ABYSMAL: Why Ashton Daniels and Florida State's Quarterbacks FAIL to Improve

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1:00All season long on ESPN and streaming on the ESPN app. Ashton Daniels regressing is the latest example of why a coaching search is inevitable at Florida State. You are locked on Seminoles, your daily podcast on the Florida State Seminoles. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome back into Locked on Seminoles. I am your host, Brian Smith. Today, we're going to go over the snap counts from pro football focus, as well as some very important grades on both sides of the football. But most importantly, we're going to talk about Ashton Daniels and the overall lack of quarterback development at Florida State. It has been really abysmal for a long time. And why would we believe that it's suddenly going to be better? I certainly don't. Today's show is brought to you by our friends at Fandall, where new customers can get $350

2:03in bonus bets guaranteed when you bet $5 every day for seven consecutive days. Join all the fun over at Fandall.com. So let's just look at it from this perspective. I'm going to put Ashton's PFF grades up on the screen here in a second. For those of you watching on YouTube and I'll read them off for those of you who are listening on audio, Spotify, Apple, and everywhere else. And please leave us a review if you are there. Here's the question I have for you. When was the last time you felt confident from any point, whatever season here at Florida State, that you knew the next game the quarterback was going to elevate his play. Not because of his legs either. Let me be very clear about this. I think it does a good job with the run game. I do. Like Ashton was impactful in the run game against that. I mean, when they knew he's going to run, he's a good athlete. They did a good job with it. I'll give him that from a passing game perspective. When was the last time you felt better that the quarterback was going to be consistently

3:04getting better game to game? 2022 and 2023 are the only markers that you can use. And it wasn't always steady. It's hard at quarterback. You know, but even then, that's a freak athlete. And he can do things that nothing to do with coaching. It's going to lead that out. But from a passing game perspective, specifically in the pocket, when did you feel good about it as a Florida State fan or just somebody that knows football? Well, let me give you a little background on this. I lived in Auburn the last couple of years. I've since moved. But there's no way around it. There were a lot of rumors about Ashton being better than the guy they spent a lot of money on. He was no longer at Auburn. And he should have been the starter. And then when he got into the lineup, wait last year, he was pretty dynamic. He was way better than he was at Stanford. And here's the crux. That staff got fired and then Ashen got inserted into the lineup.

4:05But it was still like they didn't know what was going to happen. Those guys, you know, some of them were there and was totally different offense. Just a few tweaks. Why wouldn't you basically circumvent what they did? You've got the film. And in part, put it in at Florida State. Doose would love it. I can assure you, I'll speak for the young man, but Kai Danzy, Jason Boggs, etc. They've been adding a roadmap and they didn't do it. And it's obvious that from game one to Mexico State to this past game against SMU, the confidence for Ashen Daniels, who's a very positive young man has lowered considerably. Next question, how many non-confident quarterbacks do you know that are good? They don't have any idea what they're doing with it. Why I don't know. But he hasn't just regressed like except for just knowing who he is.

5:09It doesn't look anything like he was at Auburn. Go what? It's not hard. Just go to YouTube, type in Auburn versus Vanderbilt 2025. Go look at the clips. They're not doing any of that. He was throwing ropes. He was doing really well. He also played well against Alabama. They had seven drops in that game where they probably beat Pamela last year and they wouldn't have made the playoff. You might have got to bore fired. Where was all that? Again, you can, this is not hard. This is what he does well at Stanford. You can see what he didn't, especially when he didn't have a lot of talent around to do at school spots. Don't do that. But now at four to state, they never throw the ball on first down. He doesn't look confident with anything past 10 yards. What do we do? Do you believe that he's being coached well? Of course, quarterback is also the most important position in sport. That's why I went with this because again, as I noted in the opening, there is no reason

6:12to believe that a coaching search isn't coming. And quarterback development or a lack thereof is centerpiece number one. To that end, here we go. These numbers from PFF, you can take them as you will. They are a guide. They are not the end all be all. Keep that in mind. But here's what we have for Ashton. And I believe that he's a capable quarterback that is getting cheated a little bit. But the numbers for this last game are not good. 12 out of 23, 52.2%, 123 yards, 5.3 yards per attempt, which is unbelievable. In score, no interception. He had a couple that were pretty close. He wasn't given a turnover worthy play. That's TWP over towards the right. If you look, I thought there were a couple that could have been picked. They were pretty close. But anyway, he only had one drop. But he's just not very good. His grades, offensive grade, which 58, passing grade, 58.4.

