Coming out of Friday’s 46-38 double overtime loss at Virginia, it may have been hard for some to find any real positives from Florida State’s defensive performance.
Defensive coordinator Tony White had plenty of negative things to say about his unit’s mistake-laden showing.
But he also made sure to shout out a few players who he felt rose above the overall struggles. One of the first players he mentioned was redshirt sophomore cornerback Ja’Bril Rawls, who recorded 11 tackles and sent the game to overtime
with his first career interception.
“I thought Ja’Bril played his tail off,” White said Sunday. “That’s probably the best I’ve ever seen him play.”
Rawls was a stiffer judge of himself, less willing to give himself such effusive praise.
“I feel like I performed pretty average, if you ask me, because I feel like I had left more out there,” Rawls said. “There are plays I did leave out there. Just me attacking the little things that I didn’t do too well Friday night, keep elevating my game.”
With FSU replacing two cornerback starters this offseason, Rawls has made the first three starts of his career early this season. He made his first career start vs. Alabama, but sustained an injury in the game which knocked him out of the following game vs. North Alabama.
Rawls has been back in the lineup the last two games. Early this season, he actually has the better Pro Football Focus coverage grade (71.8) over fellow starter and Houston transfer Jerry Wilson (68.5).
Per PFF, Rawls has allowed eight catches on 14 targets for just 44 yards, an average of just 5.5 yards allowed per reception (22nd among all eligible FBS cornerbacks) and 3.1 yards allowed per target. He hasn’t yet allowed a catch of 10-plus yards this season.
On a night where FSU’s front seven didn’t provide much production, Rawls was one of a number of defensive backs who rose to the challenge, also securing his first career tackle for loss.
“That was a guy even going into the game, we were kind of ready to feel him again,” FSU head coach Mike Norvell said of Rawls. “You felt it early in the season, in practice. He’s got such a great ability. He’s got twitch. He’ll throw his body around. Obviously, the Alabama game, he made a couple of good plays, had the injury where he missed a game and was kind of feeling himself back into that game setting. It was really a couple of games where, alright, it’s time to get back out there and go play.
“I thought he was one of the guys that you felt coming out of that game threw his body around. Had an interception, made some good plays in coverage. Wasn’t a perfect game. You obviously had some areas, a couple of missed tackles and things that we have to clean up, but it was still what we expect out of Ja’Bril. I know what he expects out of himself. So now it’s about going and continuing to progress as the season unfolds.”
Rawls is one of five Seminoles who has already secured an interception this season. The Seminoles’ six picks in four games are tied for ninth most in FBS and already are well past the four they had all of the 2024 season.
“I would say we just made plays on the ball when it was presented to us,” Rawls said. “I feel like that’s what we’re going to continue to do and continue to emphasize on.”
Even if Rawls had a career game vs. Virginia, the Seminoles’ defense took a sizable step back after a strong start to the season.
With rival Miami on the horizon, Rawls has seen the defense enter the week with renewed focus to rediscover what worked so well in the season-opening win vs. then-No. 8 Alabama.
“I would say our attention to detail today (was improved). We came out laser-focused with the smaller things,” Rawls said. “ … Just going back to work and going back to what we usually do. Just us staying focused. We know what we got ahead of us and just get going to get the job done.”
