'Three to Five Plays' -- Tony White Just Told You Everything You Need to Know
In a press conference this week that deserves a lot more attention than it's getting, DC Tony White made a statement that should shift the entire conversation around this defense: the returning players know they're "three to five plays away from being okay to being really damn good." That's not a coach blowing smoke. That's a defensive coordinator who watched the tape from a 2-10 season, looked at the roster he's assembled, and sees a team that was competitive but couldn't finish. And he's right.
Consider the evidence from the first half of spring. The defensive front -- which needed the most help -- has been, in White's words, "disruptive." True freshman DL Jaemin Pinckney already has two tackles for loss in the first scrimmage and has gained over 20 pounds since arriving on campus. Franklin Whitley is doing things in drills that have coaches talking. The Desir twins are hovering around 265-270 and White says the twitch and explosiveness are obvious. And Kevin Wynn is trimming down to the 315-320 range to become more explosive at nose tackle. That's a front that can rotate seven or eight bodies with different body types -- exactly what you need in a 3-3-5 defense.
But the most telling part of White's press conference wasn't the football. It was the culture. He talked about players showing up at 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning just to sit in coaches' offices. He said this group doesn't have "the off-the-field bull crap" that plagued previous rosters. Omar Graham Jr. is "playing the best ball he's ever played." Karson Hobbs, the Notre Dame transfer, forced a safety in the scrimmage. And White said -- without hedging -- that the safety group "could be one of the better ones in the entire country." You don't say that lightly when CJ Richard and Ashlynd Barker are your anchors.
Saturday's second scrimmage is where this defense gets its next big test. But if you've been paying attention to what the coaches are saying -- not the national hot takes, not the win total projections -- there's a picture forming in Tallahassee that looks very different from the narrative. This isn't a team stumbling through spring hoping something works. This is a defense with an identity, a culture that's been cleaned up, and a coordinator who believes his unit is a handful of plays from being elite. That's a dangerous combination in year two of a system.
The Nole Wire Staff