Which Florida State Receiver Should Be The Primary Target In 2024?

Intro will Florida State have a true number one wide receiver this season and if they do who is it you are locked on seminal your daily podcast on the Florida state seals part of the locked on podcast Network your team every [Music] day [Music] Welcome welcome back into another episode of Locked on simal I am your host Brian Smith you can find us wherever you get your podcast for free and on YouTube please like and share this podcast and comment when you can this show is brought to you by our friends at FanDuel make every moment more new customers join today and get $200 in bonus bets if your first bet of $5 or more wins visit fanduel.com loed on to get started so this is what The Debate we're going to do I'm trying to narrow it down and figure out okay who is going to be the number one wide receiver for the fora state seals in 2024 is there going to be one it's not a loot sometimes it's a system where everybody's balance every now and then that happens the nolles had two dominant guys last year and Johnny Wilson and Keon Coleman and they also had Jem out of tight end I mean they had really really special players that they've all moved on to the National Football League that doesn't mean there isn't talent and it doesn't mean there isn't a really interesting debate and that's what we're going to do right now I'm going to name off four different guys that I think could be that player I'm just going to look at it from a perspective with each one it's like I start over if you will I'm G to name why I think that person could be the number one receiver this year and possibly Beyond in the case of one of the players and I'm G to ask you at the end of all four of these which one you would pick or would it be somebody else please comment on YouTube Etc and let's talk about it because this is a big deal if fla State can definitively have that guy where you have to know where he's at on every freaking single snap it changes your play calls as a defense it changes your personnel it changes how much you Blitz it changes how much you really try to stuff to run it is important to have a dominant receiver in today's college football World these are the four that I think have the best chance to be that guy and there's no particular order here I'm just going to start with hem Williams and move through so again just comment at the end of the show let me know what you think number one hem Williams wide receiver sophomore Stranahan High School Fort waterdale Florida he was a kid that I knew the most out of these and watching him in high school was a lot of fun whether it was a seven on seven tournament watching his film whatever it is he makes special catches and he makes a lot of catches down the field against guys that could really run always noticed about that well that translated to the field at Florida State last year in some Snippets learning The Playbook playing at the the college level it's different but when he took off yeah there's no doubt hem Williams is a tremendous football player and once he gets his feet under him and he feels comfortable and I mean truly comfortable and that's all about the Playbook there is nothing physical there it's above the shoulders he can be dynamic will he be that guy this year I don't know he could be the number one I think he's probably longterm has the most upside of any receiver on the roster but we're just talking about 2024 first off a little bit I'll talk about the extra bonus with him if he's the number one guy in a minute but here are the other things that I think he can do but his size he's over 200 pounds he can help you in the Run game as a blocker he's getting bigger and stronger this was his first year in the offseason weight condition program so you're not only getting a home run threat with speed and length and height he's 6'3 you're talking about a guy that has the ability to help you in the Run game and Florida State does a great job of getting the ball to the perimeter if your receivers don't block if your tight ends don't block Run game doesn't work he has to prove he can do that play after play consistency he also has to do one other thing show he can run the route tree within the offensive scheme I know I'm kind of repeating myself here but it's everything either you know the Playbook and the coaches in their opinion no offense to AEM or anybody else in their opinion feel you are ready to do it you're not gonna play that much that's just how college football works and I'm gonna say something that I say all the time and I will probably take this to my grave there are no more stubborn people on planet Earth than college football coaches I'm looking at norell I'm looking at everybody they are anal about these kinds of things and they don't often shall we say go to the side and give a guy an extra little nudge to get out there and play just because they have Raw Talent it's just how coaches are it's not a for State thing that's across the board so how much hem Warren's above the shoulders could dictate whether or not he ends up being the number one or even the number two receiver in 2024 player number two Darion Williamson a lot of comparisons physically to highing Williams 63 over 200 pounds can really run has length but he's been a guy that just can't stay healthy if Florida State's going to get to the promised land this next year whatever guy that it is ends up being number one hopefully if it's Williamson here's the number one thing stay healthy it sounds easier than anything in the world but it's really not but as many coaches on on the record or off the Record will tell you or me or anybody else your number one asset is your availability if he doesn't stay healthy he can't be number one he has to make every practice can't be a hint of anything in my