7:16I was a little surprised at this. 57.7 running grade. I disagree with that. He ran pretty well. Matter of fact, just for fun, I'll pull up Ashton's grade in regards to running the football. Well, I'm talking about it. But he did, I don't know how they gave him grade for that. But anyway, he had 85 yards rushing. And he didn't avoid the pass rush super well. But at the same time, he was pretty good. These are actual rushes and all that where he doesn't get sacked, etc. He's a pretty good runner and he had a touchdown run. I think he's a quality player in that regard. But that's where the quote unquote, athlete steps into the parameter of football. And that's good. And the coaching kind of goes inside. There's a little bit there. But once he's in space, it's what move am I going to use to get around this linebacker or this safety? That's fine. But overall, Ashton Daniels is the latest in a long line. You can go on X or wherever. There's all kinds of memes about it.

8:18lists of quarterbacks under Norval that have failed. And he is the latest. And to that, I want to finish this before we go to the snap counts. This something I'm probably going to say every day. In some way, shape or form, I don't know the capacity. They have to have a package for Malachi martial moving forward. Doesn't have to be the starter. And he maybe he shouldn't be. Because I don't know how much of the offense he's absorbed. Remember, he didn't enroll until the summer. That's really, really hard. I will give them that. But you can't put Ashton out there despite the fact that he was there from January on. And then get this result either. There's got to be some common ground here because this is bad. He doesn't look confident at all. You're not throwing on first down. You really throw on second down. Third and five and more, your receivers are really going to be squeezed. They've got actually TVs on the field. That's tough. So again, in some capacity, Malachi martial needs to play.

9:22When we come back, we're going to talk about offensive snap counts, discuss who did what and why. And it's probably going to be a lot about the offensive line. I know you're shocked by that. If there's a position beyond quarterback that Florida State has not done well, it would be on the offensive side of the ball in the trenches. That is next right here on Walk on Sympathes. Today's show is brought to you by Odu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales, and somehow none of them talk to each other. That's where Odu comes in. Odu is an all-in-one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing. Everything works in one place. Odu is one platform to manage, grow, and scale your business.

10:22The best organizations know that success isn't about talent. It's about having everyone working toward the same goal. And that's true in sports, just like it is in business. One of the most important opportunities in Florida State history is coming up. If you don't have it lined up into boosters and the administration and all the people involved in this pending coaching search or not aligned, it will not work. Brave organizations win because operations matter and that's why you should get Odu. Odu is one platform to manage, grow, and scale your business. Try for free today at odu.com slash locked on. That's od. Od. Dot com slash locked on. We are also brought to you by poncho. And this is the shirt that I have on. And if you like to be in your game day gear all the time, here's an opportunity for you. Any team that you want to go with, you probably wear it a lot of different places. Game day, go to the grocery store, et cetera. But how many do you have that it's all encompassing? That's comfortable, not hot, not bothersome.

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12:24And more importantly, just the snap counts. This is going to be a gray area, if you will. But you can tell that four to states depth from a lack of recruiting. And I'm not going to dive deep into this rabbit hole, but just from this point forward to the end of the show. Ask yourself, if you know the roster, was this a recruit? Was this a portal guy? Has he been developed? Do your own research a little bit if you want, but I'm going to give you all the numbers. I did that for you. And we're going to have some commentary in different ways. For those of you on YouTube, it'll be a little bit easier to be on the screen, but I'm going to read them off again for everybody on Spotify, Amazon Apple, et cetera. Here we go. Now, first off, we've got the offensive skill players. I just did step counts on this one because I'm just going to be honest here. When you don't give the quarterback the tools and the offensive system that he's feels he feels comfortable in. What are you really going to do? Well, it's obvious that Ashton doesn't have that.

