There\u2019s some buzz building around Florida State\u2019s offensive line entering the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
I totally get that there will be some skepticism about that statement. The fanbase heard all last offseason about how Mike Norvell believed that an offensive line unit loaded with homegrown FSU veterans was going to be one of the main strengths of that team.<\/p>\n
Instead, it was perhaps the biggest weakness on an FSU offense that was feeble across the board.<\/p>\n
And yet, a quote from new transfer offensive tackle Micah Pettus that he said after this past Monday\u2019s practice resonated with me in a significant way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were moving the ball, taking people where we wanted to take them. It was all clicking today,\u201d Pettus said.<\/p>\n
If that doesn\u2019t sound like the exact opposite of the problems of last year\u2019s offensive line \u2014 very often turnstiles in pass blocking and very rarely opening up lanes for the run game \u2014 I don\u2019t know what does.<\/p>\n
I get that we\u2019re still firmly in the talking-season portion of the college football calendar. That\u2019s even more true this preseason in Tallahassee, with FSU\u2019s formerly-open practice access almost entirely eliminated, forcing the public to take the word of those at the podium at face value.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s fair to ponder if the sweeping changes to FSU\u2019s offensive line room this offseason are taking hold.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve liked some of the things we\u2019ve been able to do on the offensive line. I see those guys really gelling together\u2026\u201d Norvell said after Monday\u2019s practice. \u201cI\u2019m really, really excited for what the group can continue to develop and be. I think we\u2019ve got size, we\u2019ve got guys that can definitely create movement, create space. Now, it\u2019s just the finer details\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at our top seven, eight guys, they all have experience under their belt. Seeing the way that they\u2019re starting to work together, the efficiency of communication, you see a group that\u2019s starting to take some positive steps. I think they\u2019re talented, but also we\u2019ve got to go do it, so I see a hungry group that\u2019s really pushing to establish themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
FSU enters the 2025 season with a new offensive coordinator in Gus Malzahn, who brings a new scheme as well as a new offensive line coach, Herb Hand, who has been coaching college linemen continuously since he was hired as Tulsa\u2019s co-offensive coordinator\/offensive line coach in 2007. In addition to time spent at Vanderbilt, Texas and Penn State, he has served as Malzahn\u2019s OL coach at Auburn (2016-17) and UCF (2021-24), every bit the injector of new life in the trenches that FSU was looking for, a proven developer of offensive linemen with a track record of success.<\/p>\n
Hand has taken his rebuild of the FSU offensive line seriously, bringing in four Power Four transfers who have each played quite a bit at this level. Pettus (an Ole Miss transfer), Gunnar Hansen (Vanderbilt), Adrian Medley (UCF) and Luke Petitbon (Wake Forest) bring a combined 134 games played, 105 starts and 7,189 snaps played to an offensive line unit that is otherwise somewhat lacking in experience.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, Pettus and Hansen both were somewhat limited during spring camp, preventing what could likely be FSU\u2019s starting five up front from getting extended time working together and establishing familiarity. Missing out on the camaraderie that results from shared time putting in work on the turf, off-field bonding became paramount for the unit in the offseason, with that brotherhood now paying off as trust in the leadup to the season.<\/p>\n
With the unit healthier coming out of spring practice, Hand believes the offensive line was able to improve more in its on-field chemistry over the team\u2019s summer workouts, even if there isn\u2019t allowed to be any offense vs. defense work during that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have some experienced guys, guys who have played a lot of reps. They just haven\u2019t played a lot of reps together,\u201d Hand said. \u201cComing out of spring, one of the focuses for the summer was just to get guys working in combination with one another so that they can get to know each other a little bit. It was good. Very productive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think in the spring, we were all kind of new to each other. I said in the spring that I think the biggest thing was getting to know each other on a personal level right away, becoming friends,\u201d Petitbon said after FSU\u2019s first preseason practice. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of how I think an o-line unit starts is you\u2019ve got to be real friends, real brothers outside of it. Through spring ball, it was great playing with them and I think that even now and throughout the whole summer, we\u2019ve been pushing each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s completely fair if you want to see this improvement with your own two eyes before truly believing it. I\u2019m somewhat in the same boat after all us media types so badly misjudged last year\u2019s team during the lead-up to the season.<\/p>\n
But the buzz around the FSU offensive line is certainly good right now. And there are enough new faces all around the room to believe that improvement may not be that hard to find, especially when compared to the disaster that was the 2024 unit.<\/p>\n