ADAPT: Why More Florida State DL Than Desir Twins & Kevin Wynn Are CRITICAL To Defensive Success

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The DeCirc twins are back.

We're excited for Kevin Wynn.

We've got a couple of key transfers on the edge, but there's still another piece to discuss

and overall.

This defensive line must evolve for the dolls to win.

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We're going to be discussing some mail-back questions and comments that came in that

I think are really good towards the end of the show.

And by the way, thank you very much for everybody that comments on the YouTube page.

I have a blast with it, and I'm glad many of you continue to come back and post.

It's a lot of good times.

We're going to also talk about the cornerback and the safeties in the middle of the show.

We get done with D-Line.

We need to talk about that a little more.

There was a comment from somebody they'll discuss in the mail-back, but here's a little preview.

We need to see one of these young guys step up.

There's a Charles Leicester fan among us.

But first, and you take nothing else from this podcast, Barnum, Florida State's defensive

line must evolve.

It is a complex group of players in a complex scheme.

You've got transfers.

You've got young guys going from freshmen to sophomores, and you've got a few guys coming

in.

Portal, junior college ranks.

It's a little bit of everything.

Will this be the magic elixir that helps Florida State's pass rush?

Get better.

Maybe create more tackles for loss.

It's not quite as big a D-Line group because you're losing big barrel in the middle, but

it's still a pretty good size line when everybody's actually present.

I know there was a comment about that on Knowles 24-7 on Monday, but it's not a complete

unit right now.

When four states in the fall, assuming everybody's healthy, it's still going to be a pretty

good size, especially with Kevin Winn, Manning, and those guards by the 330 pounds.

Here are a few things to think about.

When I conceptualize who's going to play where I openly admit, you can't just do it that

way across the board because down in distance, we'll change what Tony White does, position

on the field.

How many times the team that they're playing in that day, like, how well does he know the

coordinator?

He'll be in a three-man look, a four-man look, so it is very complex for Florida State.

Undoubtedly, Florida State's going to come up with what they want to run, but there are

certain teams.

It'll be better to have a stand-up end, go three-man line with like the jack position

or whatever you want to call it, stand up for Russia.

That's fine, but I also think they have a lot of bodies that fit the traditional

four-three with a couple of power-ends.

Maybe the dissier twins, starting at both ends, part of the time, if you're going against

the more run-heavy team, that's possible.

You could also use a couple of different players they brought in, like a J-1 Anderson, just

as an example, Ryle and Kennedy, that transfer from Texas A&N.

If you want to go with a little bit smaller D&, that 235 to 255 range, depending on what

they end up wearing, come fall, that'll take care of itself.

I think four-state has a bevy of options, but here's just the overwhelming question,

and I'm going to ask several questions here at a minute.

Which unit do you think Bar none would be the best if four-state was in a four-man line

or a three-man line?

If you want to just pick one, that's fine, but I think four-man is actually a chance

to be better.

Tony White likes running three-man fronts.

Could you do it, Cher?

Again, you got Kevin Wynn.

He fits that profile to a tee.

And if George Sanders is that guy, transfers in from Texas State, we simply don't know.

He's not going to play in spring.

That's very unfortunate.

He'll be back, according to Coach Norbell, in the summer.

If he can give you 12-15 snaps, the game it knows, they rotate a few of the guys inside.

Again, they're going to use four-man lines.

So playing true knows, it's not the same as being like in a one technique where you're

in the gap.

You double-team quite the same like that.

You've got a chance to at least penetrate.

I imagine they'll figure it out, but Kevin Wynn is probably their nose guard.

They'll be in that front, I think, far less than what Tony White wants, but I think they're

going to play more four-man line.

Ryle and Kennedy, Jalen Anderson, I think those are the kind of past rushers athletically

at least that you need at the upper end of college football.

We'll see if they get turned loose and do something, but to that end, here are my questions

overall.

Number one, are they going to run more four-two-five?

I just talked about it.

I say, yes, what do you say and why?

I just have a gut feeling going into spring and based on what I've seen, a little bit

of film that I've watched, I like Jalen Anderson, why?

The junior college player at a Pearl River Community College in Mississippi, that's an athletic

dude now.

You can get after it.

If that's your backup, you're okay.

That's your starter, in my opinion, that's okay.

You're going to have the DeCirc twins, you can rotate them at edge, move one or both

inside occasion on passing downs.

