Scouting Florida State

This Saturday, the Wolfpack is 3-1 going into their ACC opener at FSU, which is at 7:30 p.m. at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Florida State has already played Louisville and Virginia in conference action, defeating the Cardinals 35-24 last week, but falling to the Cavaliers 31-24 Sept. 24. FSU (2-2) also lost a big lead and fell 36-31 to Boise State in the season opener Aug. 31.

NC State rolled past Florida State 47-28 in Raleigh, behind three touchdowns by then freshman running back Ricky Person Jr., last year. Person rushed for 17 times for 42 yards and two scores and had a two-yard touchdown reception.

Here is a full scouting report on Florida State.

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Junior running back Cam Akers — The 5-11, 212-pounder had a terrific freshman season, but then struggled behind an uneven offensive line last year. He rushed for 1,024 yards as a rookie and fell to 706 in 2018. The Clinton, Miss., product has been a workhorse this fall, rushing 98 times for 499 yards and six touchdowns through four contests. He has added 13 receptions for 97 yards and two scores. He rushed 36 times for a season-high 193 yards and two scores in the 45-44 overtime win against Louisiana Monroe.

Fifth-year senior quarterback Alex Hornibrook — The lefty played three years for Wisconsin and graduated, and then transferred to Florida State last spring. The 6-4, 220-pounder could be filling in for the injured James Blackman on Saturday. He came in for Blackman last Saturday against Louisville and went 15-of-20 passing for 255 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He threw for 2,644 yards, 25 touchdowns and 15 interceptions for Wisconsin in 2017, but fell off last year. His numbers dipped to 1,532 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in nine games played in 2018.

Junior safety Hamsah Nasirildeen — The massive 6-4, 215-pound safety from Concord, N.C., leads the Seminoles with 28 tackles and three forced fumbles this season. Nasirildeen had 12 tackles against Boise State and 10 against Louisiana Monroe, his sixth and seventh career double-digit tackle efforts. He had 91 stops last year with one interception in his first season starting for FSU. Rivals.com ranked him No. 63 overall player in the country in the class of 2017, and he originally picked South Carolina before switching to FSU.

Sophomore wide receiver Tamorrion Terry — The 6-4, 203-pound Terry gets one touchdown every 5.1 receptions in his Florida State career. The deep threat caught 35 passes for 744 yards and eight scores in his debut last year. He has followed up with 16 receptions for 307 yards and two touchdowns thus far this fall. The former Rivals.com three-star prospect from Ashburn, Ga., caught five passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns in FSU’s loss at NC State last year.

Junior defensive tackle Marvin Wilson — The former No. 2-ranked player in the country in the class of 2017 by Rivals.com has tallied 22 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery this season. He had 10 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and a sack last week against Louisville. The 6-5, 311-pounder from Houston broke out last year with 42 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.

1. Game manager style from quarterback Alex Hornibrook. The pocket-passing Hornibrook was a finesse thrower who rushed 20 times for minus-61 yards last year for Wisconsin. He passed for more than 200 yards just twice last year — 205 and three touchdowns against Iowa and a career-high 257 and two scores against Western Kentucky. Hornibrook, who is expected to fill in for the injured James Blackman, threw for more than 200 yards in five games in 2017.

Hornibrook might not have the biggest arm, but he threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Tamorrion Terry to put the Seminoles ahead for good in the fourth quarter last week against Louisville. He also threw a 44-yard touchdown pass on a slant to Keyshawn Helton in the first quarter.

2. FSU secondary showing leaks. The Seminoles are allowing 232.8 passing yards per game, but even that number is kind of misleading. The top two quarterbacks FSU has played thus far have had big games.

Boise State freshman quarterback Hank Bachmeier started his college career with a bang, going 30-of-51 passing for 407 yards with one touchdown and one interception while leading the Broncos to a comeback victory. Virginia senior quarterback Bryce Perkins connected on 30 of 40 throws for 295 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, and also rushed for 46 yards in the UVA win.

NC State quarterbacks Matthew McKay and Bailey Hockman, both redshirt sophomores, could end up both playing like they did against Ball State. Developing a solid passing attack will be a season-long theme for the Wolfpack, and the Seminoles' secondary could help that cause.

3. Big plays from Tamorrion Terry. As previously mentioned, Terry had a big game against NC State last year, and his touchdowns per catch average (5.1) is outstanding. NC State junior cornerback Chris Ingram and senior cornerback Kishawn Miller will get tested against Terry.

The lanky Terry had a 75-yard touchdown against Boise State and a easy 60-yarder against Louisville due to a blown coverage last week. He had three touchdowns of at least 55 yards last year, and his gaudy career yards-per-catch average of 20.6 is eye-opening.

1. How will attendance affect the game? The Louisville at FSU game last Saturday drew 46,530 fans, in a stadium listed at 79,560 fans at capacity.

Florida State’s first two games weren’t too much better, though an asterisk can be listed for the Boise State contest, which got moved from Jacksonville to Tallahassee due to hurricane concerns. The season opener had 50,917 under impromptu conditions, and then 52,969 for the second game against Louisiana Monroe Sept. 7.

The caveat with the NC State game is the game will start at 7:30 p.m. Will that generate more fans in attendance or will the concept of the game ending around 10:45 p.m. (or so) scare some fans away? The previous three home games started prior to 5 p.m. or earlier. Crowd noise could affect NC State’s offensive line, which has had some issues with false start penalties this season.

2. Establish the run game. The team that has the easiest time rushing the football will likely win the game, which was clearly what happened last year. NC State rushed 49 times for 177 yards and two scores en route to a 47-28 win over FSU. The Seminoles rushed just 20 times for 24 yards, and star running back Cam Akers had 10 carries for 29 yards.

The revamped Florida State offense is 89th in the country at 138.3 rushing yards per game through four games. Akers leads the ACC with 124.8 rushing yards a game. NC State is up to No. 37 in the country at 212.0 rushing yards a contest, though freshman back Zonovan Knight is coming off a minor hamstring injury against Ball State.

3. Get pressure on whoever is FSU quarterback. Florida State has allowed 11 sacks in four games, which isn’t overly bad considering how poor the offensive line has performed the last two years. However, if Wisconsin graduate transfer Alex Hornibrook is the man under center, he doesn’t have a lot of mobility. Boise State had four sacks and Virginia had three in the two FSU losses.

NC State sacked FSU quarterback James Blackman five times last year with defensive end Xavier Lyas getting two, defensive tackle Alim McNeill and then-nickel Tanner Ingle grabbing one apiece, defensive end Deonte Holden adding 1.5 sacks and Darian Roseboro contributing half a sack. All but Roseboro are back for NC State.

3 Forced fumbles for junior defensive back Hamsah Nasirildeen, which leads the country. He had zero forced fumbles last year.

4 National ranks for rushing yards (499) and total touchdowns (eight) for FSU junior running back Cam Akers this season.

47 Point differential for Florida State in the first half of games — 90-43 —and the Seminoles are fourth in the nation with 56 first-quarter points. The Seminoles were minus-73 in the first half last year.

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