For teams to be successful on the field, talent is certainly a necessity. In 2013, Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher was able to get the talent-laden Seminoles to ignore individual statistics and accomplishments to put the team first. The results were staggering as FSU scored more points than any FBS team ever and went virtually unchallenged until the 2014 BCS National Championship when it rallied from a 21-3 deficit to stun SEC champion, Auburn.
Florida State will bring back a ton of talent for 2014 — particularly on the offensive side of the football. While the schedule is beefed up from a season ago, getting players to buy in to a team-first approach again could be one of Coach Fisher’s biggest challenges.
Florida State had no shortage of individual talent in 2013 as cornerback Lamarcus Joyner and defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan were each named All-Americans for a FSU defense that yielded the fewest points in the country. Offensively, quarterback Jameis Winston became just the third Seminole to win the Heisman Trophy while the guy he took snaps from, center Bryan Stork, took home the Rimington Award.
Despite so many players receiving national honors, players a season ago often spoke about doing whatever it took to get the team a victory as what was most important. “What’s most important is my team and going out there and winning,” said receiver Rashad Greene after a win over North Carolina State last season. “The individual stuff will take care of itself.”
To mirror a run similar to last season, Florida State will need to buy into that sort of approach once again.
To begin 2014, 15 Florida State players find themselves on preseason award watch lists while nine have been named to the preseason All-ACC team.
Reigning Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston begins the year on the watch lists for the Davey O’Brien, Walter Camp and Maxwell Award. Offensive linemen Cameron Erving, Tre’ Jackson and Josue Matias all find themselves on Lombardi and Outland Trophy watch lists while Erving also joins Winston on the Camp Award watch list. Center Austin Barron hopes to follow in Stork’s footsteps after being placed on the watch list for the Rimington Award.
Running back Karlos Williams and Rashad Greene each join Winston on the Maxwell Award watch list while Greene is also a candidate to win the Biletnikoff Award. Tight end Nick O’Leary finds himself on the watch list for the Mackey Award.
Joining Erving, Jackson and Matias on the Lombardi Award watch list is defensive end Mario Edwards Jr. Edwards is also on the watch list for the Bednarik and Nagurski Award as is cornerback P.J. Williams, who like safety Jalen Ramsey, will also find himself on the Thorpe Award watch list as one of the nation’s top defensive backs.
Also in the secondary, Ronald Darby sits on the Lott Award preseason watch list. Linebacker Terrance Smith, the lone returning starter at that position for FSU, is on the Butkus Award watch list.
Reigning Lou Groza Award winner, Roberto Aguayo, is on the watch list to win the award again as the nation’s top kicker while return specialist Kermit Whitfield is on the Paul Hornung Award watch list.
While 15 total Seminoles find themselves on preseason watch lists, Florida State had more preseason all-conference selections than any other ACC school with nine. Those individuals were: Winston, both Karlos and P.J. Williams, Greene, Erving, Jackson, O’Leary, Edwards and Aguayo.
With the start of the season roughly a month away, big things are expected of the defending national champions and a number of players on the roster. But as last season showed, if the Seminoles can take care of business as a team on the field, a lot of the individual accolades will soon follow.
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