One And Done

Don't look now but our reason for not winning a lot of games in the past few years is showing. Case in point. The recently concluded NFL Draft that saw only one Nole drafted. Everette Brown was drafted in the second round and that was it. Graham Gano after the draft was offered a free agent contract with the Baltimore Ravens.

Remember when gasoline was selling for 89 cents a gallon, a postage stamp was 24 cents, and disposable contact lens became available? Well, it was 1987 and it was also the last time before yesterday that only one Nole was picked in the draft.

FSU Appeal Timeline

Here's the NCAA timeline relating to FSU's appeal regarding the vacating of wins:

The Committee on Infractions has 30 days to submit their response.

FSU has 15 days to submit a rebuttal.

The enforcement staff then has 10 days from acknowledgment of receiving the rebuttal to submit a response.

There is yet another option for the university to appeal within the next 10 days.

" I'm not going to stay in it long enough to overcome it...."

"I'm not going to stay in it long enough to overcome it, especially with Joe staying in it."
Bobby Bowden as quoted on ESPN regarding having to overcome losing 14 wins with the NCAA penalty in his race with Joe Paterno

Note: On Thursday, FSU filed a formal 28-page written appeal with the NCAA regarding the vacating of wins

" Yeah, I think it's [penalties] more than fair."

"Duke suspends a guy for a year. They (Florida State) got 36 of them and they don't lose a whole year? Yeah, I think it's [penalties] more than fair. They're [Florida State] playing with the guys I can't play with."
Maryland head football coach Ralph Friedgen regarding the NCAA ruling to vacate FSU football wins as quoted on CBSSports.com

"... gaining some really good strength from several of (Trickett's) guys."

"You see putting on body mass and gaining some really good strength from several of (Trickett's) guys."
FSU Strength and Conditioning coach Todd Stroud regarding the offensive line

"... they can come see me with their resignation in hand."

" If this is unacceptable to the boosters or athletics,they can come see me with their resignation in hand."
FSU President T.K. Wetherell's comments in email sent to athletic staff and boosters after athletic department spokesperson had indicated that there would be no furloughs of coaches if budgets cuts have to be made. Wetherell indicated that coaches would not be exempt from possible furloughs.

" Now we've got all five of those guys back...."

"Now we've got all five of those guys back, and that does make a heck of a difference."
Bobby Bowden commenting on the Nole offensive line as he kicked off his 34th annual Bobby Bowden Golf Tour in Clay county on Monday as quoted in Florida Times-Union

Noles Hand Out Spring Awards

The Florida State football coaches announced the 2009 spring award winners on Monday. Patrick Robinson won the Hinesman as the most dominant player as well as the most valuable on defense while Christian Ponder took home MVP honors for the offense.

" Is his college career really over....?"

"Is his college career really over because Surrency supposedly gained "competitive advantage" by playing a couple of games with a bunch of dreamers and has-beens in a loosely organized semipro league?"
Orlando Sentinel sports columnist Mike Bianchi regarding NCAA decision to not allow Corey Surrency another year of eligibility

Noles Hold Last Scrimmage Of The Spring

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

On Wednesday the FSU football team held its last practice of the spring. The coaches decided to get one last full pad practice in and the second half was spent scrimmaging on the practice fields. The team worked on down-and-distance situations and then in the 4:00 and 2:00 offense.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden
Opening statement:
"That wraps it up, 15 days. We challenged our kids before spring training started to see how many of them can make all 15 days without missing a drill. It will be interesting to see how many of them finished up like that. I think it's going to be more than we normally have. We've made strides, but we still see question marks out there. They've have to be solved by getting better or hoping that some of your freshman can come in and give you some support in that area."

