TALLAHASSEE –Jimbo Fisher sees the potential and play-making ability.
The consistency, he believes, will come in time.
The Florida State football team capped off its 2015 spring camp Saturday with the annual Garnet & Gold Game inside Doak Campbell Stadium. After a 38-17 Gold victory, Fisher saw plenty to be happy about but also plenty of room to improve between now and September.
“I was back there going, ‘Man, you just can’t do those things,’ and then – Wow,” Fisher said. “’Can’t do those things’ – Wow. Then wow, wow.
“You saw the ability to make plays. Like I said all year, you’ve got to fight for the consistency. So I wasn’t disappointed. It kind of went the way I thought it would go.”
Quarterback Sean Maguire, the redshirt junior who has led the first-team offense for most of the spring, guided the Garnet (first-team offense) to 394 total yards against the Gold (first-team defense).
He finished 22 of 44 for 289 yards and two interceptions, but was particularly strong during a second quarter in which he engineered two drives that ended with Dalvin Cook touchdowns.
Maguire completed seven of 11 passes for 124 yards in the second quarter, and was 15-of-33 for 165 yards in the other three quarters.
“We had some drives where we looked like a real great football team, then we had some drives where we didn’t,” Maguire said. “So I think up-and-down was the definition of today.”
Meanwhile, redshirt freshman J.J. Cosentino and freshman early-enrollee De’Andre Johnson combined for 332 yards and three touchdowns against the Garnet’s injury-plagued second-team defense.
Those numbers included six passes for 91 yards and a TD to tight end Mavin Saunders, four passes for 100 yards and a TD to sophomore Ermon Lane and two passes for 99 yards and a TD to freshman George Campbell.
Junior Jesus Wilson (8 catches, 114 yards) and redshirt freshman Ja’Vonn Harrison (5 catches, 94 yards) led the Garnet’s receiving effort.
“Some of the young guys did some good things,” Fisher said. “Making good plays. Still got to learn what to do, though, but you can see the instincts and ability.”
Those young guys made perhaps the biggest impression on Saturday. FSU played five early-enrollees in the spring game, and four scored at least one touchdown.
Freshman Derwin James started the scoring by picking off Maguire’s second pass of the game and returning it 41 yards for a Gold touchdown.
Campbell then extended the Gold’s lead to 14-0 by grabbing a short pass from Cosentino then racing 65 yards past the Garnet defense and into the end zone.
“George jumped out there,” Fisher said.
Then, in the second half, Jacques Patrick added an 11-yard touchdown run in between TD passes of 42 and 17 yards by Johnson.
“You see (Johnson’s) talent,” Fisher said. “… He’s got a ways to go, but you see he can be a very good player.”
A few miscues and missteps slowed things down in the second half, although Fisher said there wasn’t anything that caught him by surprise.
More than anything, he views the spring proceedings as a catalyst for what’s to come later this year. And, from that perspective, he came away pleased.
“I can see the makings of a very good football team,” he said. “I really do. But there’s a lot of work between now and then, and we’re about where I thought we’d be.”