Colleges

Some call it an opportunity

The scandal that has left FSU short-handed is forcing some players to grow up a little fast.

By BRIAN LANDMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published December 31, 2007

Redshirt senior and former Jesuit star Garrison Sanborn is a deep snapper who may be called on to play defensive end.
	[Scott Keeler | Times]

NASHVILLE - Florida State linebacker Kendall Smith couldn't have imagined he would be in this position, at least not now, not as a freshman.

But with 36 players 25 scholarship and 11 walk-ons left off the travel roster for today's Music City Bowl against Kentucky for various reasons, including an embarrassing academic misconduct scandal, Smith is set to start for the first time in his young career in place of Dekoda Watson after playing solely on special teams.

"I really never thought it would happen this year," he said. "I just thought that I would be playing with the special teams unit the whole time, just like freshmen usually do, and when my sophomore year rolled around, I'd start to get playing time."

The scandal, involving a tutor who provided answers for online tests to student-athletes in a music class, dramatically changed that timetable for the former South Sumter standout.

"I wish that wouldn't have happened, but not many players, not many freshmen, get the opportunity that I'm getting right now," he said. "I have to take advantage of this opportunity."

He's obviously not alone in that category. Not when you have so many players left behind who were listed in FSU's bowl guide, a group that includes projected starters Daron Rose (offensive tackle), Jacky Claude (offensive guard), Charlie Graham (tight end), Budd Thacker (nose guard), Neefy Moffett (defensive end), Watson and Patrick Robinson (cornerback). When you add the players who are here but injured or whom the coaches plan to redshirt, the Seminoles will take the field with 43 scholarship players.

That's about two-thirds of a Division I-AA lineup.

That's not good.

No wonder few are giving the Seminoles (7-5) much of a shot against Kentucky (7-5), a team with a high-powered offense led by quarterback Andre Woodson that was ranked as high as No.8, a team that upset then-No.1 LSU 43-37 in triple overtime and lost 45-37 to Florida and 52-50 to Tennessee in four overtimes. FSU didn't score a touchdown in a 45-12 loss to the Gators.

"Honestly, this is a great opportunity for our team," said unflappable quarterback Drew Weatherford, the former Land O'Lakes standout who has played well in his two bowl games, against Penn State in the Orange Bowl and against UCLA in last year's Emerald Bowl. "There's a lot of adversity and you can't have a great win unless you have adversity."

FSU coach Bobby Bowden even quipped that he might show his team a tape of the Joe Louis-Max Schmeling rematch, the one in which Louis avenged a knockout loss with a stunning first-round KO. The Buster Douglas-Mike Tyson fight, a tape Bowden has used in the past, offers the same lesson for an underdog.

"That did show anybody can beat anybody on a given day," he said.

Seminoles whom many fans might not be familiar with, such as Smith, redshirt freshman left guard Evan Bellamy, redshirt senior tight end Josh Dobbie and redshirt senior Garrison Sanborn, the deep snapper from Jesuit who's listed as a backup at defensive end, need to seize this moment.

"That's what we've approached them with, this is an opportunity; you've got an opportunity that you normally would not have. Now let's see how you respond to it," Bowden said.

It wouldn't hurt if a few of them respond with a game-changing play or two. And consider: Any player involved in the academic scandal will miss four games - the bowl and the first three of next season - so any youngster playing well today might just have the opportunity to remain the starter in 2008.

"I'm really enjoying playing right now and just hoping to do well and get some more playing time in the future," Bellamy said.

"A lot of people think that since we lost a lot of starters, we're going to struggle, but they don't understand that we have backups who are just as good as the first team and they're just waiting their turn," Smith added. "That's what I did, and now I'm starting."

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

[Last modified December 30, 2007, 21:30:43]