Practice Notebook: 12/18

Florida State was back out at practice on Tuesday afternoon. The 'Noles donned helmets, shoulder pads and shorts as they worked out on the game field and had their first day of prep for NIU.

After taking ten days off the Seminoles got back on the field at the end of last week but opted to return to fundamentals and have a few camp-style practices before turning their attention to the Huskies and the Orange Bowl.

"Great day to practice, beautiful day, perfect weather, probably perfect practice weather," said Fisher, who's team practiced on a sunny 68-degree afternoon in December. "Just hot enough, just cold enough to move around and have a good day, I thought we did, first day of true preparation, we looked at what they're doing.

"I'm very pleased with the attitudes, everybody's working having fun, did what they had to do. Very efficient day."

Of course the elephant in the room was the decision-making process in regard to new coaching hires and the transition of old coaches to their new jobs.

Sal Sunseri has not been confirmed yet to be on the Seminole staff, but all indiciations are that he will be joining up as a defensive assistant. In what has become potentially Tallahassee's worst-kept secret, Sunseri was out with the 'Noles in a gold Florida State shirt yesterday.

Also, rumored-DC Jeremy Pruitt has already reached out to a couple of players to touch base. Lamarcus Joyner said he had received a phone call from the new defensive coordinator, he remarked that they spoke for a few minutes and had a good conversation.

Right now Florida State cannot comment because they are still in the process of making these hires.

Other Notes:

-Speaking of Joyner, coach Fisher called him out by name as one of the players who was helping to fill the void left by departing coaches. This is not surprising, last season one needed only to find Lamarcus Joyner on the sideline to find coach Mark Stoops and vice versa. Every timeout and between every possession the two could be seen strategizing. Stoops made no secret that he sees shades of former Hurricane Ed Reed in Joyner and in much the same way Reed did at Miami, Joyner has become the emotional leader of the secondary.

-Brandon Kay's case may not help Chris Thompson that much due to the fact Thompson was three plays over the minimum during one of his injury years and the NCAA would need to make a special exception for him. 

-Jimbo Fisher alluded to possibly using more two tight end/h-back style sets once Lonnie Pryor moves on. Pryor is one of the top fullbacks in the country, he blocks well and is an above-average runner who is a weapon in the redzone. A lot of comparisons have been made between him and Jacob Hester, next year with his departure though, Fisher admitted the offense might look a bit different.

"That's what I've always done, that's more what I'd done when I was at LSU," said Fisher. "WIth the big two tight end guys, guys you can use as an H-Back back in the backfield. But Chad Abrams is a hell of a player too."

-Finally, NIU practiced with extra crowd noise over the weekend to prepare for the potentially hostile crowd at the Orange Bowl. While the neccesity of the move is highly questionable, fair play to the Huskies for pulling out all the stops.