opinion through spring because Florida State's coaching staff knows the history here he's just a guy that's constantly been banged up that's fair or not the way it kind of works so he needs to prove it all the way through spring player three Malik Benson he's the transfer in case you didn't know from Alabama can really run has a lot of speed but he was inconsistent at Bama I don't know the backstory there I don't cover Alabama but he was a kid that was a big-time recruit I think I think he could be the guy at the very least whether you're playing at slot or to the field I I don't know how they want to use him maybe a little both he could take the top off if you use him at slot using like just you know shallow cross throw him a two-yard pass he might make the first guy Miss and score on a 70 yard he's that kind of athlete but he's only like six foot six foot one he's not as big as like Darion or hakee Etc maybe he has the ability to do it in different spots that he could be a different kind of guy as a number one meaning just the Deep threat I don't know but he's going to help I don't know if a first year guy transfering in is going to be just like last year like Keon came in and just obliterated LSU that'd be great I'm not expecting that out of him but he is really talented finally it's KRON portier I think that the ug game at least gives you some hope I know that was a terrible game for Florida State but he had four catches 84 yards and this is another bigger receiver that can really run he's a kid out of Miami he's a kid that's been through a lot waiting his turn last year it's not his fault that Keon Coleman showed up he probably would have been the number two number three guy last year but at the same time Keon was there and that kind of took care of itself another fifth year senior another opportunity to arise to the C can he do it possibly we need to see all these things again kind of like with Darion in practice can you do it over and over again can we rely on you the case for him is pretty simple all the tools are there there and he's had the moments and he had the big moments against Georgia so maybe that that'll carry over into spring so again those are the four that I think have the best chance you could say jakai Douglas or somebody else please comment on this on YouTube let me know what you think if I miss somebody or if you think it's just automatically going to be a situation where they're GNA have a lot of different guys I could buy that and you could also say Kyle morot he's going to be the starting tight end there's nothing wrong if he goes out and catches 50 balls that's okay you can win like three different guys are in the 30s at wide receiver and Kyle has 51 catches for 60 yards and six touchdowns I don't think Mike norell or anybody on the staff would be all that disappointed that'd be pretty good there's different ways to get it done I ask again though if you think there's going to be a number one who is it was I right at least picking from these four Etc please comment and kind of go through that because it's a lot of fun for me to to look at it because I've been trying to figure this out for a while and I've went over the receivers multiple times but there isn't a clear-cut answer in my opinion if you want to comment on that if you think there is far away I'm curious as to your reasoning besides I just think so but it's not as easy as it looks and Florida States probably just like all everybody else the coaching staff they're just gonna like let's see what happens in Spring that's my guess so with that we're going to talk a little bit more about the the receiving corpse and what it takes for them to work and in conjunction with some other players coming up here in just a second on locked on Sponsor simal did you know that even if you have a 401K retirement you can still have an IRA Robin Hood has the only Ira that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robin Hood gold but get this through April 30th Robin Hood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer from other retirement accounts with a 3% match that's right no cap on the 3% match 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you can just say Alexa Play Fire TV channels and it is a bunch of clips and shorts kind of like a YouTube where they have sports and different channels that are on there their menus growing all the time and you can really have a good time with it as well so check Che Out Fire TV it's a really good way to go you can use the stick or you can actually buy a Fire TV whatever it is you would like to do it's a great Jaylen Lucas investment all right now let's talk about the opportunities for Florida State beyond the number one receiver situation you have to have other players compliment and one of the ways you do that and Florida state has certainly shown it with toili the running backs catching the football does kaziah catch the ball does how much do you get the ball to somebody like jayen Lucas I'll talk about in a second the receivers are going to be complimentary to the running game but it works in the other direction as well so I want to talk a little bit about why jayen Lucas the transfer from Indiana University is important as well as I'm going to talk a little bit about kaziah totally different style of back but can be used in similar ways so let's start with Jaylen last year 34 catches 247 yards 7.3 yards per catch and two scores now I ain't going to talk talk about the rushing stats but he's a pretty good athlete there too he's a Louisiana kid so there's connections a lot of the staff for Florida state has connections Mississippi Louisiana Tennessee Etc and he's transferring after two years this is a kid that's 59 170 and is Twitchy you can use him in the slot you can use him as a running back you can throw screens to him kind of