If you're in a four-man front, you're good there.

My bigger question with either of Anderson or Kennedy, how comfy are they standing up in

a three-man line and being the past rusher with the way Tony White does it?

Now, A&M has done some of that in the past, and Kennedy might be familiar with it, but

I don't know if it's the exact same way that Tony went about it.

That's foreign to me, so we'll see, but at least he's done it in some capacity.

He's seen it.

I don't know about Anderson, so if they're going to run four or two-five, that's good,

but those same guys got to be able at the drop of a hat to float into the three-man front.

Second question, playing linebackers at D&N to help, especially if guys are banged up

and it's going to happen.

It's something Florida State did last year.

Take it inside back or move them to edge in rushing.

In an ideal world, that's about 10% of the time.

Last year, it was a ton, though.

That can't continue afford a state's going to be an upper echelon defense, in my opinion.

They tried to pass it off last year like this was normal.

We all knew it wasn't.

They were just short-handed at D&N.

There's no way around it.

It's what they inherited.

When Coach White got there, and they made it work to the best of their ability, but

they didn't have that twitchy, outside past rush and guide that caused issues.

They went and got Ryland Kennedy, who's got that athleticism, who's kind of been a

walk jam at Texas A&M, and then they get a kid at a Jucco ranks and can go get it to.

Who knows?

Maybe one of the young guys steps up.

That'll take care of itself in spring.

I'm not going to mention them.

There's a ton of possibilities, but they bring a nine defense alignment in this group of

minutes insane.

One of them, at least, will probably emerge in help as well, but I'm going to let that

kind of take care of itself.

Number three, and this is a fun one.

We talked a little bit about Daniel Ones.

It had a bonus episode on Monday in the afternoon.

Go check it out.

Daniel was the last guy I talked about.

Great guy, great character.

Could have went other places.

Comes back for his fifth year at Florida State.

He wanted to be an old one.

Good for him.

Good for Florida State.

But at his size, could he play some strong side end in the three-man line, then bump

inside to play some nose guard to give them some extra coverage when Kevin's either

banged up or needs a breather?

And that way, if Sanders is out or went at whatever, you need a third guy that can at

least play there.

He's an experienced guy.

He said he'll play wherever, but will he be effective when called upon?

I just about guarantee you he's going to get that chance.

Can he be effective?

When we come back, I'm going to finish up on a couple more questions that are really

important.

On the defensive line, we'll talk a little bit about corner and safety and why these

fronts and figuring it out and spring to the best of the coaching staff's ability is

so important, because there's a lot of planning for the fall, because remember, game two,

you got SMU and game number three, after a buy, you go to Tuscaloosa and play the Crimson

Tie.

There is no easing into the 2026 season for the Florida State Semimes.

No, no, no.

You're going to play two teams that can score points right away.

It's going to be very important to kind of figure out everything on the defensive line

right now in spring.

We'll come back.

We'll talk more about it right here.

On a walk on series.

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Now here are a couple more questions about the defensive line before we move into DB

because they play off on another.

Number five.

Oh, excuse me, number four, impacts.

Rywin Kennedy, Jalen Anderson, I'm just going to make a projection.

I'm going to say between them, they get 12 sacks.

I think they're going to play the majority of the snaps.

They will be the two high water marks for sacks this year for the Noles.

I want to go 12.

What do you say?

What's your over under?

I might be high.

I might be low, but I think they're going to change the defense up a little bit and be

more aggressive and have actual defensive ends rushing the faster.

It should be affected, especially with Kevin Winn in the middle.

That's a guy I'm telling you.

I brought this up since the time you enroll.

That is a special football player.

It's going to get a lot of double teams that will help and you've got both the DeCert

twins rotating in.

You've got digs.

You've got some pretty good players in terms of just being solid role players.

I think that both Kennedy and Anderson, they can both get six or more.

So a sack every other game on average.

I wouldn't be surprised at all with that if they're both healthy the entirety of the

season.

I don't know what you want to start.

But those are probably your two most likely weak side defensive ends for the Nolos.

Number six, excuse me, number five, can Jordan Sanders play 25 snaps a game?

Just on average.

This is the hardest one on this list.

I'm going to admit that.

He's not playing in spring.

He's a 300 pounder give or take to play the Texas state last year.

He's got a few years of eligibility, he's a big body.

