Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher praised Nick O’Leary for his blocking during the Seminoles’ win over Boston College Saturday, but lamented that the former Dwyer star did not have a catch.
Nine different Seminoles caught at least one pass in the game and Fisher said he called about eight plays in which O’Leary was the primary target. But only one was thrown his way, and that was long.
“We had a lot of balls called to him,” Fisher said. “They double-teamed him on a couple opening guys up here and there. … That’s shows you we were progressing to other reads.”
Quarterback EJ Manuel saw O’Leary open in the third quarter but the overthrow was intercepted.
“I want to give Nick the ball because he’s a great receiver,” Manuel said. “A lot of times they … were getting up under him and what I would do was go to my second, third reads. I want to give Nick the ball but I try not to force it. I’m sure he’ll have a lot of opportunities this week.”
Defensive end Bjoern Werner was credited with a half tackle Saturday but he had a huge impact on the game with two critical plays on first series with Boston College on the FSU 1 yard line. Werner knocked down a pass that likely would have been a touchdown and pressured the quarterback on fourth down to force the incompletion.
“Numbers don’t tell about football players all the time,” Fisher said. “He impacts the game so many ways. He gets double-teamed, people slide to him. But he’s figure out how to bat a ball, how to play a screen, how to play a draw, how to do all those things. He’s just a tremendous football player.”
Duke game set: Florida State game against Duke on Oct. 17 at Doak Campbell Stadium will begin at 3:30 p.m. and be televised by ESPNU.
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