13:27So keep that in mind. And to that end, what's the realistic? Everybody else has got to suffer in some way, shape or form. But these are just the offensive skill player. Snap counts, Ashton Daniels, of course, the quarterback 69. Who's been Chroma had 50 same single, they're only 21. So they really went heavy with Chroma, but he did play well. Doose Robinson 68. That is a while. He came. He came off to feel what rep. That is not sustainable. They're going to have to figure that out. McCuy Danzy 64, Javin Boggs 47. Now, I know they have some players banged up at receiver. But they can't play anybody beyond that was surprising. And it's also why the following is true. They ran a lot of 12 personnel at different times and they tried to run the ball with Daniels. I get it. But the serial rivals had 40 land in Thomas had 42 chase walked and played a little bit of special teams. He had a couple of reps. But they went really heavy with 12 personnel, one running back.

14:28Two tight ends at different times in normal standard. They did it some in this game to. Maybe I'm guessing here. It's. This wouldn't be a first. Maybe it's a little more concerning than we know about. With the injuries at wide receiver. I don't know. But if they're going to go with that package, they somehow have to implement. I don't care what. What package you're in. You must be able to willingly consistently and efficiently throw the wall on first out, which they are awful at. So with that in mind, I'm not really sure. How it's going to go in their next game because they've got over a week to prepare for Alabama. But if they show the same things against Bama, it could be like 42 to three. If Bama doesn't turn the ball over, it could be literally like 42 to three. That's not going to work. I know I know that the injury thing is. The asterisk. But you can't just run 12 personnel and run Daniels against that front.

15:29I've already watched Bama. Their defense of front is good in their secondary conservatively from a national perspective is top five conservatively. So they can put an extra guy in the box. Play man if they want, but they run a lot of games is I like to call it in the back end. They switch coverages. They are the epitome of annoying to prepare for for an experienced good quarterback that throws from the pocket. That's not what Forteste does. So diswarning you on that. I'm really curious to see. What Forteste quote unquote tries to do. In the passing game, because it is going to be tricky. You can't just line up willing, really, and just throw the ball over the place against them. It's got to be strategic and you've got a quarterback whose confidence is waiting. That's going to be interesting. All right. Now the offense one. This is the other part that is wild. The first half way we started at right tackle.

16:30He did not in the second half. So this is a little bit convoluted. Nate Papsd began the game at right guard, but he ended at right tackle. So on the screen. If you're watching on YouTube, Xavier Chaplin left tackle 69. Andre Otto 69 reps at left guard. Raiden Welch joiner 69 Paul Bowling came in in the third quarter 33 reps at right guard. And then Papsd overall, he played a little boat right garden right tackle. But he played every snap 69 reps way we had 36. Peret one and Wabbie and one. So a couple of notes here on the offensive line. It's a disaster in some ways, but it's weird just being objective. Every now and then they'll have a rep. That's pretty good. They had a few reps like that where they ran the ball well. So you can see remnants of it. And I've as I've said many times her hands a good coach. But they don't have the talent that they need. I know I'm eating on a dead horse here.

17:32But it is pivotal because again, this is another point about why an impending coaching search is about to happen. You cannot miss this many years like it's a comedy show. How bad their O line recruiting has been for the level that FSU aspires to be. That's very important. For to state is not a normal college football program. It's one that can actually year to year. Compete at the elite level. And here's the greatest example of this. I'll give a little little story by accident yesterday. I don't even remember which podcast it was. Somebody I didn't know. But he had a Florida Gator's shirt on. And he said he was rooting for Florida state because he knew Norval couldn't coach. And the longer he there, he's there, the worse are going to be. When Gator fans are rooting for Norval to win. What does that tell you? So offense of wine is part of that. Next, let's talk a little bit about the defense here. And let's get into it from a perspective.

