rush the passer. I think Shemar and Wingo would complement each other well with Jaden Robinson/Scooby Williams being the next 2 up. Scooby needs to be rushing the passer more as well imo. If Chiles, Hayes, and Graham all stick; I don’t prefer to fast play them unless it’s a dire need or they progress to the point you CAN’T keep them off the field. One thing Bama and UGA do with true freshmen LB’s, is slow-medium play them but utilizing their strengths in those reps. as for the rest of the D, the youth is exciting. I still would portal for an experienced high end safety if you can get one. Any difference maker that hits the portal along the defensive line SHOULD NOT be off limits. Need a DL that has to be accounted for on EVERY play
Defensive grades (and maybe the offensive grades): about as well as they could have. The coaches' grade, knowing what is the makeup of the defense and offense AND special teams? We need to go to the Japanese alphabet to get to those low of values.
I don’t see Princely. I posted multiple times earlier in the season I thought he was playing pretty well despite not producing tangible stats but he’s been pretty invisible the last few games if not straight bad against LSU.
Wingo has played better and better as the season has gone on, appreciate how hard a worker it seems he is, he has definitely been a positive.
Out of 60 defensive snaps, Princely was in 50 of them and recorded one tackle. Sapp was in on 38 and recorded one tackle. How did they grade? Looking forward to the return of Boone and the development of Collins (13 snaps and one tackle) and Searcy (20 snaps and three tackles) who has a nose for the ball I wonder if Searcy could play linebacker next year? T.J. Searcy - Florida Gators Defensive End - ESPN Florida State 24-15 Florida (Nov 25, 2023) Box Score - ESPN
We left 6 points on the table with missed kicks. We should’ve seen a different outcome even with the coaching mistakes and horrible lack of depth. Same with Arkansas, same with Missouri. That puts us with 3 more wins and all of us are giddy
All yeah Princley has graded pretty well…I think he’s basically the opposite of Brandon cox. Very fundamentally sound and sets the edge nice, does stuff that doesn’t show up on box score. Would love to see him opposite to a pure pass rusher like LJ McCray. Doubtful but would love to see him come back
Wingo should be a starter next year and I like you like Wingo. Total class act and pretty underrated,
Who knows what you’re trying to say but what I’m saying is that is three games the coaches did their jobs and put us in a position to win. 2 of those being against top 10 teams, while missing a bunch of key players.
Imagine if Mertz was playing. And don't forget fsu was down 13 nothing to university of north alabama until fsu got a field goal on its 3rd series of the game. And that was before Travis got hurt. Theyre are a resilient team not a dominant team. it could have still gone our way if both teams were at full strength. Mertz alone is good for about another 15 to 20 completions at bout 20% better completion percentage. Also we would have been a less one sided offense because they knew Mertz could pick apart a defense if they focused too much on the run. I sure hope Mertz is back next year, dude was one of the few bright spot from this season.
Did anyone else notice the defense seemingly confused on where to line up on nearly every play on the fourth quarter? Yet somehow they managed to make plays most of the times. They are just young and talented and it showed. I was impressed by how Denson kept sticking his nose in there despite being steamroller by players twice his size. Tough little guy. Maybe the next Ahmad Black?
Yeah I've said the same thing in another thread before. if we have a legitimate chance to win the game then we were in a position for the team to win. That's the coaches main purpose is to put this team in a position to win the game. We've heard that same saying in sports since forever ago. At some point in the game It's on the players to win the game. They got to be responsible for their actions like being offsides, or a false starts, or a dumb ass tackles on a sliding QB, or spitting. I mean how much coaching do you need to teach someone not to spit? Or how many times should you teach a lineman that false starts are bad? What need is depth so those players who don't execute, or get in fights/spit etc can be benched. He did it to Mizzccua when he only had to sit a half, he made him sit the whole game for the scuffle. I'm sure Lyons would have been suspended a game or so by CBN too. Hard to blame the coaches for everything when a lot of results could been different if a player, didn't drop a pass, or miss a FG, or fumble the ball, or commit a personal foul extending a game changing drive etc. Change any of those outcomes that were influenced by the player and we possibly win.
