On The Bench: An FSU football podcast network

Florida State is less than two weeks away from its 2019 season opener against Boise State.

To get you familiar with the Seminoles’ Game 1 opponent, On The Bench catches up with Boise State beat writer B.J. Rains. Covering Boise State at the Idaho Press since 2013, Rains’ work can be found at BlueTurfSports.com. 

Rains does a great job at efficiently breaking down BoiSe State’s roster and going over a few fun topics.

Veer and Shoot. Space and Pace. The Isolation Offense.

It goes by different names, but its origin -- or at least its proliferation throughout college football is unmistakable. The ‘Baylor Offense’ was made popular with wild success under Art Briles, and it’s been continued at various schools since as assistants have branched out to run this version of the spread system. That includes Kendal Briles, who is bringing the proven scheme to Florida State.

What will FSU’s offense look like? What are the goals of this scheme? How has Briles made it work everywhere he’s been?

On The Bench brings in Aaron Avery, a prep coach from the Jacksonville area who has extensively studied and implemented the scheme. He’s also worked closely with FSU QB commit Jeff Sims and target Walter Simmons. Avery goes over the intricacies of the Iso Offense that Briles runs, and shares what to expect from FSU’s offense in 2019.

FSU is confident that its offense will be markedly better this season. We're hearing that enough to the point where we're starting to buy in on a major turnaround on offense in 2019. Chris Nee and Brendan Sonnone share their reasons for optimism in the latest episode of OTB.

Florida State offensive coordinator Kendal Briles sat down with members of the media for nearly 20 minutes to preview the 2019 season. 

FSU's new OC went over his quarterbacks, the collection of skill talent, his relationship with Randy Clements and more in the interview.

Willie Taggart  has "seen this movie before" when it comes to building a program. Past experiences at Western Kentucky, USF and Oregon give him confidence that Florida State is on the right track, despite a forgettable first year.  

Joey Knight, the USF beat writer at the Tampa Bay Times, recounts the Taggart tenure at USF and how he saw patience pay off. Will a similar blueprint be executed at FSU?

Florida State is more than halfway through preseason camp, and the Seminoles are starting to figure some things out.

Sometimes that clarity can be really good and sometimes confirmation can be negative, but it’s often a little of both. That’s the case so far as FSU continues to sort out its roster and tries to maximize its talent in Year 2 under Willie Taggart.

Chris Nee, Josh Newberg and Brendan Sonnone go over the good and the bad from what we’ve learned about FSU so far in camp. Who’s stepping up? Where are the areas of concern? Are there still unknowns ahead of FSU’s first full scrimmage?

Florida State is rolling on the recruiting trail. 

The Seminoles, a week after landing Jaylan Knighton, landed another four-star running back commit: Lawrance Toafili.  

Toafili’s pledge gives FSU one of the top 1-2 running back punches in the 2020 recruiting cycle, and some additional momentum on the trail. On The Bench breaks down the Toafili and Knighton commits, who’s left on the running back board and where FSU stands compared to its rivals in the 2020 class.

FSU is four days into preseason camp. The team is still very much so a work in progress, but trends are becoming clear and positions are already becoming solidified.

What a weekend for Florida State.

The Seminoles exit Sunday with three public commits from the Saturday Night Live recruiting event, and two more are expected in the next couple days.

On The Bench goes over the significance of this weekend, analyzes the commitments from Morven Joseph, Thomas Shrader and Lloyd Willis, and lets you know how we expect the next 48 hours to get even better for Willie Taggart and Co.

Josh Newberg, Chris Nee and Brendan Sonnone breakdown all the action from a memorable weekend.

Chris Nee and Josh Newberg have worked for weeks to put together an extensive list of visitors for SNL, and the two hop on the bench to share their intel. Who’s on commit watch? Who could pull an FSU offer? Are there some potential surprises?