But if he can't play 25 snaps a game, being like the other nose guard, then one of the

other things has to happen.

Daniel Irons has got to play it or one of the guys that are undersized, swash, you could

forget three man front.

Like if you do not have a true nose guard, you can't go out there running at all.

That's all right.

Because Kevin Wayne can't play 60 snaps a game of no like you'll get obliterated by

game four.

Because you're taking double teams about every other play.

It's not realistic.

Can he play 25 a game so you kind of split it up?

Maybe he plays 35, 40% of the snaps?

That's possible.

But we don't have any evidence of him playing at the P4 level.

He's got size and all that.

I just, I don't know much more than that.

That is a major question.

And finally, number six, handling adversity.

It's kind of what I was just talking about here momentarily.

We'll go into more detail with adversity as well with the secondary.

But when somebody gets hurt or a team comes out hot against you, how does a defensive line

adjust?

In 24, it was terrible in those moments.

In 25, it was inconsistent, but better.

They would feed off the energy if they started well or got a big play kind of like the

Wake Forest game.

But at other games, or Alabama, but at other games, like Miami, who caught them off guard

with some good play calling, some screens, et cetera, the DeWine wilted.

Are they going to be more consistent with their effort in a just right in the middle

of the game before half time?

It's not going well.

You're down two scores.

You can't wait to half.

Four to state struggled with that last year.

Are they going to take that step?

I really want to see that.

Now it's kind of jump into corner and defensive back overall.

Got some comments on YouTube, and I'll get to those after the break, but who's your

pick?

I didn't have to write this one down.

This is really the only question that matters.

Who is your pick for the quote unquote, at least for now, unknown defensive back to step

up for four to state?

Which one will it be?

Now they've had a lot of guys that were heavily coveted out of the high school ranks come

in.

I've talked about this recently, but I just wanted to put this out there for fans.

Is it Western?

Is it Johnson Ken in this year?

Is it Jamar Howard?

Is it somebody else?

Maybe it's a safety.

But much like with the defensive line, who if they're doing their job, the DBs are going

to be under fire because there's going to be more third and five or third and six, third

and seven, third and longs, you're going to need guys to rotate in, especially early

in the season.

It's hot in the south.

You're not going to play the same snap count in being as good as spot.

Who is going to be that guy?

It's early in fall camp, but I want to talk about this now.

And then as we go through, listen to Norbell, listen to coach Adams, coach Coup, and really

just anybody on the defensive staff and some of the players who standing out amongst the

young guys at minimum.

Two of those young players, one at corner, one at safety is going to have to play some

serious reps at some point, maybe come hell, come high water, because oh no, it's football.

Players get injured.

They have a ton of talent in the freshman sophomore classes in terms of raw physical

scope.

I don't know much about coach Adams.

I honestly don't know a ton about Coup, but he's got a good rep and he's a good recruiter.

I think that they need one guy at each spot to step up and I, for the record, the way Tony

plays his defense, I count the nickel spot more as a safety.

They look at it from a physicality standpoint, more than coverage, but I digress.

The way you look at it, they're going to need at minimum a couple of guys that really

haven't gotten much run yet in terms of commentary or plays to step up.

So comment down below, who do you think it's going to be and why?

Just going to have some fun with that.

When we come back, we're going to talk mail back.

All your comments and questions over the last week, I picked out a handful that are pretty

fun and to be honest, this is my favorite thing to do on a lot of thumbnails because I get

the most different comment one next to the next person that's insane, like this completely

different perspective on the exact same comment that I'll make on this show and it makes

it just absolutely entertaining for me and I hope you enjoyed as well.

That is next on Locked On Settles.

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All right, it is mail bag time and this is one of my favorite things to do.

Like I said, it's right now.

It's my favorite because it's not the actual football season and I want to know what

the ends thing.

Y'all come on come on to the show and comment sometimes.

If I have a live show, you come on the YouTube page and comment about things that you liked

about what I said or you don't like whatever it may be.

It's just entertaining to me because again, same subject matter, I'll get one that's

totally agrees.

The very next person will have a 180 degree different idea.

That's why college football is so great.

There are different ways to look at things so let's not waste any more time.

Let's just have a little fun with it.

I think that by the way, four state spring, we're going to see a lot of swings and these

comments may even get broader.

So first one, the Renegade Fight U5W.

The secondary is going to be a fours to be reckoned with this season.

