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FSU Line Making Adjustments

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By STEVE ELLIS

The Tallahassee Democrat

Published: October 21, 2008

More than anything, Rick Trickett needed his offensive line to stay healthy.

Florida State's offensive line coach nearly made it halfway through the season without a significant injury to one of his players. But with starting right guard Will Furlong out six to eight weeks after having surgery on his left foot, Trickett is down to seven offensive linemen with any real experience.

FSU will have three freshmen — right guard David Spurlock, left tackle Andrew Datko and right tackle Zebrie Sanders — in the starting lineup against Virginia Tech on Saturday.

"For a kid not knowing he was going to play, I thought he did pretty good," Trickett said of Spurlock, who was unavailable to the media Tuesday. "Him going in there, Zebrie and him are buddies, Zebrie's play picked up a little bit when he went in there."

Spurlock, who opened the season as the starting right guard, will take over the role that Furlong held the past five games. Furlong, a redshirt freshman, injured his foot before the North Carolina State game and had surgery Tuesday.

"Things happen," Trickett said. "Shift happens, right? That's what they say on the airplane. What are you going to do? …

"Furlong only has four games on Spurlock. So it's not like we've got two years of experience we're losing. We'll just pick up and go with it with three freshmen now."

The loss of Furlong comes at a time when the offensive line — in the first half at N.C. State — finally laid the egg that Trickett had been warning about for weeks. His group was called for holding five times before halftime. Christian Ponder was sacked three times.

Offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher liked how the group rebounded.

"Sometimes you get so caught up in competing you forget about technique and forget about the fundamentals of coaching," Fisher said. "Trickett got into some things we thought we could help them with protection-wise. They went back to fundamentals … getting their footwork right and not getting their bodies in bad situations."

Improvement in that area will be important for a team in the hunt for the ACC Atlantic Division title. FSU is one of four teams with a 2-1 league record, but the Noles still need Wake Forest to lose another game.

NOTEWORTHY: LB Dekoda Watson continues to rehabilitate a left hamstring, and he likely will be a game-time decision. "I've got [until kickoff] on Saturday to see exactly where I'm at," Watson said. "I ran a little bit [Tuesday], it felt all right. I didn't try to explode or anything. I'm just trying to be smart about it. If I [am not] able to go that probably will be best thing for me at this point in time." … Fisher said Ty Jones remains in his plans at running back. The true freshman out of Middleton High has participated in just one game this season.

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