Seminoles Chant

FSU's Bjoern Werner Talks Football in Germany, Twitter Fame

Bjoern Werner is a pseudo-pop culture phenomenon in Tallahassee and amongst the Florida State fanbase.

The 6-4, 250-pound German-born defensive end cuts a menacing figure, sports huge mutton-chop side burns and absolutely obliterates ballcarriers and quarterbacks.

And the fans love him for it.

A local radio host has dubbed him Von Striker, complete with an explosive sound effects package every time his name is mentioned during the show. He's been the subject of memes on Twitter and message boards across the country. 

Werner admits he tries not to get caught up in the sideshow, but it's hard sometimes.

"I don't try to follow it, but it's hard because of having a Facebook. Your teammates have fans and they all have Twitter and it's posted and even if you don't try to look for stuff like that you find it," said Werner. "So yeah I saw it."

Werner has a sense of humor about these things though, one meme in particular had him in stitches.

"I've seen the Game of Thrones picture, that was pretty funny, man. I was laughing hard," said Werner. "I thought it was a pretty good picture, too."

One of the things that makes Werner so unique is one of the things he'd like to change though if he achieves the level of success he envisions for himself.

Werner was born in Berlin, he is on an NFL trajectory which is something very few actual Germans have ever accomplished. Football is growing in popularity in Germany, but not at the rate Werner would like.

"Not taking off like soccer but it's growing," said Werner. "It's getting bigger, more and more people have started playing football so it's starting to get there."

But if Werner can make the NFL he has a shot to really make an impact. There have been a handful of German-born players in the NFL, but many were born on US army bases, far fewer are actually of German descent.

Werner has a chance to be a superstar at the next level, NFL scouts are acutely aware of this and already as a junior Werner is on many a big board around the league. 

The impact being the first real NFL star out of Germany would be massive on the country's football programs. It could help launch a generation of young German children that want to grow up to be Bjoerns.

"Oh yeah, I always think about if I can reach all of my goals how can I give back to German football, how can I improve it?" said Werner. "That's a main goal for me, I've got a lot of support back in Germany I just want to try and hopefully reach all those NFL stars and I can go back and say 'I made it, hey, let me teach you guys how I did that.'

"It's a plan of mine."

As for what those plans might be specifically, Werner isn't ready to say just yet.

"I don't know yet," joked Werner. "I have a couple of ideas that I cannot say because, you know, what if another German jumps ahead of me?"

Don't Forget About Seminoles' Carradine, Not That He Plans to Let You

Cornellius Carradine, better known as Tank, probably isn't one of the first names out of your mouth when you think of this Florida State defensive line.

The senior, who arrived as a juco transfer last season, has quietly flown under the radar as the Seminoles' starting defensive ends and talented freshmen get all the headlines.

But as Bjoern Werner told me emphatically earlier today, Tank Carradine's ready to break out.

"It's not only me and Brandon, it's me, Tank (Carradine) and Brandon," Werner told me when I asked him about competing for sacks with Jenkins.

"Tank's playing on a level that's just amazing, for him to be called a backup is just crazy because he's as good as me and Brandon. All three of us know that and it's going to a three-way sack [race]."

Last season Carradine came in after two years at Butler Community College and struggled to pick things up at the beginning of the year. But now, after a full spring and summer to get comfortable in the defense, things look to be different in Tank's senior year.

"I feel great because I know the system, I know all the plays, I know everyone's job so I feel much better about this year as opposed to last year because I didn't know too much what I was doing," admitted Carradine. "I know a lot now in this defense so I feel much more comfortable this year."

Werner took it a step further, he thinks by year's end Carradine will be in the same grouping as him and Jenkins, who was named a preseason all-american by SI. 

"Me and Brandon get a lot of attention and he wants to prove everyone wrong," said Werner. "He wants people to speak about him too. He wants to show that he's as good as we are. And me and Brandon know that [he is].

"He's going to have a great year, me and Brandon know that because we see how hard he works and how good he is, it's just people don't know about him yet."

They will soon, even despite struggling to pick things up as a junior transfer, Carradine still notched 5.5 sacks and was a force on the line by the end of the season. 

This year he's being unleashed, with a better grasp of the defense the coach's have let him play both sides, something that should significantly increase his playing time.