18:34This is going to be much deeper dive. I spent a lot of time on offense. So I'm not going to really dive too much in the snap counts on offense and go into grades. But this next part of the show to finish. I'm going hit it hard. Florida state's defense and the lack of coverage, the lack of pass rush. That's what we're going to hit next on locked on signals. Today's show is brought to you by our friends over at Fandall. You waited it all off season. Now it's time to make every NFL week out because Fandall is making your most rewarding season ever right now. Whether it's backing favorite team or just having a lot of fun with the same game Parley, getting player props or making picks on the biggest matchups. They in dual gives fans more ways to play throughout the season. And for anyone who's new to Fandall, there's an even bigger reason to make this NFL season count. And for new customers, it's even better. Get $350 in bonus bets guaranteed when you bet five bucks, seven days and wrote.

19:36So here's the deal. I don't know what you want to do, but player props to me are the most interesting thing in the betting world. I'm going to throw in that's where I would go because you can focus on a player that is absolutely somebody you know. That's just my opinion. Get $350 in bonus bets guaranteed when you bet five dollars every day for seven days. That's right. $5 each day and get $50 in bonus bets every day for seven days. This is a fandall.com to get started. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandall. When workplace chaos hits and you need the right hire indeed sponsor jobs helps connect employers with candidates. Who match specific needs like skills certifications and location. So less time is spent searching and more time it's spent finding the right fit. People are finding the quality hires on indeed right now in the minute that I'm speaking with you 27 hires are made on average according according to indeed that around the world. Here's the deal for the states going to be in that search. They're going to need multiple people in my opinion.

20:37You've got to find the right kind of person with a coaching search or it's going to be very, very difficult for the state knows that but will they take it to the level they need. That's something they're going to have to figure out spin less time searching more time actual interview candidates who check all your boxes less stress less time and more results. And you can get a $75 sponsor job credit over at indeed.com slash podcast. Check it out indeed sponsored jobs. The defensive grades in the snap counts are more complicated than the offense in my opinion. And before I put up on the screen here's the basic premise as to why. Why in the world. I'm going to talk about the defense of grades are when the scheme itself. Especially on third down. You can find the videos all over just rewatch the game when you're 10 15 yards.

21:40From the line of scrimmage at safety depending on. Pre snap or post. How many plays on the ball you're going to make when it's third and four. Third and five. I'm starting 10 yards off the ball on short. Search situate ridiculous. I have no idea what Tony white is doing but he's going to get fired that's that's very confident on my end. I have no idea what's going on there. But anyway, here are the defense of line numbers. And this is the pf f grade across the board. I'm just going to go down the list. I went from top to bottom in terms of snap counts also read off the grade. This is an area that I'm very, very sensitive to. I'm going to go down the list again. I'm going to go down the list again. The score is 49 is a pivotal place in recruiting. In its one that honestly for the state is dominated at. For much of the last 45 years but right now. Not so much. Daniel lions. 43 snaps 57.4. That's a fifth year senior. He's below average mandrel to see your. 41 snaps 54.4. Rylon Kennedy.

22:4040 snaps. He had one of his better games. 67.1. That's a solid performance. 21 for the ignorance. I don't go outside. Here we go. 1 of theseout points. Dix 35 reps 55.7. The on and 2. 32.4. and Andrews. 31 reps 47. 3 he. 54 points 7. Jordan Sanders and Kevin win combined for 32 reps. They were barely combined over 50%. Now, four to state runs at extremely complex defense and they're trying to confuse the other team. I think they confuse themselves sometimes too, but I get it at nose guard. It's a very specific type of player. You need to be really big. The two gap and they're not necessarily trying to do that all the time, but at the same time,

23:42there are some situations they'd like them to. If your big guys are doing that poorly, I don't get it. Odell's still around. They've got an experienced D-Wine coach. I'm very surprised by that. I'm not saying Jordan Sanders is an end-all be-all, but Kevin win was an elite recruit every school in the country, one of them. And he was 330 pounds and a high motor guy. That just doesn't really compute. Going back and looking at it, by the way, they have to get better at that spot or they're just gonna get annihilated this year. Must be better at detacled slash nose guard. Lions only being at 57.4. What happened to the commentary from Norvell about Daniel's batteries taking that step? Ah, has he? Mandrel, 54.4. Oh boy, they've got him playing out of position. He's a defensive, he's a strong side defensive and they're playing a detacled. What's beyond? They completely missed a detacled in their pan for it. Digs and McCray, they're solid players, but they can't be stowards and they're coming off the bench.

