Florida St. will be led by a new head coach for the first time since 1976 due to the early departure of Bobby Bowden, who finished the 2009 season with a 33-21 Gator Bowl victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers and a career that he finished with 377 wins, which is the second-most in Division 1 college football history.
A new era begins at Florida St., who is one of our top NCAAF picks for Most Improved Teams in the Country this year under Jimbo Fisher, who arrived in 2007 and was the offensive coordinator and assistant coach for the previous 22 years. Fisher led the Florida St. offense that ranked second in the ACC conference to only Georgia Tech and is known for his ability to recruit the top prospects in college football.
Fisher added five of his own guys to the Florida St. staff: Darin Eliot, who will coach defensive ends, Gregg Hudson, who will coach linebackers, Dameyune Craig, who will coach quarterbacks, Mark Stoops, who will be the defensive coordinator and Eddie Gran, who will be his assistant head coach. Fisher leaves the offense in great shape this year as it is loaded with talent, starting with the return of Seminoles quarterback Christian Ponder, who threw for 2,717 yards and completed 68% of his passes before picking up an injury. which ended his season in the ninth game of 2009.
Ponder has an experienced group of fast receivers who can make plays with their No. 1 receiver Bert Reed who had 60 catches for 710 yards, Jarmon Fisher who had 45 catches for 610 yards and four Tds while Taiwan Easterling had 35 catches. for 442 yards and two TDs. Ponder will have great protection to get the ball to these athletes with an offensive line that returns to the starting five and could arguably be the best in the country. They will also have a running back combination that features two very talented running backs in Jermaine Thomas and Chris Thompson who are capable of 1,000 yards if they carry enough.
Florida St. will need to improve on the defensive side of the ball where they ranked 94th in scoring defense, 110th in passing defense and 108th in total defense. To be honest, Florida St couldn’t stop anyone in the ACC last year and they’re hoping Mark Stoops, the younger brother of Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoop, who led the Arizona Wildcats to a 25th-ranked defense in the country, can change things four times. Seminoles.
Florida St will have new energy this season as they have many returning skill players from last year’s team that finished with a Bowl win. The offense will put up numbers as they can score against anyone in the country and if the defense can improve under Stoops, they will contend for the ACC title.
