Freshman DL standing out at spring practice
· Yahoo Sports
Florida State was able to put together a top 15 recruiting class despite back-to-back losing seasons. The defensive line made up the majority of their top 10 signees, which included blue-chip recruit Franklin Whitley out of Greenville, South Carolina.
Although he's a young pup, Whitley comes in with a reputation for making plays behind the line of scrimmage and forcing quarterbacks to move off their spot due to his pressure. That has translated well during spring ball, according to Noles247's Zach Blostein.
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True freshman defensive lineman Franklin Whitley continues to trend as someone who will crack the two-deep rotation for FSU in year one. A source told Noles247 a few weeks ago that they felt he would have a similar impact that the Desir twins had for the 'Noles last season. That only continues to be the sentiment around the building after Saturday's scrimmage, which saw him making several plays in the backfield.
Mandrell Desir racked up 6.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss as he earned a FWAA Freshman All-American award, Freshman All-American honors from On3, and an honorable mention All-ACC nod. Darryll Desir had 23 and a sack as he appeared in 12 games. At 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds, Whitley has the same body type as the Desir twins, making it plausible why the skill sets would be similar and their fits within Tony White’s 3-3-5 scheme would be so as well.
Elite defensive line recruit Earnest Rankins, along with blue-chip edge signees Jalen Anderson and Jaemin Pinckney, were all ranked in the top 10 of the Seminoles' recruiting class, like Whitley was. However, he is outshining them all so far, and he's looking like a player who will get some pretty significant playing time early.
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This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: FSU Football: DL Franklin Whitley shining during Florida State spring