By: Alex Mathis

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The Florida State Seminoles had a season of ups and downs during the 2016 season.

For most teams a 10-3 record would be called a success, but for FSU, not so much.

They saw their star player, Derwin James, go down with a knee injury during the second game. He would go on to miss the entire season.

The Seminoles went on to lose 3 conference games. The Seminoles had embarrassing losses to Louisville and North Carolina and lost a close one to Clemson.

The Noles finished the season on a high note. The beat a highly ranked Michigan Wolverine team in the Capital One Orange Bowl. Jimbo Fisher’s Seminoles will return a lot of starters on this year’s team, and added a lot of talented freshman to add to an all ready-loaded team. The 2017 Noles could be a special team.

Offensive Preview: Jimbo’s offense will be led by, redshirt sophomore, Deondre Francois. Francois had an interesting season last year. He was hit a lot more than Jimbo Fisher would have liked but he produced.

Francois proved to be one of the toughest players in the nation. He repeatedly got up after being knocked down over and over again. Deondre threw for 3350 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Francois will have to find another person to hand the ball off to in the backfield. FSU will lose one of the best running backs in the history of the team. Dalvin Cook will be missed greatly but there will be a whole new group to pick up where he left off.

Jacques Patrick will be the starter for this year’s team. He has the power and the experience to lead this talented group. Ryan Green, Johnathan Vickers, Amir Rasul, and talented freshman Cam Akers will also play a big role in FSU’s ground game.

The offensive line looks to be better than last year. Though they had their bright spots, they also had a lot of times where they turned around and saw their quarterback on his back.

The questionable group this year will be the wide receivers. There is just not a lot of depth there at this time. Auden Tate and Noonie Murray will be the leaders of this group. The Noles hope to get contributions George Campbell, Keith Gaven, and talented freshman standout DJ Matthews.

Defensive Preview: The secondary is one of the strongest in the country. They are led by, ESPN’s No. 1 college player in the country, Derwin James. James is one of the most talented defensive backs college football has seen in a while.

He does a great job coming up and tackling in the box, he can walk down and matchup with a slot, and in some cases even line up on a team’s best wide receiver.  He missed all but 1 game last season.

Coming off knee surgery, he looks faster, quicker, and more explosive than he did the last two years. This year we could see the 1^st Heisman winner in 20 years on the defensive side of the ball. Helping cover over the top with Derwin will be Tarvarus McFadden, Levonte Taylor, Nate Andrews, and Trey Marshall.

The linebackers will be led by redshirt senior, Matthew Thomas. Thomas is coming off his best season as a Nole. He finally looked like the 5-star recruit Seminole fans have been waiting on. Helping man the middle of the field will Dontavious Jackson and Josh Brown. This group looks to have a huge year.

The defensive line is one of the most talented in the nation. Josh Sweat, Jacob Pugh, Brian Burns, Derrick Nnadi, Demarcus Christmas, Joshua Kaindoh, Marvin Wilson and Walvenski Aime all look to have a great year up front. This is probably the most talented group up front Jimbo has had in a while.

Florida State has a team that can win a National Championship this year. If the Noles can stay healthy this season there will be another championship celebration come January.