Just put the right players on the field and play the hot, consistent players at that

time.

Go notes.

That's fair enough.

Ride this guy says our linebackers were picked to part last season in some games.

Unfortunately, I will never forget the Pittsburgh game that drove me nuts and then they just didn't

make the critical plays against Miami.

Some simple, simple things turned into massive games for the games.

Those are the two games.

Pittsburgh and Miami were I think mental errors from the back seven, not just DBs.

They did not pass off well from like the linebacker level to the safety level.

It didn't work well, especially in the middle of the field I'm talking about, or if you

want to say this is the third level of the defense, they didn't do that very well.

They didn't have good spacing a lot of the time from the linebacker to the safety or

the corner.

They just gave up big plays and then once the ball got into the hands of somebody like

Malachite Tony, it was really frustrating because the tackling was sometimes as far as

as well.

Eric Brown 5630 says, roles in the secondary will be tested early by Alabama's wide receivers

agreed.

Who will step up and show out?

Let's go.

No, it's a great question.

Alabama is going to be one of the more intriguing teams this next year, Austin Mack is for

whatever it's worth.

It's my pick to win the starting quarterback job, but maybe it's Keel and Russell.

Maybe they play both.

I don't know, but I do know they've got a bunch of dudes that can run at receiver.

Ryan Williams is still over there.

They've still got some key guys coming back.

They've got some transfers.

They're often one should be better, the run game should be better.

So play action probably is going to work much more efficiently for Alabama.

That's going to be interesting, but I told him on the page, don't forget about SMU.

That's game two.

That's a really important game.

Braywin Ball 9359 says, call me crazy.

This is Charles Wester's breakout year.

This is the post I talked about earlier in the show.

Wester is a very skilled player.

I've known about him since he was in eighth grade.

And I remember seeing him at a seven on tournament, I'm like, holy cow, that kid said eighth grade

and ends up before the state didn't get a chance to play much last year.

But it's his time to at least, he should get 150 snaps, just sweep walking.

It's his time.

Quindarius and some other guys, there are opportunities, but I'm going to be a little disappointed if he

doesn't get at least 150 snaps, if not 250, and then the year after he should start.

That's my opinion.

Wink, he's over six foot, he's a guy that can play receiver if you wanted him to, just

a tremendous athlete.

And finally, Mike Merrick, I'm ready to see the secondary handle business, Brian, go

moles.

Mike's always steady and a very consistent guy.

So I always want to get Mike in there in the mix.

Overall in the secondary though, again, who's it going to be?

Which young player is going to stipulate that, you know what, I played too good in practice,

coach Norvell, coach Coup, coach Adams, et cetera, you're going to have to play me.

Maybe you didn't anticipate it, but that's what practice is for.

Maybe it happens.

Maybe it's Carson Hobbes.

I don't know.

Maybe it's KJ Kirkland takes a major step forward and they can use him in different roles.

And that helps some of the younger guys, not have to play as much.

Maybe Donnie Heber still plays, so I don't know.

Tray Bell, they've talked about him getting some reps.

It's really hard to say.

Max Redman's a guy that could maybe get some reps.

Too many guys to really figure it out, but it is paramount because while I think the

D1 is going to be a little better than what's something, you're going to be some games

or four to states D1, especially if Kevin Wins banged up, but there's just very few body

talks like Kevin Wins.

He is a true no doubt about a zero tech nose guard that like Bill Bellichek would want.

Or Georgia, Alabama, when they were just purely three man fronts, it didn't run as much

hybrid like Georgia does now.

If he's not in the lineup because he's banged up, you're going to see some different things

in teams probably run it up fishing more.

Those are the games in the moments, maybe, even if it's like Kevin's out for a series

because it puts an example, but it's not major.

How does your secondary stand up because when the other team does play action and they've

been pounding you with the football, you've got to read your keys, you've got to make

a play, even though you thought, oh, this is going to be another run, if you take a

fall step, you've got to find a way to make a play.

There's talent, there's speed, there's athleticism, there's length, who's it going to be?

So I think four to state secondary is going to get challenged this year, but in ways that

are a little bit different than it will have.

Being a year two of Tony White system should help, but it's still not a lock.

You've got a zero in, earn your job, be consistent to make it work, and if you can do that

four to state secondary, might surprise some folks because again, I know there's

plenty of talent there, but now it's the order in playing together, measuring together.

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