Sports: FSU: a team in need of a leader

FSU: a team in need of a leader

Unlike years past, the 'Noles are missing veteran leadership, something coaches and players say must change.

By BRIAN LANDMAN

Unlike years past, the 'Noles are missing veteran leadership, something coaches and players say must change.

TALLAHASSEE -- When the game began to turn for the worse Saturday at North Carolina, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden did what he always has done in similar situations:

He turned to his seniors for leadership.

But unlike the past, he didn't see a Corey Simon or a Chris Weinke or a Brian Allen vociferously encouraging or challenging his teammates, sparking a comeback.

"As I searched the sidelines the other day, I didn't see anybody say, 'Lets go get 'em,' " Bowden said.

"That hurt us on Saturday," sophomore linebacker Kendyll Pope said. "No one went and jacked somebody up or really got in somebody's face and let him know what we've got on the line. That was our big downfall."

The five turnovers and 14 penalties, as well as the inspired play of the Tar Heels, were big factors in the 41-9 loss. But the silence from the upperclassmen resonated, and that's disquieting to Bowden.

"Maybe some will evolve from this," Bowden said, "but you're searching for it."

This is a young FSU team: five seniors start and most prefer leading by their deeds, not their words.

Safety Chris Hope, a defensive co-captain along with middle linebacker Bradley Jennings, isn't just soft-spoken. He's reticent to be as confrontational as Simon, Weinke or Allen could be at times.

"What scares me from being vocal at times is how people take criticism," Hope said. "They may take it as that I think I'm better than them or that it's an offensive and defensive thing. It's hard for me to go and say (to the offense), 'You all pick it up or help us out a little bit.' I don't know how they'll take that and that could destroy the team from being one unit because we could be pulling at each other and then it's all downhill."

Receiver Atrews Bell, an offensive captain, would be more apt to speak up if he were more productive on the field, like the leaders of the 1998 team.

"The big difference in that team was the guys who spoke up were some vital guys on that team who were making plays," Bell said. "I'm not making plays and it's hard for them to see me talking and talking and not going out there and backing it up as far as making things happen. So, I can understand how people can say we have no leadership."

Nor has it helped the Seminoles that a logical leader, junior receiver/quarterback Anquan Boldin, sustained a season-ending knee injury in mid August. Players like him and respect him. Several teammates had approached him about moving to quarterback before the spring, and he did. A knee injury to senior receiver Robert Morgan prompted Boldin's move back.

"Someone needs to speak up," Boldin said. "You need that sometimes."

That's one reason Bowden named another offensive co-captain, senior receiver Javon Walker, on Monday. "Maybe he can perk it up a little bit," Bowden said.

Walker leads the team with 10 catches for 217 yards. That doesn't include an 85-yard touchdown nullified by a holding call against North Carolina. Walker also brings more of a professional mentality than many of his teammates. He spent three years playing for the Florida Marlins organization before turning full time to football.

"I think it's going to be very important for somebody to step up," he said. "I've been holding back. I know a lot of guys have been here four and five years and this is just my second year, and I never thought it was my place to say a lot of stuff. I felt I hadn't put in the time.

"But now that he's made me a co-captain, I'm starting to get the confidence where if I need to voice my opinion to some of the teammates, I'm going to go ahead and do it."

The players also took the rare step of calling a team meeting Tuesday with two simple goals in mind: clear the air of the finger-pointing that immediately followed Saturday's game and provide a bully pulpit for vocal leaders-in-waiting.

Whether they want it or not.

Whether they're ready or not.

"I probably need to get on some guys a little more," Jennings said. "If I see something wrong, yeah, I'm going to get real vocal. Whoever needs to be gotten on."

"Brian (Allen) called me Sunday night and was saying it was going to be gut-check time now and we'll see who was going to step up and respond," Pope said. "We've got to get our leaders to step up. I'm going to take it upon myself to be a leader. Even though I'm still a sophomore, I can still take that role. I hate to lose."