Noles Get In Early Morning Practice In Frigid Temps

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

The Florida State football team was back out at practice just over 12 hours after Monday’s half scrimmage ended. The squad practiced for 22 periods in shells in frigid temperatures. The Seminoles are scheduled to practice Wednesday for the final time this spring.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden
Opening statement:
“We went out in shells today and started at about 7:20. Kids got through it okay. It was cold as heck out there. We had too many missed assignments today if you were evaluating the practice. Entirely too many missed assignments out there. It usually goes back to mental (the missed assignments)”

Do you feel pretty good about spring practice?
“Thank goodness we have had quite a few of them that have gotten through the whole spring. That’s very important in spring training. We’ve made strides but we can still see strides that we must make. Our turnovers scare us to death right now offensively. Defensively we have done a better job of shutting down the big play although we had some yesterday. I think that’s one little progress they’ve made in the spring.”

Noles Begin Final Week Of Spring Practice Scrimmages

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

The Garnet & Gold Game usually is a celebration of the end of spring football but not in Tallahassee this year. Originally the team was scheduled to have two practices following the annual scrimmage but rain forced a third practice in this final week. The Seminole players won’t have to wait long to celebrate the end of this portion of the off-season as they will practice Tuesday and then conclude organized practices on Wednesday.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden
Opening statement:
“The offense looked much better today. Looked liked them old selves today. I guess next year we won’t let anybody come to the (spring) game and maybe we’ll do better.

“Pretty good scrimmage. We worked on a lot of different situations. We worked one two-minute offense; we gave the offense the ball 60 or 70 yards away with two minutes and they scored both times. First and second unit. Hit a couple of long passes.”

Offensive Coordinator Jimbo Fisher
On today’s scrimmage:
“The thing I liked today better – we still made mistakes – still did some bad things – our attitude and effort was better and we overcame things when we had the chance to even when we had bad plays. We turned around and overcame them because our attitude and effort were there.”

Surrency Denied Another Year Eligibility By NCAA

ESPN is reporting that FSU wide receiver Corey Surrency has been denied another year of eligibility by the NCAA.

Florida State will appeal the decision and expects the process to take three to five weeks.

The Noles may need to start soliciting walk ons for receiver given the loss of two in one day.

Owens Suspended Indefinitely

FSU has announced that it is suspending wide receiver Rod Owens indefinitely. "We're suspending Rod Owens, indefinitely, beginning today until the matter has been resolved," FSU head coach Bobby Bowden said in a prepared statement.

" Is there any FSU receiver who hasn't been in trouble....?"

"Is there any FSU receiver who hasn't been in trouble in the past year?"
ESPN's Heather Dinich commenting on arrest of Rod Owens for DUI

Note: Noles have also had wide receiver Bert Reed who has been suspended three times as well as Corey Surrency who was suspended twice in 2008.

Owens Arrested On DUI Charges

Here we go again. Published reports are indicating that senior Nole wide receiver Rod Owens was released on $500 bail Sunday afternoon after being arrested earlier Sunday morning for DUI. This is according to the Tallahassee Police Department.

According to TPD, Rod Owens was taken to the Leon County Jail where he submitted to a breath test. His blood alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit at 155g/210L. The legal limit in Florida is .08g/210L.


Owens had three catches for 31 yards in Saturday’s spring game at Doak Campbell Stadium.

"... it was very encouraging...."

"There is a lot of growing up to do with them, but again it was very encouraging, but we still have a long way from where we need to be."
Mickey Andrew's comments regarding the defense after spring game

Nole Defense Takes Down Offense In Spring Game

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

The talk all spring has been about the offense’s success against a young and banged up Seminole defense. All that talk seemed to have gotten the attention of Mickey Andrew’s group. Thanks to five fumble recoveries, two Jamie Robinson interceptions and a Nigel Bradham touchdown, the Gold squad or defense downed the Garnet team or offense 39-27 in the annual Garnet & Gold game Saturday in Doak Campbell Stadium.

“That was an interesting thing tonight,” said head coach Bobby Bowden. “Right off the bat you had two bad snaps, that’s not supposed to happen. We had eight fumbles. (Carlton Jones) had five that I counted. Eight fumbles you won’t beat anybody.

