Florida State had 36 sacks last season, none coming from a cornerback.
The Seminoles recorded three sacks in their season-opening win at Pittsburgh on Sept. 2, with two by Lamarcus Joyner.
“I’m going to move him to defensive end,” coach Jimbo Fisher joked about the 5-foot-8, 190-pound Joyner, who moved from safety to corner this season.
New defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt’s plan to be more aggressive and use multiple looks was unveiled last week. The result was pressure from all angles and a couple of interceptions.
“It’s great to see the defense going as planned,” Joyner said. “Everything sounds good on paper, so to go out there and play and to see things working the way you draw it up, you have no choice but to believe in it.”
A year ago, 25 of the Seminoles’ sacks came from their defensive ends. Against Pitt, Joyner’s two were accompanied by one from tackle Timmy Jernigan, who equaled his total from 2012. The Seminoles also had three quarterback hurries from linebackers Christian Jones and Telvin Smith.
“(This) defense puts you in good positions to make plays,” safety Terrence Brooks said.
The challenge for No. 10 FSU (1-0) on Saturday in its home opener against Nevada (1-1) is the Wolf Pack’s pistol offense. Though the offense isn’t as potent as it was during the Colin Kaepernick years — Nevada averaged 511 yards of total offense in Kaepernick’s final three seasons — quarterback Cody Fajardo is completing nearly 70 percent of his passes while leading a unit that has gained 888 yards, including 535 against UC Davis, in two games.
Fajardo has thrown for 403 yards and is Nevada’s second-leading rusher with 142 yards.
“He can create plays with his arm, he can create plays with his legs, ad lib when things break down,” Fisher said. “When a quarterback can beat you with his arm and with his legs, that becomes the issue. You can’t load the box.”
No, but you can come at him with cornerbacks, safeties, linebackers and, of course, the defensive line, which is what the Seminoles did to Pittsburgh quarterback Tom Savage, who passed for just 201 yards on 28 attempts and threw two interceptions along with being sacked three times.
“The more ways you can affect a quarterback where he knows things are coming at him … you get different people constantly coming at you from different angles, make him hold the ball, make him hesitant,” Fisher said.
The Seminoles are hoping that pressure will help create more turnovers. FSU ranked in the bottom half of the nation with 11 interceptions last season. Freshman cornerback Jalen Ramsey recorded the first of his career against Pitt, and Brooks, a senior, had the fourth of his career.
FSU is a 32- to 35-point favorite over Nevada and then will face Bethune-Cookman in what essentially will be a scrimmage, so the Seminoles have more time to settle into Pruitt’s new scheme before tackling the meat of their schedule, which will include games at Clemson and at home against Miami.
“We’re molding into being an aggressive defense,” Joyner said. “In the past we were a great defense, a little more conservative. Now we’re being very aggressive, have those big guys dominating the line of scrimmage, secondary just trusting. It’s going to be a great defense.”
Correspondent Bob Ferrante in Tallahassee contributed to this story.
