There were supposed to be three of them. Brandon Jenkins would play right end. Bjoern Werner would play left end. And Tank Carradine would be the “No. 3 starter.” When Jenkins or Werner needed a break, Florida State wouldn’t lose all that much.
That was the plan. Less than 30 minutes into the 2012 season, the Seminoles went to Plan B. Jenkins, an All-American, suffered a season-ending foot injury. So Carradine took over his spot.
How much of a drop-off would there be from Jenkins to Carradine? As it turned out, very little at all.
“Tank was a monster,” FSU linebacker Vince Williams said. “We used to tell people all the time. … We used to see him in practice, and he was ridiculous. The fact that he was unheard of until Brandon Jenkins’ tragic injury, that’s even crazier.”
It was Jenkins who was perceived to be a potential first-round NFL draft pick. Now the same is being said about Carradine, who leads the team in tackles (69) and leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in sacks (10.5).
The backup/No. 3 starter is often overshadowing — at least in terms of statistics — the performance of Werner, who has 33 tackles and 9.5 sacks. The German-born Werner has 14.5 tackles for loss, three ahead of Carradine, and Werner also has knocked down seven passes (Carradine has none).
Few college football programs have one, let alone three, elite pass rushers on the roster. But Carradine and Werner are on pace to each have one of FSU’s top-10 seasons on the all-time sack list. And they will likely be FSU’s best pass-rushing duo since future first-round picks Peter Boulware (19 sacks) and Reinard Wilson (13.5 sacks) dominated offensive lines in 1996.
It was a strange path that connected the two defensive ends. Werner grew up in Berlin and played two years of high school football in Connecticut before choosing FSU over Oregon.
He is a 6-foot-4, 265-pound junior with 20 career sacks. NFL analysts such as ESPN’s Todd McShay have Werner ranked 10th overall in the draft if he leaves early. Werner said that he wants to remain focused on the rest of the season and not the NFL.
“Now that we have the big games – Florida, the ACC championship and then hopefully we get to play in the Orange Bowl – I can’t think about that.”
Carradine was a talented defensive end who was receiving attention from Division I schools while he was at Cincinnati’s Taft High. But his academics prevented him from qualifying, so he instead opted to play for Butler (Kan.) Community College.
But it wasn’t where he wanted to be. He saw his friends playing Division I football on TV. And he was in El Dorado, Kan., for two years because he was forced to get his associate of arts degree before moving on to a Division I program.
“I was mad the whole time I was there,” Carradine said. “Everyone used to tell me I could play at the Division I level. All my friends went Division I, and I went to junior college. … I was mad at myself that I didn’t take academics seriously (in high school). It bothered me a lot. I told myself that I’m going to go in, I’m going to do what I need to do and I’m going to get out of here.”
His statistics were staggering for a defensive end. Carradine had 90 tackles as a freshman and 119 as a sophomore and he finished his junior-college career with 26 sacks.
With his two-year degree in hand, Carradine chose Florida State over Alabama, Georgia and South Florida. He enrolled early in January 2011 and made an immediate impact with 38 tackles last fall.
Carradine already has 69 tackles and is ranked 13th on McShay’s draft board. That’s a good number for a linebacker but surprisingly high for a 6-foot-5, 265-pound defensive end.
“His effort is ridiculous,” coach Jimbo Fisher said. “Tank’s got a motor.”
Fisher has praised both Carradine and Werner for theeffort they give every play. One of the reasons that FSU is so good on defense — first in total defense and fifth in scoring defense — is because of the consistent pass rush generated by the ends.
“Those two guys affect the quarterback,” Fisher said. “Even when they don’t get a sack, they cause something bad to happen. I’m glad they’re on my team.”
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