On the fast track to No. 1

Sporting News, The, August 17, 1998 by Alan Schmadtke

Speed and skill have put Florida State in the national championship chase since 1987, but in '98 the Seminoles will rank second to none

Strolling through the school's weight room, Florida State strength and conditioning coach Dave Van Halanger t names the Seminoles who set personal highs throwing weight around this summer. Yet it's hard to tell what means more to Van Halanger, the 500-pound barrier or the 43 Seminoles who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds or less.

"The fastest team we've ever had?" Van Halanger says. "This one. We've had teams with faster players, but we've never had a team with this many fast players."

It's because of that extraordinary speed--plus the endless talent and a favorable schedule--that The Sporting News has selected Florida State as its preseason No. 1 team.

More than a decade has passed since Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden started to adapt his program because of what he learned from Miami coaches Howard Schnellenberger and Jimmy Johnson, when the Hurricanes routinely dashed FSU's national championship hopes from the middle of the 1980s through 1994 with teams stocked with smaller but swifter players.

Now, Bowden and his staff make speed a priority in recruiting. Linemen are getting heavier on both sides of the ball, but speed and quickness are central to playing time at most elite schools. At FSU, players improve their speed or face the reality that they'll be playing behind someone else.

"College football is a speed game now," Bowden says. "It didn't use to be that way. Way back, it was more of a power game. You had teams at Ohio State and Michigan and Notre Dame that were power teams, and they were the dominant teams.

"Look at Nebraska. It was only when they started putting more emphasis on speed that they started winning all their national championships."

Speed and skill have put FSU in the national championship chase every year since 1987. Those traits will once again be on display starting with an August 31 season-opener against Texas A&M in the Kickoff Classic in East Rutherford, N.J.

A receiving tandem of Peter Warrick and Laveranues Coles, who is fully recovered from a broken fibula, should be the fastest in the country. Tailback Travis Minor, a bigger, faster runner than predecessor Warrick Dunn, should have an enhanced role. And coordinator Mickey Andrews' defense will be the fastest FSU has lined up; indeed, every defensive starter--including tackles Jerry Johnson (280 pounds) and Larry Smith (288)--runs under 5.0 in the 40.

Ironically, the position that will shape much of FSU's 1998 success will prove slower than originally planned. Pocket passer Chris Weinke, who hasn't started a football game in nine years, became the Seminoles' quarterback July 2 when Dan Kendra announced his surgically repaired right knee would prevent him from playing this season.

Since the day Kendra signed in 1995, Bowden's eyes had sparkled like a child's when he talked about having Kendra calling signals. Dreaming about Weinke, though, is hardly a tough transition. For Bowden, having a sideline chat with Weinke, a 26-year-old former minor league baseball player, is almost like consulting with another coach. "It's nice," Bowden jokes, "having someone my age to talk to."

What Weinke lacks in mobility he makes up for in maturity. Once he finds his rhythm, bread-and-butter plays and favorite receivers, FSU's offense will be increasingly difficult to stop.

Weinke turned plenty of heads when he was introduced to the Atlantic Coast Conference media at the league's annual meetings in July at Lake Lanier Islands, Ga. Clemson coach Tommy West, in fact, was stopped in his tracks and had to ask his school's sports information director, Tim Bourret, about the 6-5, 243-pound Weinke.

"Please tell me that's one of Horida State's linebackers," West said.

"Sorry, Coach," Bourret said, "that's the quarterback."

Replied West: "Oh, no."

Whether Weinke is better suited to this FSU offense than Kendra will be decided in part by a young offensive line. If Donald Heaven, Jason Whitaker, Ross Brannon and others give Weinke time to deliver the ball to Warrick and his fellow receivers, the answer is yes. If not, and if FSU's running game ranks in the lower 20 percent in Division I-A, which it did in '97, the Seminoles will wish they had Kendra's scrambling ability on which to fall back.

"We have a lot of potential with this offense," Weinke says more confidently than most quarterbacks would with so much pressure on his shoulders. "Every day we have the potential to put up a lot of points. Peter Warrick--every day that guy does something special. And we have other guys out there, too, who make plays .... It's my job to make sure the offense does its job."

The Seminoles figure to need their speed to outrun their youth, if not the rest of the ACC. They almost certainly will need it to outdistance rival Florida, which spoiled FSU's national championship hopes in '96 and '97.

Bowden will be looking for his 12th consecutive season of 10 or more victories. The Seminoles must replace their quarterback (Thad Busby), a star receiver (E.G. Green), an underrated tight end (Melvin Pearsall), two offensive linemen (Tra Thomas and Kevin Long), two star linebackers (Daryl Bush and Sam Cowart), two star defensive ends (Andre Wadsworth and Greg Spires) and two defensive backs (Samari Rolle and Shevin Smith). But no matter. Florida State annually brings in some of the nation's top recruiting classes, and there is talent--athletic, speedy talent--on hand.