If you have followed this column in the past, you are very aware of the “ugliness” that was last season. The struggles that the Seminoles displayed on the field were backed up by their PFF scores, especially at the offensive line. But as we saw Saturday, this is not the same Florida State Seminoles football team as last year— and there wasn’t a unit where that was more obvious than the offensive line. A new group of portal players and a new coach made a massive difference in the Seminole’s 31-17
shocker of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The Seminoles stuck with their same five offensive lineman the entire game and heavily featured the tight ends in the run blocking game. Most noticeably tight ends Markeston Douglas and Randy Pittman Jr. participated in the majority of run snaps.
Hello Randy!
As we noted before the season began, the offensive line depth is thin. The health of the starting offensive lineman will be a major storyline to follow as the season continues.
Each week, Tomahawk Nation will take a peek at FSU’s PFF Grades along the offensive line, offering insights into the numbers and performances Please note, any player seeing minimal snaps may be excluded due to the small sample size.
| Player | Alabama Run Snaps | Alabama Run Blocking | Alabama Pass Snaps | Alabama Pass Blocking | Alabama Total Blocking Snaps | Alabama Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adrian Medley | 43 | 59.7 | 22 | 68.6 | 65 | 62.71 |
| Amaree Williams | 5 | 60.2 | 5 | 60.20 | ||
| Gunnar Hansen | 43 | 51.8 | 21 | 57.3 | 64 | 53.60 |
| Landen Thomas | 3 | 39.4 | 3 | 39.40 | ||
| Luke Petitbon | 43 | 51.6 | 22 | 75 | 65 | 59.52 |
| Markeston Douglas | 30 | 58.3 | 2 | 68.5 | 32 | 58.94 |
| Micah Pettus | 43 | 56.8 | 22 | 82.9 | 65 | 65.63 |
| Randy Pittman Jr | 41 | 53.6 | 6 | 75.2 | 47 | 56.36 |
| Richie Leonard IV | 43 | 55.2 | 22 | 83.9 | 65 | 64.91 |
- The total score is an average of the run and pass blocking scores. The scores will be weighted more towards where the player saw the most action.
- PFF isn’t a perfect scoring system. The graders cannot know 100% of the assignments on each play.
- PFF CFB Scale: 90-100 Elite, 85-89 All-Conference, 70-84 starter, 60-69 Backup, <60 Replaceable
Florida State offensive line performance takeaways with @Ricobert11:
- FSU’s run blocking numbers weren’t great (51.8, 55.2, 51.6, 59.7, 56.8, left to right). For reference, FSU had a higher run blocking average vs ND last year and had 2 players grade out over 60.
- Alabama is quite stout up front on defense. On FSU’s 48 rushes, only half of them went for positive EPA. But FSU made up for it with 6 explosive rushing plays (EPA > 1), including Danzy’s well-blocked GT bluff reverse. When FSU was successful blocking, it opened up big runs.
- Leonard (83.9), Pettus (82.9), and Petitbon (75) were generally excellent in pass blocking.
- Kudos to Richie Leonard IV, who was your best lineman last year before injury and your best lineman against Alabama.
