Noles In Full Pads: Spring Practice Report- Day 4

FSU Sports Information Excerpts:

The first day the full pads go on is a special day for any football team. That was no different Saturday as the Seminole football team went through a 27 period practice in full pads. Half the practice was spent on the practice fields and the second half inside Doak Campbell Stadium. Much of the final 13 periods were spent in 11-on-11.

PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS

For the first time this spring the Seminoles worked on FG and FG block. The star of the drill was former Countryside kicker Zack Hobby. The transfer from Delaware was a perfect 4-for-4 with three of the four coming from beyond 35 yards.

Special teams work continued with punt block/punt return. Graham Gano and Shawn Powell looked very good during the drill. Tony Carter, Preston Parker and Bert Reed were handling punt returns during this period.

After position drills, the team moved inside the stadium. The first period was spent in 3-on-3. Emmanuel Dunbar continued his strong spring with a tackle and a forced fumble at the first level. Justin Mincey also made a tackle. The linebackers had a nice drill as Marcus Ball recorded multiple tackles and Kendall Smith, Nigel Bradham, Vince Williams, Dekoda Watson and Derek Nicholson all chipped in with stops at the second level.

During inside drills Christian Ponder had a nice run and Brandon Paul had two big gainers. Watson forced a fumble and the biggest cheers of the day came on a big hit delivered by Myron Rolle.

While inside was going on, the receivers, QB's and DB's worked against each other. Korey Mangum had an INT and a break-up while Tony Carter and Dionte Allen both broke up passes as well. Drew Weatherford hit Richard Goodman and Taiwan Easterling. Ponder connected with Goodman and Rod Owens twice while D'Vontrey Richardson found Bert Reed and Easterling.

In skeleton Weatherford had hook-ups with Owens, Lewis Givens and Reed. Ponder hit Marcus Sims and Reed and Richardson found Preston Parker, Owens twice and Givens. Defensively Mangum had a PBU as did Darius McClure, Carter and Aaron Gresham. Gresham's was almost a one handed interception.

In pass rush Budd Thacker, Dumaka Atkins and Everette Brown all got to the QB as did Justin Mincey on two occasions. The offensive line had a better day Saturday in this drill. Ryan McMahon, Will Furlong and Rodney Hudson had multiple wins. Brandon Davis, A.J. Ganguzza, Antwane Greenlee and Evan Bellamy also won battles.

The team came together for 11-on-11 and the drill was run with all plays starting at the 30. The highlights for the offense included a 13-yard run by Richardson, a nice 10+ yard run by Paul, three catches over 10 yards by Bert Reed and a tough inside run on a short pass by Parker. The biggest play came on a Ponder screen pass to Owens who broke the play 70 yards for a TD.

Defensive highlights were turned in by Brown, Josh Johnson, Mincey and Thacker who all had sacks. Gresham recorded a nice tackle behind the line on Richardson, Dionte Allen dragged Paul down deep in the backfield on a busted play that Paul tried to turn into a gainer and Jamie Robinson broke up a pass. True freshman Terrance Parks forced and recovered a fumble.

The next part of 11-on-11 took place from the 25 yard line in. For the Defense Brown continued to cause problems with a sack and a forced fumble. Thacker and Watson had sacks and Carter and Allen broke up passes. Neefy Moffett recorded a tackle for loss.

There was only one TD play and that came on a Ponder to Easterling hook-up from nearly 20 yards away. Weatherford looked to have a TD to Jonathan Hannah but a motion penalty wiped that out. Paul added a great run but he was dragged down just a yard shy of the endzone.

Practice concluded with goal line. The first team offense went 2 for 4 versus the first team D. Paul opened the drill by faking out two defenders in the flat to get in for six. Weatherford then scored from the one on a designed roll out. Watson, who was upset Weatherford got in on the previous play, took matters into his own hand and stopped the QB on the next play as the redshirt senior tried to run it in from the three. The defense then stopped Marcus Sims right up the middle from the one.

The second team defense did a great job allowing just one TD. The first play was a fumbled snap. Paul got to the edge on the second play and took it in. Dunbar stopped Ponder from the three on the third play and then the defensive front bottled up Joe Surratt from the one on the final play of the day.