"Last year I only played one side," said Carradine. "This year I'm playing both sides so I think I'll be getting equal reps as the ones, but I will be playing more this year playing both sides."

One element that may actually give Carradine a bit of an advantage in the sack-race with his fellow defensive ends is his ability to come off the bench fresh against worn down offensive tackles. 

After Jenkins and Werner terrorize oppozing tackles they will be spelled by a fresh defensive end whom both swear is every bit as talented as they are.

Opposing offenses should just love that.

"They get tired and when I come in I'm fresh, I'm ready," said Carradine. "You can tell some tackles they don't hit their full potential, they're not motivated, they like moving fast and running and stuff, but when I come they just die down."

The Early Read: Nick Waisome Has His Head on Straight

One of my favorite parts about having this space is that I can be a little bit less formal at times and give you my actual opinion as opposed to a more straight-laced news-only approach. 

To be frank, sometimes the latter is preferable. Not all players are engaging and occasionally you find yourself sitting across from a guy and it's like pulling teeth to get him just to talk about how practice is going. That's why when you meet a kid that's actually got some personality – and will show it to you – it's so refreshing.

Nick Waisome is one of those players. 

I got to speak with Waisome yesterday for the first time and I'm looking forward to getting to cover him over the next few years because he's definitely a character.

Waisome won the starting job at field corner, beating out Ronald Darby in a hotly contested camp battle. To listen to him talk about it though, you hear a maturity that belies his age. 

"You're going to have to compete wherever you go to play," said Waisome. "I just felt like I was good enough to play and I just had to compete for a position." 

There's a ton of things to like about the way Waisome has approached this camp, but we'll start with his preparation. All camp the players and coaches have talked about how Waisome had the mental edge. He really took advantage of the opportunity to learn during his freshman season and came into the summer with the mindset that he would be competing for a job.

"I knew I thought I would probably get some playing time this year so I would just try to prepare myself and be on skills more, work on my technique a lot more because I knew Mike Harris was leaving," said Waisome. "So in cases like nickel and anything like that I would try to be able to step in there."

Once Greg Reid was booted and the starting job at field corner came open, it was just a matter of stepping up his game.

"I just had to stay hungry and be on my job and make sure I don't get beat that much. I just tried to stick to my technique, listen to coach a lot, go up and watch a little bit of film and just become a better player."

Here's where Waisome distinguished himself from a lot of other players, when asked what he improved on the most this past offseason he actually gave a thoughtful response. 

"My eyes," said Waisome. "I was real weak at double moves and stuff like that but I feel like my eyes have gotten a lot better. Quarterback to the receiver and then securing myself to make a play on the ball, I feel like I got a lot better at that."

"In high school you're working with receivers that aren't as fast as you so I feel like you can gamble a little bit, look back at the quarterback, but I mean now I feel like you have to try to stick your eyes on the receiver and watch if he's making a double move, you can't relax on the route really. You have to play hard every play."

Most athletes stop after saying their eyes, some may say it's helped with double moves. Very few 20 year-olds can extrapolate on the nuanced differences in the high school and college games so effortlessly. 

One of the other ways Waisome shows his maturity is in his outlook on the positional battle he just won.

"You can't take it as a threat, you've just got to help each other out," said Waisome. "I don't see it as fighting for the position, if [Darby] beats me out, he beats me out. But if I'm ahead I'm still going to tell him what it is, I'm not scared or anything about him coming and playing. I mean if he starts one game, he starts one game."

As for the target Waisome will wear on his back opposite Xavier Rhodes, he looks forward to it.

"Bring it on. Bring it on, I'm ready for it, that's more plays for me I feel like."

As for some of that personality I mentioned at the top of the post, Waisome isn't bashful about his ability. He played everything in high school from Tennis to Volleyball.

"I mean I'm pretty decent at everything I do," said Waisome as laughter split through his attempt at a straight face. "I'm not going to lie."

"There's no sport I've tried that [I wasn't good at], I mean golf, I've tried but I'm not that good, I'm shooting high a little bit," joked Waisome. "That one the ball, I don't know man it's just curving on me and what not. Nick O'Leary [FSU TE, Grandson of golf legend Jack Nicklaus], I played with him one time and I wanted to just break the clubs. I rented them so I couldn't."