Colleges

Just in time, FSU gets needed relief

Jamaal Edwards emerges as quality backup to tailback Antone Smith.

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published September 14, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Florida State junior running back Jamaal Edwards never expected coach Bobby Bowden to pay him a visit shortly before last weekend's game.

The fourth-year junior surely couldn't have predicted the message.

"He just said, 'It's time to step up,'" he said.

Bowden and the staff needed to find someone to keep the chains moving while spelling star Antone Smith, who was on the field for all but one of the 63 offensive plays in the season opener against Clemson.

"Son, we've got to get you in the game tonight and you've got to determine if you want to be the second-team tailback or not," Bowden told Edwards.

"When he says something to you, you know it's serious," Edwards added. "I just took it as a challenge upon myself to go out there and do what I had to do."

He didn't let the deliver-or-else message throw him for a loss.

He ran with it.

Although he had last carried the ball in a game on Nov. 6, 2004, Edwards had 12 rushes for 45 yards against UAB. And it didn't come in mop-up duty. Smith went out with a mild concussion early in the third quarter and Edwards had 19 yards on three carries during a touchdown drive that gave FSU its first lead, 24-17.

"When you don't do it in a while, you think, 'Man. Can I still do it?'" he said. "But I always say to myself, I do it every day out here at practice against the Florida State defense. There ain't going to be too many defenses better than those guys. ... I just haven't put it to use in a game situation."

"He made some nice runs, pass blocked well a couple of times, did the things we asked him to do in a crucial part of the game," added offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher. "From what I saw so far, I was very encouraged."

Smith, the guy Bowden has repeatedly said his team could least afford to lose, is expected to play Saturday at Colorado, but that's not a given. Throw in a long plane ride and the thinner air of mile-high Boulder and you could expect to see less of Smith.

"I feel like I've got a pretty good backup," Smith said of Edwards.

Others weren't as convinced, at least before last Saturday night. Bowden fretted about the gap between his first- and second-string tailbacks - whether you were talking about Edwards, Marcus Sims or Russell Ball. To him, the position certainly didn't seem stacked with a No. 1 and No. 1A and a No. 1B as it has been in some years.

But then the 6-foot, 210-pound Edwards, a top prospect himself out of Dudley (N.C.) High who chose FSU over North Carolina, Tennessee and Clemson, had little chance to show what he could do. He had just eight career carries (all as a freshman in 2004) for 28 yards.

He did appear headed for bigger things with a "great spring," said Fisher, who along with the rest of the offensive staff tabbed Edwards as the most dependable running back. But then Edwards had left ankle surgery and the questions came rushing back.

He answered some of them last week.

"It felt good just to be able to contribute because they always say you contribute when you're at practice by giving the team a look and all of that, but it's nothing like when you contribute in a game and contribute and help your team win," said Edwards, adding his ankle is now fine.

"He surprised me in the fact that I just haven't seen him healthy in a while," added quarterback Drew Weatherford. "He looked the best that he had looked in a long time. We knew he had the potential. He's been making plays when he got the opportunity."

How many more meaningful opportunities Edwards gets will depend, of course, on Smith's status and he's okay with that.

"I know Antone's the man; I know he's the starting tailback," he said. "It makes it easier on you when you know your role."

That's to run with being No. 2 while looking like a No. 1A.

Brian Landman can be reached at landman@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3347.

[Last modified September 13, 2007, 20:22:32]