The offseason, and especially fall camp, cranks the hype machine into overdrive before the season reveals what is real and what is not.
This week, the defensive front is at the center of Florida State’s hype, especially after what appeared to be a strong showing in the Noles’ first scrimmage on Tuesday.
Here are two glowing quotes from head coach Mike Norvell and defensive coordinator Tony White about the unit in their post-scrimmage availabilities.
Norvell: “I mean the (defensive line) is really working.
The growth of the Desirs has been outstanding. Just the physical development from where they were a year ago to where they are now. It’s great having ‘Tae Diggs back and seeing Daniel Lyons. Deante McCray had a couple of flash moments. I think that whole group is fighting to emerge.”
White: “They’re disruptive. They had a couple of sacks on the night. I don’t know what the stat was, but they had 10 TFLs or something like that. But they’re disruptive, and they’re cutting loose…You see the playmaking and the disruption. Guys are playing fast and are in the backfield. So, it’s fun to watch.”
Of course, and this happens at every school, the coaching staff shared positivity. Remember when Norvell said he told Darrell Jackson Jr not to return to school unless he was coming back to be a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft? He was taken in the fourth round. Or when James Williams’ spoken goal was to be a first-round pick? He is at his third school in three years. How could anyone forget the hype around new defensive line coach Terrance Knighton? The Seminoles hired an EDGE coach, Nick Williams, in the offseason.
Along with disappointing individual performances, the unit could be described as inconsistent at best in 2025. FSU finished top 30 in the country in sacks and tackles for loss, and held Alabama to just three yards per carry and less than 100 yards rushing. However, there were obvious lows, such as Florida running a truck through the middle of the defense to the tune of 266 rushing yards for Jaden Baugh.
But the past is in the past, and there are reasons to be excited about the group in 2026. From a schematic standpoint, White seems to have the type of player he wants along the defensive front. Daniel Lyons is the only holdover from the DL room under Adam Fuller, compared to five players a season ago that were brought in under the previous defensive administration. Along with having the right archetype for the 3-3-5, seven defensive linemen return from last year, and the expectation is that another year in the system will make it easier to understand the complex nature of White’s defense.
“There are more and more people around the ball because of (the defense’s conceptual understanding),” White said after the scrimmage on Wednesday. “I think they are understanding the offseason plan and the reps that they all got together. There were not many busts.”
White beliefs should be taken at face value, and there are good reasons to believe that a better feel for the coaching will lead to better instinctive play on the field. The bigger question for the Seminole front will be if they have the horses to execute the game plans.
Not including freshmen, as none are guaranteed significant playing time, the defensive line can be split into three groups of three: rising second-year players, first-year transfers, and veterans.
Rising sophomores
Starting with the youngest talent, White and his staff are banking on massive leaps from this group. With the Desirs, the coaches gush whenever they say the twins’ names. An extra year in the weight room allowed Darryll to lose a bit of weight and Mandrell to add eight pounds to get to 270, allowing them to play all across the defensive line. These two will be the focal point for what White does up front, and the expectation is they will turn into All-ACC players. Along with the twins, Kevin Wynn seems in line for a huge increase in snaps with the departure of Jackson Jr. The sophomore is down to 317 pounds, 17 fewer than in 2025, and the coaching staff says he appears faster and better suited for the rigors of the college football season. In his interview with the Jacksonville media on Thursday, Deante McCray spoke highly of the work Wynn put in during the offseason.
“Seeing him first come in and seeing where he is now is a lovely thing to see.”
But strong body types do not necessarily mean strong production. Wynn played in only four games last year, and Darryll recorded just one sack. Will they both be able to start and contribute from week zero?
First-year transfers
Then, turning to the transfers, three names come to mind: Ryland Kennedy, Jalen Anderson, and Jordan Sanders. Kennedy, the most touted of the three, appeared in 13 games for Texas A&M last year as a rotational piece to an Aggie team that went to the College Football Playoff. He specializes in rushing the passer, which FSU desperately needs, but his question will be whether he is an all-around edge defender to stay on the field longer than third down. Anderson, the top-ranked JUCO edge, also faces the same challenge and, listed at 6’2” and 242 pounds, will need to display courage when stopping the run. Sanders will not have any problem stopping the run, but how much can a player who started only three games at Texas State last year eat up the same amount of double teams that Jackson Jr. was able to do a year ago?
Veterans
Then there are the veterans, Daniels Lyons, Deamontae Diggs, and McCray. All are in their fifth year of college eligibility and have been with FSU for multiple seasons. From hearing the coaching staff throughout the spring and fall, they expect Lyons, who spent all five years with Florida State, to be the leader of this unit. While he has played in double-digit games the last three years and weighs over 290 pounds, he has never proven that he can be more than an impactful rotational piece. That will need to change with the amount that Knighton and company have put on his plate. To a lesser extent, that will be McCray’s battle after playing in all 12 games last year with 25 tackles, but only starting in two. He seems more confident in his second year under White and can line up inside or out. But how much potential is untapped? Diggs rounds out the group and only saw the field for three games before his season ended due to injury. He is one of the larger unknowns on the defensive front, but has the body type to be a versatile chess piece. Knighton highlighted the leadership from the veterans earlier in the week during his media availability.
“Dan has accepted the responsibility of being a leader. He’s not afraid now and be the example…When you’ve got Deante following up with that and Ryland Kennedy and the twins all leading in their own way, it’s easy to coach those guys.”
The TL;DR of all of this is that the room makes sense from a philosophical standpoint but may lack the elite talent to be a truly disruptive force. White, Knighton, Williams, and the rest of the coaching staff will need to make the unit greater than the sum of its parts to build on the success from 2025 and limit the back-breaking mistakes.