24:43They're kind of what you paid for. Anderson, I'm a little surprised, his grade wasn't better. I'm a little higher on him than some others, but we'll see. Overall though, on defense, the recruiting misses have come home to roost ad nauseam. This is what you get. And I am directly taking a shot and Michael offered. 100% because he's the guy that said, here it is. It's on, it's on, Mike Norvell now. The boosters, myself, but we've got this roster. It's right below that Oregon, Texas, Miami, that kind of what he's talking about that in the article on the Orlando Sentinel. Go read it for yourself. Yeah, that's garbage. They're not even in the stratosphere. Linebacker's a little bit different here. I went with a different angle. Staff counts are there, but the numbers in gold, those are your past coverage grades because this is where Florida State has been abysmal. Chris Jones is a good run defender, but he is continuing right where he was at Southern Miss as a past defender.

25:45He had 53 snaps, but his PFF grade in past coverage, 43. I knew teams were gonna go after him, but I didn't think it'd be that bad. One more Graham Jr. 65.8 in coverage. He was on the field for 47 reps. He was their best linebacker in this past game. Bayer, McCoy Bayer, 30 reps, 59.6 in coverage, and Caleb LaValle, I hope he's, he came off at one point. I don't know what his status is moving forward. We'll see, but he had 66.1 in coverage. They've got to get better in coverage. Your teams are gonna eat him up. And that's why I also put at the bottom of this card here. Where's Isaiah Williams? If you're gonna play him at linebacker, Blitz him or do something. He's a for a reaky athlete. He's a young man that I know. He's from Tavara, he's just outside of the Orlando area in between Orlando and O'Cala. They need to get more pressure. You can at least do that. I know linebackers super complex. Don't get me wrong. But why didn't they play him more?

26:45Safety's, this is really concerning. McCoy Jones has struggled, especially in man. He had the most reps though. He plays like the nickel safety spot. 65 reps, 58.9. Ashram Barker had a good game. He's probably four to states best player overall right now. Not named Chroma. 62 reps, 79.1. He's a dude. CJ Richard, 60 reps, 58.9. In coverage, Max Redman, only 10 reps. May not get that many in the next game. He had a PFF grade of 39. That is horrific. Antonio Cromardi only played in one rep. He was 60. I asked this question and I kind of went in with this. How many safeties make plays when they are 15 plus yards from the line of scrimmage? Again, four to state is lining up players. Give or take 10 yards from the line of scrimmage on third and short. And then they backpedal. Third and short. What do we do? You have no chance. It makes no sense. Cornerbacks.

27:47Jabriel Rawls, 68 reps, 67.8. Quindarius Jones, 47 reps, 56. Neomyah Chandler, 26 reps, 73.9. Pretty solid performance. Ricky Knight, 9 reps, 60.3. Charles Wester only played one rep and 60. Very simple here. They're OK at corner. But it's still the same premise as it is with safety. It's not a lot of aggressive coverage unless they went zero. I think it was nothing or all. They just don't mix it up very well, intermediate. I don't know what that means. Maybe they're terrible at it and practice. But could they be worse than being as far off as they're playing on third and short? I'm not buying it. I think the defense is being undersold in terms of individuals with these grades because of the scheme they're asked to run. The coaching of four to state right now is really perplexing because some of these guys have some pretty good backgrounds in like the line.

28:48Tony White's got a good history with figuring out how to play the run and this team doesn't do it. When they were Nebraska, they didn't have great athletes. They're one of the best run defenses in the country. Sure didn't look like it against SMU and they can't get any pressure. This is a bizarre scenario. I've never seen this kind of an elixir and I don't think four to state is going to get any better and again. All of this in culmination leads to there's going to be a coaching search. It's going to be sooner than later. I'm picking. I might know about a good fire on the Monday after the Miami game. I believe that's October 19th. For about 40 days away, it's going to happen. It's just a matter of time with that. Thank you very much for watching Lockdown Symbols. I truly appreciate it. Please like and subscribe and tell a friend about Lockdown Symbols. We're going to dive in specifically to the coaching search on the next episode who I think they should go after and what's next here on Lockdown Symbols.

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