TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – As soon as it had all finished, after three rounds of drafting that shaped the rosters for Florida State’s upcoming Garnet and Gold Spring Game, linebacker Hamsah Nasirildeen, picked a few minutes earlier by the Garnet team, stood up and delivered a booming message to a room full of newly-minted “free agents.”
“If you’re trying to win,” Nasirildeen said, “come join the Garnet.”
Consider it the opening salvo.
FSU’s spring game won’t kick off until Saturday (4 p.m.), but the competition between Garnet and Gold is now well underway.
About an hour after their second team scrimmage of the spring, the Seminoles gathered in their second-floor meeting room to hold their annual spring game draft.
With head coach Willie Taggart presiding, staffs made up of FSU’s assistants – Harlon Barnett leading the Garnet, Ron Dugans heading up the gold – picked players, one by one, through three rounds of 12 picks.
Selected players then left to join their new teammates down the hall – and to lobby their coaches about upcoming picks.
Rosters will be finalized over the next few days.
“It’s always neat,” Taggart said. “Our players love it. It gives everybody a chance to be on a team, everybody a chance to play.”
The first picks won’t come as much surprise for anyone who follows Florida State football: Junior defensive tackle Marvin Wilson went off the board first, selected by the Gold. He’ll line up across from junior running back Cam Akers, who the Garnet team chose with its first pick.
By the time everything had settled, both veterans felt good about their respective rosters.
“From offensive line to quarterback to DBs to linebackers to receivers – we got everybody,” Wilson said. “I feel real confident as a team captain right now.”
“Very confident,” Akers said, and then with a smile: “And I look at Marvin Wilson when I say that. …
“Marvin Wilson might get up here and do a lot of trash talking, but he’s going to have to back that up.”
To be sure, there’s a lot to like about each team.
The Gold team should be formidable, having the defensive tackle tandem of Wilson and Cory Durden, as well as well as quarterback James Blackman, receiver Tamorrion Terry and cornerback duo Asante Samuel Jr. and Stanford Samuels III.
But the Garnet team is no slouch either. It looks to be strong at running back (Akers and Anthony Grant), linebacker (Dontavious Jackson) and safety (Levonta Taylor, Cyrus Fagan), and its staff also snapped up a handful of young players having standout springs.
“It’s always interesting when it’s over with,” Taggart said. “You think one team is better than the other, and it never ends that way.”
Players who weren’t drafted were then thrown into a pool of “free agents” – meaning they could assess each team’s roster, listen to sales pitches from both sides and then choose the situation best for them.
And that process began the very second that the Gold team made its last pick.
One Garnet staffer, phone pressed to his ear as he spoke with his cohorts, began immediate negotiations with an undrafted tight end.
Defensive tackle Cedric Wood, picked a few moments earlier by the Garnet team, quickly approached a freshman defensive tackle and started selling him on the rotation they could use during the spring game.
At one point, representatives from both Garnet and Gold grabbed hold of one coveted free agent’s arms, literally pulling him in each direction in hopes that he would join their teams.
The whole scene looked straight out of a frantic afternoon on Wall Street.
“I do like the draft and I do like to see how our coaches think of our players – for myself personally,” Taggart said. “Just seeing the reaction and response, then afterwards the back and forth about what they’re going to be able to do in the spring game.”
That back and forth will likely continue this week, and last right through the game on Saturday.
The Seminoles have three practices remaining for the Garnet and Gold Game, and while they won’t spend the whole week practicing as divided squads, everyone will still know where their allegiances lie.
Which is that if, say, Terry beats Taylor on a rep, the safety might hear about it a little more than usual. Or if Taylor picks off a Blackman pass, he can call it a preview of what’s to come.
“Practice is going to be interesting this week,” Wilson said. “Everybody’s going to be talking trash, coaches are going to be going at it, people are going to be texting in group chats.
“Next week is about to be fun. It’s about to be real fun.”
The Garnet and Gold teams might not agree on who will emerge victorious next week, but they’re all on the same page about one thing:
They’re ready to get back in Doak Campbell Stadium, and they’re ready to show Florida State fans all the strides they’ve made in the last few weeks.
“Ever since the clock hit zero last year against Florida, I couldn’t wait to get back in Doak. Now springtime has rolled around. Got a new team, got a new system. It feels good to be back.”
