Tribe 13's Time to Shine

With football season right around the corner, anticipation is high for the Seminoles to return to the field against Texas State, September 5th. This year, however, there is a different feel about the team. The reason Florida State is expected to take a step back this season is for a variety reasons, many stemming from the talent that is now in the NFL. Jimbo Fisher's 2012 recruiting class is basically all in the NFL now, leaving this 2013 class as the veterans of the team. But if we dig deeper, we see that this top 10 recruiting class, which is heading into its third year, has not produced to the level it was expected to. Outside of Jalen Ramsey and Nate Andrews - whom have both already become stars on defense - let's take a look at the 2013 class and what they have done here at FSU through two years (rankings according to ESPN.com):

Jalen Ramsey remembers, after beating Miami (again), he forgot to feed his pet goldfish before he left.

Florida State Football Freshmen

Being a Freshmen in college is such a beautiful thing with all the freedom, the bars, and obviously the beautiful girls on Florida State's campus. It is likely everyone's most memorable year at any university, but freshmen year can be completely different for athletes at Florida State, especially the football players. These guys can have all the pressure in the world and the speed of the game is often a huge wake up call for players who have always been physically dominant their whole lives. This year's recruiting class has brought a good number of high profile recruits, Johnathan and I watched them practice two Sundays ago and all I can say is that we were very impressed with how big and talented some of these kids were. The future looks bright for Florida State football, below is a brief summary of a few of the freshmen that opened our eyes the most.

#3 Derwin James (Defensive Back 6-3, 212 lbs)

Here at Renegade Sports, we are excited to watch the Derwin James Era begin and we were excited to finally watch him live. Boy, did he not disappoint as Derwin James is everything you could want in a defensive back. Physical Specimen? Yep. High quality trash talk? Yep. That certain swagger that all great FSU defensive backs seem to have? Evidently clear. The last skill was clearly evident when the receivers and defensive backs went at it during board drills and James, not Jalen Ramsey, was making the most noise. At one particular point, Derwin completely dominated sophomore receiver, Ja'Vonn "Pigg" Harrison, and put him on his ass all while somehow knocking his helmet off. "Pigg" was not particularly pleased but James let him know in front of the FSU faithful that he is ready to make some noise this year.

Who are FSU's "Silent Commits"?

There was a wave of excitement among Florida State fans everywhere when FSU commit and #1 cornerback, Levonta Taylor, tweeted this out yesterday:

Got us 2 silent commits #NoleNation can't wait until they make it nationally known 💯🔥

— Levonta Taylor (@iamlevonta) August 20, 2015

Given the recent struggles on the recruiting trail for the Noles, ex. Isaac Nuata's decommitment, this got every fan all kinds of excited. I was definitely thrilled to see this tweet, but I trust Jimbo on the recruiting trail so whoever he wants, I'm cool with, therefore this news did not change my day. Then at 8:10 PM ET, I saw this tweet and freaked out as the wave of excitement grew:

This 🙌🏾 but it's some stuff I can't speak on. Same for the basketball squad @jisaac_01 https://t.co/ez1ph3cJ6d

— Trent Forrest (@TForrest_11) August 21, 2015

I Met the NBA MVP Last Week

This past week, I went on my first cruise. Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas took us to the Bahamas where we visited the islands of Nassau and CocoCay. Eat, drink, swim, drink, snorkel, drink, eat again, drink, swim some more, drink some more... you get the point, it was an amazing time. Throughout the cruise we saw many things, made a lot of memories, and met a lot of people. As if the cruise wasn't already the best thing ever, a very special person happened to be on our boat. The NBA's own league MVP, Stephen Curry.

Florida State Basketball: Don't Forget the Other Guys

I just want to start this off by saying "The Other Guys" is an underrated movie in which Will Ferrell and Mark Whalberg's talents are greatly under appreciated by their fellow cops. That is how the Florida State fan base is looking at the Noles returning players. While I cannot wait for the incoming freshmen class's first desk pop, we cannot forget about the veteran 'Noles that will be bringing their experienced office skills to the Civic Center this year. These players and coaches have come under fire the last three years, but with more talented being added to the team, each player's respective skills will shine a little bit brighter this year. Here is a quick rundown of the Seminoles returning cast:

#0 Phil Cofer 6-8, 205 lbs, Sophomore
2014-2015 Stats: 6.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG, FG% 45.6

