Florida State football preparing for anything before upcoming matchup vs. enigmatic LSU

LSU, Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Kentucky and the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Florida State coaching staff has scoured the film on those teams and others to prepare for their upcoming game against LSU.

The Seminoles (1-0) hope to be ready for anything when facing the enigmatic Tigers (0-0) at 7:30 p.m. ET Sunday. ABC will broadcast the neutral site matchup, which will be at the Superdome in New Orleans.

That LSU has yet to play a game under first-year head coach Brian Kelly – who came from Notre Dame – only explains part of why this team looks to be such a tough evaluation.

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Kelly also has two somewhat unfamiliar coordinators in Mike Denbrock (offense) and Matt House (defense), a publicly undecided quarterback competition and a staggering 16 additions from the transfer portal.

“This is a game one,” FSU head coach Mike Norvell said Monday. “We have not seen them in how they are going to implement all of the different schemes, because it’s very multiple. And they do a great job. Running game, passing game, screens, getting the backs out – all of those things are a part of what they do and what they have done well in the past schematically.

“But how does that fit to the specific guys that they have on this team? This year is going to be different. All schemes will be adjustable. And we’ve got to go in and be able to have a plan. But then also have great adjustments to whatever we will see.”

Norvell could use what he learned from his previous experiences coaching against Kelly and Denbrock. The Seminoles played Kelly’s Irish in Norvell’s first two seasons at the helm, falling in both games (42-26 in 2020 and 41-38 in overtime in 2021).

When Norvell served as head coach at the University of Memphis (2016-2019), he faced Denbrock twice. The Tigers went 2-0, winning both ti 2019 (34-24 in the regular season and 29-24 in the American Athletic Conference Championship).

FSU defensive coordinator Adam Fuller had the same role at Memphis in 2019.

“They were a challenge back then in ‘19 to prepare for,” Fuller said. “They had good players. They have good players at LSU, too. …

“Whether it’s situational, scheme, use of players – it’s all part of the evaluation when we put a plan together. But coach Denbrock has been super successful in a lot of different ways. He’s been really balanced, and he’s had success at a number of different places.”

The last time House coached in college football came in the 2018 season. Then he left his two-year stint as Kentucky’s defensive coordinator/linebackers coach to be the linebackers coach for the Chiefs until this past offseason.

“We have looked through everything this offseason, whether it was going back to Kentucky film from ‘18 and ‘19. And watching the Kansas City Chiefs,” Norvell said. “Trying to get as much perspective of what we could potentially see, but also in the fact of studying the personnel of guys who were there and guys who came from other places.”

Kelly said in his press conference Monday that, for “tactical” reasons, he will not name a starting quarterback until the day of the game. Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels and redshirt freshman Garrett Nussmeier are considered to be LSU’s top two options.

Daniels, a former four-star recruit in the 2019 cycle, started 29 games across three seasons with the Sun Devils. As a true freshman in 2019, Daniels posted a 17-2 TD-INT ratio with 2,983 passing yards. Then he regressed statistically, throwing only 10 touchdowns with as many interceptions last season.

247Sports (No. 19 quarterback, No. 152 overall) and Rivals (No. 7 quarterback, No. 80 overall) pegged Nussmeier as a four-star recruit in the 2021 class.

“You get ready for both quarterbacks,” Fuller said. “That is pretty much how you have to do it. And quarterbacks are quarterbacks. You are always studying the backups. You are always studying the starters.

“It’s just these guys, they have a chance to be a starter. They haven’t played in an LSU uniform, but there’s enough film out there that you can get a good sense of who people are.

“Try to put that person to a quarterback in the system before, and you try to piece that together.”

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Evaluating LSU’s strengths

The Tigers might have some unknowns.

But LSU’s strengths – wide receiver and defensive line – are obvious.

Kayson Boutte, who earned preseason first-team All-SEC honors, has the potential to be a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Despite the final seven games of last season with an ankle injury, Boutte led the Tigers with 509 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.

Sophomore Jack Bech and Malik Nabers also are some talented receivers.

“I say this with all respect: he’s a tailback when he catches the ball,” Fuller said of Boutte. “He cuts. He makes people miss. He runs the daylight. He’s got really strong hands. But to see him explode through tacklers is impressive for a wide receiver.

“He has taken short balls and turned them into long runs. He has taken distance balls and gotten into the end zone. He has caught contested catches. Really good player.”

LSU has multiple defensive linemen who could be first-round draft picks one day. Defensive ends BJ Ojulari (first team) and Ali Gaye (second team), and defensive tackle Maason Smith (third team) were preseason All-SEC selections.

Ojulari, who claimed preseason All-America recognition from Phil Steele, topped the Tigers with seven sacks last season and ranked second on the team with 11.5 tackles for a loss.

“They present problems because they are not only talented, but they are long, strong guys,” FSU offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Alex Atkins said. “So what we do is, we study their tendencies. And I’m pretty sure they are breaking us down the same way.

“And welcome to big boy college football. We are going to play against good fronts. We are going to play against good teams. We are going to play against good talent. So it’s not really more different in the preparation.

“It’s more of understanding what you are facing and how you are going to put our kids in the best position to have success. Pretty much all fronts we are going to play from here on out are going to be pretty good.

“So I believe that our guys are up to the challenge.”

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Florida State injury updates

Starting center Maurice Smith appeared on FSU’s new two-deep depth chart Monday.

Which is potentially notable, because the Seminoles did not list Smith on their depth chart last week. He suffered an undisclosed injury in preseason camp that kept him out of FSU’s season opener against Duquesne last Saturday.

“We will see how that continues to progress,” Norvell said. “Maurice really started to move around more this past week. He’s got a great mindset. We are excited about this week for him and what that could be.”

Cornerback Omarion “Duke” Cooper and receiver Ontaria Wilson also appeared on the depth chart after missing the Duquesne game with undisclosed injuries. Receiver Johnny Wilson, offensive lineman Darius Washington and linebacker Amari Gainer were on the depth chart despite leaving the Duquesne game with apparent injuries.

“Johnny was feeling better yesterday,” Norvell said. “It was one of those things in the game where it was close to see – he wanted to get back in there. He was moving around pretty well. We held him throughout the rest of the game.

“Yesterday, it was a normal day after a game where you are a little banged up. But I’m excited to see where the progression of that goes.”

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GAME INFORMATION

Who: FSU vs. LSU

When/where: Sunday, 7:30 p.m. ET, Superdome in New Orleans

TV/Radio: ABC/94.9 FM

Live game updates: www.Tallahassee.com; @CarterKarels on Twitter; @Ehsan_Kassim on Twitter; @JimHenryTALLY on Twitter

Reach Carter Karels at ckarels@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @CarterKarels. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Why FSU football could have tough time preparing for LSU, Brian Kelly