like Lawrence toi not as big as LA but same kind of style and when he makes guy Miss he can do it pretty impressively it changes how teams to play you let me give you an example let's say that toili and Lucas are on the field at the same time they come out to the Huddle first play of the drive so nothing's going on no nothing's opened up there is no big play and then you go you know no huddle or anything they're in two running backs let's say morock is the only tight end so they're in 21 you have no idea as a defensive coordinator none where they're going to line up because Lucas is extremely good in the p pass in game he could be at slot he could be standing next to DJ he could be all over the place he could be an upback they use it motion you could run him all the motion behind the running backs all the new stuff you see in college football it is a nightmare even when he does not touch the football he can set up a touchdown if you want number one wide receivers I get it guys that go take the ball off somebody's head that's great I do too everybody needs that but if you really want to give those guys the most opportunities this is how you do it running backs that are three down players run it can catch and can block kaziah we'll talk about in a second is the most likely to do that but jaylen's pretty tough kid too he's not GNA just take on a guy at 230 in block all the time but he'll throw his hat in there and in the other two categories as a runner and especially as a receiver he's a guy that can be a pain in the butt when Forida state uses guys like this it's for a purpose he can make plays by himself but again jayen Lucas can impact the game when he does not even touch the freaking ball that is annoying I trust me I talked to defensive coaches about they hate guys like this they don't they want to know exactly where you're going to be so they can match their personnel you can go four five wide with him in the offense or you can be in two running backs and two tight ends he can fit anything that's really difficult for defense coordinators now let's switch to kaziah he's a kid that originally went to Penn State he played at CoCo high school he transferred to Florida State he's kind of waited his turn 5'11 210 really athletic kid has some power behind his pads and he catch the football too here here's a couple of things 29 carries 185 yards and two scores last year also caught five passes for 58 yards and two more scores again he's 210 so he's roughly 40 pounds heavier than Jaylen Lucas plays downhill you could put him in the back field you could run crossbuck action throw a screen to one Whatever he'll catch it he'll block maybe he's the guy they run sweep give the ball to Jaylen give the ball to to Lawrence give the ball to Singleton whatever it is he can be used a number of ways again versatility these lineups are going to be annoying they're not going to replace Jem Bell in my opinion I I just don't see how you can so I think you'll see a little boore like Jaylen Lucas or somebody else in the backfield two guys and topil I think will get the most touches as a running back but with these different options they can all catch they all bring extra versatility that make the other team's defensive coordinator angry before the play and or the drive even starts that's what you have to do you have to dictate to them and force them to choose and then I assume I don't know for sure once you get that first first down you go no huddle do not let them rotate in new players force that linebacker to be on Jaylen Lucas in the slot you want to play Man coverage go right ahead you want to play soft that's okay we'll just run the ball dictate to them make it work you obviously they always talk about this you got to get the first first down once you do that you go no huddle it's straightforward when you can't rotate linebackers and then you start putting running backs in the slot and throwing screens and short passes to them it might be a negative one it might just be a two- yarder but then it's a 60 they're going to make one of those guys miss and that's what a kaziah holes can do you can run it on first down traditional trap play traditional off tackle lead draw whatever that he might catch a swing pass have a linebacker on him one-on-one again he's 210 but he's a pretty athletic guy he'll either lower the pads and put it on him or he can make them miss all these different opportunities for him make it a dynamic offense and again it goes back into what I talked about the lead end of the show who's the number one receiver if they're really worried about whatever player let's say it's hem I I don't know who it's going to be and they're rotating deep playing cover three playing land underneath maybe but a lot of deep coverage you got one guy to beat and then you're into the middle of the field when you get guys like this like a Jaylen Lucas in space kaziah Holmes you give somebody else like toil that chance I mean tofil proved it multiple times over his career already it's not gonna be fun they can get that number one receiver and they're playing soft at second level is going to be easier to get into for guys like aiah that's a huge deal now before I finish up with this part we're g to talk about one more guy and then kind of like an overall theme here in just a minute realize that this is a truly wideopen spring practice for Florida State and and that's a great thing because this makes it fun as a fan with Forida State spring practice starting next week you should be excited because there there all kinds of things like this that are developing I could talk about the offensive lineman a lot and I'll briefly talk about that in a second because there's a couple of guys that I think can play multiple spots and they could also be huge factors in conjunction with how this works in the