8 Most Anticipated FSU Freshman

In a season where both the football and basketball teams have brought in top 10 recruiting classes, there is a lot of anticipation surrounding the freshman that will be on campus in the fall. Jimbo Fisher is used to a top-ranked class of newcomers, but this year will also feature an 8th-ranked recruiting class from Leonard Hamilton's basketball team. Despite the fact that the two best players of the class are afraid to play Sean and I, the team should be significantly better than in past seasons with multiple early-impact freshman. There are several stud athletes joining the football and basketball teams of 2015 so let's count down the 8 most anticipated:

8) Deondre Francois - Football
In the fine print of this year's quarterback battle will be a freshman quarterback named Deondre Francois ("Fran-swah"). Francois was rated as a consensus four-star and according to Rivals.com, he is the top passer in the nation. Though he likely will not start this season, I believe that he will be the most talented option at the position. Francois' style reminds me of Clemson's quarterback Deshaun Watson who should be one of the nation's best passers by season's end. Though he will need time, Francois will likely be a huge piece of the Seminole's future.

7) Terance Mann - Basketball
Another player that will be flying slightly under the radar will be Mr. Terrance Mann. He is rated as the third best player in this class and while most fans know about Beasley and Bacon, he will also bring a lot to the table for Leonard Hamilton's team. The 6'5" combo guard was rated as a four star prospect by ESPN.com, the 86th best player in the nation. Mann will add to an extremely deep FSU backcourt full of length, scoring, and highlight dunks.

6) Josh Sweat - Football
Sweat was one of many early enrollees that have been on campus since January but he did not participate in the spring due to a knee injury from his senior year. Before the injury, Sweat was regarded as the top football player in the nation. The 6'5", 240-lb defensive end runs a 4.46 40-yard dash and is eerily similar to a Jadaveon Clowney-type pass rusher. Sweat was expected to redshirt this season due to his injury but was recently seen participating in the Lift For Life fundraiser:

#FSU DE Josh Sweat and LB Reggie Northrup pic.twitter.com/qlXmrDwa0H

— Wayne McGahee III (@WayneMcGaheeIII) July 23, 2015

5) Jacques Patrick - Football
The 6'3", 233-lb running back out of Orlando was rated as a five-star prospect by Rivals and the 49th overall player in the 2015 class. After out-sprinting the entire defense in the spring game, Patrick has a lot of Seminole fans looking for him to be the second coming of Greg Jones. While he does not (yet) have the size of the Seminole great, Patrick does seem to have more speed to him and should be a great complement to an extremely deep stable of running backs for Jimbo to work with.

4) George Campbell - Football
Campbell is another early-enrolled freshman that opened eyes in the Spring Game. In the first quarter he took a pass from JJ Cosentino, shed two would-be tacklers and ran 60 yards past the entire defense for a touchdown. Campbell was the 7th ranked player in the country and top-rated athlete in the class according to ESPN.com. At 6'4", 190, Campbell runs a 4.36 40-time and should be able to contribute early.

3) Malik Beasley - Basketball
Beasley is one of two top 30 players in the Seminoles' 2015 basketball recruiting class. Between the two, he may be the best athlete - he was in the Ballislife All-American Dunk Contest and took off from the free throw line. The four-star shooting guard led his team to back to back state titles in high school while averaging 22.2 points and 6.9 rebounds as a senior. At 6'4", Beasley is one of many superior scorers that make the future of the program very enticing.

2) Derwin James - Football
I have already talked about his freakish athleticism in a previous piece, but Derwin James is everything you are looking for in a safety. Rivals.com national recruiting director Mike Farrell was quoted as saying, "He's got as high a ceiling as any safety that I've ever seen in my 15 years covering high school football." The early-enrollee has already made a splash on the field with a pick-six in this past year's spring game. James resembles the leader of the defense Jalen Ramsey with his competitiveness, ball skills, and bruising hits and he should be an excellent addition to a defense that struggled for the better part of last season.

1) Dwayne Bacon - Basketball
Dwayne Bacon has to be number one on this list for one main reason - he is the highest rated basketball recruit that the 'Noles have ever brought in. The consensus five-star McDonald's All-American shooting guard is ready to turn the Seminole basketball program into a national power. At 6'6", Bacon is one of the most elite scorers in the 2015 class and is the face of the Seminoles' first top 10 recruiting class in school history, he also won the McDonald's All-American dunk contest.  He can score in a number of ways and, along with the help from the rest of the recruiting class, will make coach Hamilton's job a lot easier for the foreseeable future.

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