“Jamie Robinson I thought had a good game back there in secondary. Got an interception, he had two then. I guess the biggest surprise was our secondary. They’ve been getting ripped pretty good this spring. They were most active tonight I’ve seen them, that is a good sign. I thought the defense won the battle.”

Both of Robinson’s interceptions were highlight reel material and he was the star in the secondary but it was Bradham’s 45-yard return of a Christian Ponder fumble that turned out to be the biggest play of the night. The five fumbles lost by the offense were a surprise considering that had not been an issue for most of the spring leading up to Saturday.

“It feels good to make a play like that every now and then,” said Bradham. “When you do your thing to motivate the team it gives them intensity and encourages them to go out and make plays as well. It felt real good.”

“Why were all those dadgum fumbles,” said Bowden. “Now of course defense knocked some of those out of there, defense knocked. But I saw some of the kids doing things that they haven’t done all spring, which I would think probably a crowd in their pressing, that’s what you don’t want, but that’s why it’s good to have that game.”

After posting eye-popping yards per play numbers in the previous scrimmages, the defense did an excellent job of limiting the offense on Saturday holding the Garnet team to just five yards per play. Ponder was 10-of-19 for 118 yards, most of which came on a 65-yard strike to Jarmon Fortson early in the scrimmage.

“(Ponder) struggled, not I think some of it was our receivers had a hard time getting open,” said Bowden. “They got more pressure on him tonight I think they have all spring. I didn’t feel like he was sharp. He was sharp on some passes but I saw other times when a man was open big and he missed him. We had dropped passes at inopportune times. If you’re gonna find out those things out, it’s good to find them out against yourselves.”

“I just need to go back and re-focus, I think I didn’t do enough and obviously I think I let some stuff affect me…this is the first game-type environment in a while and so I wasn’t ready,” said Ponder. “I wasn’t ready and these next three days I gotta overcome it and watch the film and learn from those things.”

There was only one other offensive touchdown on the evening and that came on a 31-yard strike from Corey Eddinger to Cameron Wade. He and Fortson combined for 106 of the Gold team’s 236 total receiving yards. Fortson led the way with four catches for 75 yards while Rod Owens, Bert Reed and Richard Goodman were the only other players with more than one reception.

“I think the one’s came out and started off alright, I had a couple good drives and a touchdown,” said Ponder. “I mean just the turnovers killed us, and then I think we started letting stuff pile on top of us, and towards the end we got in and over our heads and let stuff affect us a little bit. We got three days to fix it for us this spring, and we’ll have to overcome it come August.”

The turnovers started early for the offense. On just the third pass of the day Robinson snatched his first interception on a 3rd-and-13 pass intended for Louis Givens. On the next play Ponder went deep to Fortson but on six of the next 27 offensive snaps there was a fumble with the defense falling on five.

“Some of them were on our own, and some of them we just fell on, but they still count,” said defensive coordinator Mickey Andres. “I felt like we had a much better effort. We challenged them to play their best when playing in this stadium. Some of them took it to heart. Got a few breaks, but we also made more than we have all spring too. I think there were a couple great interceptions and several fumbles. You got a good chance of winning if you can do that.”

“Coach Andrews makes it our goal to make turnovers, and we have been kind of lacking on that throughout this whole spring,” said Robinson. “It got brought up in a report that the DB’s have had only had one pick this spring, so we just tried to go out there and really focus on causing turnovers a little more and get the defense going.”

The other area where Andrews saw a huge improvement was with his run defense.

Despite missing Kendrick Stewart, Budd Thacker and Dekoda Watson, the Seminole offense averaged just two yards per rush gaining 59 yards on 29 carries.

“I feel like we played pretty good,” said Bradham. “Today was a good day for us. We made a couple stops. We gave up a couple plays, but came right back around and made big plays ourselves. I feel like we were pretty motivated and kind of dominated tonight.”

“I think so, I think yeah, I mean they pretty much dominated all night, so it was definitely, I think, their best performance this spring, and I mean they look pretty good,” said Ponder of his teammates on the defensive side.