passing game and the running game so we're going to talk about that next right here on lockon Sims March Madness Highlight this week's March Madness bracket highlight is brought to you by our friends at Nissan each week we're picking one team that stands out a team that's pushed it further than the rest just like any of the allnew 2024 Nissan SUVs these guys were able to make it to the next level let's go with the Utah State Aggies as they are 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line and maybe of the entire offense if I remember correctly but there's different ways you could do it I love to see buyers inside or another way to get Scott on the field if he is truly healthy again one way to establish a number one wide receiver is give DJ some time to throw the freaking football they didn't do that all the time last year the oine was inconsistent especially in the Run game this year with DJ who is nowhere near as Nimble especially laterally as a certain quarterback that is moved on in the NFL I think it is going to behoove them to figure out the passing protection even more and you got to run the ball well too to get into those situations that are more manageable DJ can run but he's just not Jordan Travis nothing against it but Jordan Travis could have played a lot of spots other than quarterback so maybe it's Washington that plays left guard and something I don't know but I'm sure they're going to try different scenarios if you will how would this unit work how would this one work does it work better in short yardage do we use one of these guys as like an HB in goal line Florida State's got a bunch of guys that are seniors fifth year seniors Etc I think it's a little easier now to experiment because they all know they're capable of playing they just need some kind of chemistry last year they were just snake B I mean Mo was hurt a lot obviously Robert was hurt Etc buyers played the most snaps but for the most part just about everybody else that's got hurt at some point and Miss time number one that can't happen number two who's the best combination that gives you a team human I think there's a really good chance Scott ends up in the lineup because he's arguably the most physically gifted guy up front you could at least make the argument how does that work out just something to think about because Florida State needs that ability to be able to be consistent up front unlike last year and I know I bring this up a lot you can't have another game like Clemson where you found a way to win with the big defensive play and all that Clemson shot itself in the foot a few times but they had 22 rushing yards in that game they will probably not win another game like that in the next 25 years a key Road game with 22 yards r that is pathetic the way you do it is consistency up front you don't have negative plays and guys running Scott free can't happen so if that's something to think about moving forward and that'll set up all the opportunities to throw down the field to Darren Williamson porier toiki Williams whatever it is whoever that player is you got to have pass protection that leaves with one parting shot and I've always thought that tight ends were undervalued in a lot of ways the NFL has finally kind of figured it out and different guys that are becoming just more spectacular all the time well they lost Jem but that doesn't mean you can't have other guys step up they have like Jackson West can he block can he be the 12 personal guys and HB Etc I think it's pretty safe to say Kyle Morlock is going to be your key tight end but somebody has to develop there Beyond Kyle let's start with that and then two this is the important thing there's no reason Kyle shouldn't catch 25 balls at minimum this next season he's Dar good football player he's not going to be overshadowed by Jahim because he's not here anymore Point BL third Downs goal line HB I don't know if he's going to be a dominant blocker I I don't know he needs to get better at it it's not like he's terrible by any means but if he wants to play in the NFL that would be the thing that I would advise but he also needs to be a Moneyball guy play action off the same stuff you ran down the field as old as it gets but when you get into the top or into the five yard line area you got to sell out for the run if you go play action you're guessing if you don't and good luck to you if they walk in the end zone and you're in the defensive meeting next week so guy like Morlock as athletic as he is he can get out in the flat after just bumping the defensive end or the outside linebacker the safety whatever he should have some easy opportunities like that we just went over all these running backs they're Dynamic they're in good shape and there's other guy I didn't even mention all the running back they come close that's going to help him Pat his stats and it's another way if they don't end up having a true number one to have a big play guy and if they do he's even going to be more likely to be one-on-one with somebody that can't hold up with him as safety or linebacker that makes it easy I think you're going to see Morlock make a lot of plays so we'll see how that goes but kind of anxious to see spring practice who ends up being the number one receiver for Florida State and across the board which guys end up starting on the o line Etc it's going to be a lot of fun that gets started next week for the fora State seminars please like and share this podcast and above all else make sure that you comment curious what everybody thinks about the opportunities for a receiver to be a number one will there be I don't know there doesn't automatically have to be a number one wide receiver for the Noles I'm just assuming there will be doesn't guarantee anything so with that everybody once again please like And subscribe and have a good day