Patrick Surtain Sr, Randy Shannon Weigh in On Position Groups With Spring in Rearview Mirror

"We have a bunch of guys who have played a lot of football in their career and are hungry and have a chip on their shoulder."

The Florida State Seminoles' defensive secondary has undergone a few changes coming off the 2022 season, where they ranked 30th in the country overall, according to pff.com. New hires and promotions like Patrick Surtain Sr. coming on as the defensive backs coach and Randy Shannon being promoted to co-defensive coordinator and coach the linebackers have drawn some interesting insight into what defensive coordinator Adam Fuller has lined up in 2023.

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Spring camp has ended, and the two position coaches weighed in on what they've seen from their position groups and what they expect for the upcoming season. 

"We have a bunch of guys who have played a lot of football in their career and are hungry and have a chip on their shoulder and have a lot to prove this upcoming season." Defensive backs coach Patrick Surtain Sr. said.

Takeaways have been prioritized for the back seven, and the Spring Showcase earlier this month lent credence to what the defense has been trying to prove in the offseason. Linebacker Kalen DeLoach, who emerged last season as a go-to guy in goal-line run fits and all-around defense, had an interception and a forced fumble for six during the showcase.

"Pushing himself to work on the fundamentals of things that we need to correct as far as technical wise and continue to chase the ball hard, you know? Play with a lot of excitement, a lot of emotion," Shannon said when asked about how DeLoach can improve. "And for the most part, this spring, he worked on the little things technical-wise to get himself better."

Another linebacker starting to emerge is Omar Graham Jr., who redshirted during the 2022 season but has shown promise in his time spent in games and on the practice fields.

"Omar did a tremendous job, and I'll go back from last year because the last like four games of the season, Omar really stepped it up. Everything was clicking for him, doing all the right things, but he practices every day with the twos, we were trying to get him ready for the game. He was ready for games, but we didn't want to burn his redshirt for the last four games of the season. He was ready to go each time."

Turnovers and takeaways seem to be the identity that the defense is trying to become, and that sentiment continued throughout the interviews.

"I think it went pretty well. That's something I wanted to get accomplished this spring, and as you see, guys were going after the ball, punching the ball out, you know?" Surtain Sr. said. "I told them if you win the turnover battle, you win 85 to 90 percent of your games, so that was a big emphasis for this spring, and I think the guys did pretty well."

For a defense with high aspirations and expectations, the coaches seem to think they're well on their way to living up to that top 10 ranking the 'Noles have heading into 2023.

 Randy Shannon

Patrick Surtain Sr.

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