Unlike springs in the past, Saturday night’s Garnet & Gold game does not signal the end of practice. The Noles are scheduled to practice three more times next week.

Note: Ponder was not the QB that we have all heard has improved so much. He did not look sharp. Fumbles and center snaps were awful.

Spring Game Scoring System

Here is the spring game scoring system:

OFFENSE
+6 - Touchdown
+3 - Field Goal
+1 - Extra Point
+1 - Every first down
+2 - 4th down conversion

DEFENSE
+6 - Score
+2 - Safety
+3 - Blocked field goal
+1 - Blocked extra point
+1 - Every 3rd down stop
+2 - 4th down stop
+3 - Turnover
(fumble or interception)
+1 - Negative yardage play
(sack or tackle for loss)

*NOTE - There will be no scores kept during the second half.

Noles Hold Light Practice

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

With the annual spring game just 24 hours away, the Seminole coaches decided to have a light practice on Friday. The team practiced for 20 periods in shorts and helmets as they worked mainly on situations. This year's Garnet and Gold Game will not signal the end of spring practice as the squad will have three more chances to work out next week.

Practice ended up in tight zone where the offense did not get into the endzone on six tries. The most success the offense had was on the first play from the ten where Ponder hit Fortson for nine to the one. There was an incompletion from the eight and then Mangum broke up a pass in the endzone from the six. The second team defense closed the drill on a high note. Maurice Harris sacked Ponder on the first play then Mincey had back-to-back sacks from the eight and the six.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden
Opening statement:
"Today we went 20 segments - that's shorter than we normally go and we went with jut the helmets and we tried to do a lot of polishing for tomorrow. We kind of walked through our kicking game and then just, again what we did was real good; we got a lot more out of it that I thought we would. That leaves us with three day s of practice next week - we'll go Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Today was again just polishing for the scrimmage.

"The quarterback did a good job today. Making some darn good decisions and making some goods throws. There were some good catches out there. The secondary is beginning to get a little bit better and that is very important because they have struggled this spring."

Spring Game Set For Saturday

Fans who are going to the spring game tomorrow will be happy to know that parking in the stadium lots will be free. Also, there will be non-stop entertainment scheduled for Seminole Village beginning at 2:00 p.m. The spring game will kickoff at 7:00 p.m. and a fireworks show over the stadium will begin around 9:15.

For those of you unable to get to the game, I will be posting tweets on my Twitter page so follow me or catch the latest updates on the blog page.

FSU Releases Football Dates

FSU has released the dates for Homecoming and Parent’s Weekend. Homecoming is scheduled for Oct. 31 versus North Carolina State and Parent’s Weekend will take place Oct.10 versus Georgia Tech.

FSU also announced Armed Service Appreciation will take place on Sept. 26 when the Seminoles host USF.

Noles Get In Practice Despite Rain

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

Wednesday's football practice looked like it had little chance of happening earlier in the day but at the last minute the weather cleared up briefly enough to allow the FSU football team to get in a practice and a half scrimmage. The rain did fall a little during the practice but the big story was the continued big plays turned in by the Seminole offense and Brandon Jenkins continuing to be a big bright spot for Mickey Andrews' defense.

Head Coach Bobby Bowden
Opening statement:
"It wasn't until about 3:00 whether or not we were going to be able to practice. We had heard that there might be a break in that weather. It rained this morning, we did not think we could be able to get it in but we did get it in. We'll not practice tomorrow. I thought the defense did better. Offense was sloppy. Had quite a few fumbles and drop balls. More, I think, then usual. Other then that I think we're probably still making some progress."

" Christian’s doing a great job right now...."

"Christian’s doing a great job right now – is seeing the blitz. Getting his [reads], getting his sight adjustments out. I mean, when they’re coming, he’s knowing it … he’s doing a great job of that."
Jimbo Fisher regarding Christian Ponder's progress during spring practice as quoted in Orlando-Sentinel