{"id":31787,"date":"2022-08-01T04:09:42","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T04:09:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/rookie-cornerback-azareyeh-thomas-picks-off-two-passes-and-forces-a-fumble-during-team-drills-on-sunday\/"},"modified":"2022-08-01T04:09:42","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T04:09:42","slug":"rookie-cornerback-azareyeh-thomas-picks-off-two-passes-and-forces-a-fumble-during-team-drills-on-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/rookie-cornerback-azareyeh-thomas-picks-off-two-passes-and-forces-a-fumble-during-team-drills-on-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Rookie cornerback Azareye’h Thomas picks off two passes and forces a fumble during team drills on Sunday."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

During the past two practices, the Florida State offense held its own against the Florida State defense.<\/p>\n

On Sunday morning, the FSU defense mostly held the offense down with a vice grip. <\/p>\n

The Seminoles’ defensive backs locked down the receivers in every portion of the practice — 1-on-1, 7-on-7, 11-on-11 — and the linebackers and defensive line won most of the battles up front as well. <\/p>\n

The result was a dominating effort and some kind words from FSU head coach Mike Norway afterward. <\/p>\n

“I really liked the energy of the defense,” he said. “I thought the (last) practice the offense did some really good things, competitive plays. I thought there was a really good response from the defense today. I see guys flying around. I like what I’m seeing up front, that forcing unit in the front-seven.<\/p>\n

“And I thought the guys in the back end really competed well.”<\/p>\n

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Norway said there were some “good moments” offensively Sunday, but very few came in the passing game. Malik McClain had a nice catch across the middle for a 15-yard gain on a pass from Jordan Travis, and Kentron Poitier had a 30-yard grab against freshman cornerback Azareye’h Thomas, but other than that, the receivers did very little overall . <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Thomas continues to stand out.<\/p>\n

The four-star recruit was one of the eye-opening performers of the spring, and he’s carried that right on over into fall camp.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, he had an interception on a deep pass attempt to Josh Burrell in one-on-ones. He forced a fumble in 7-on-7. And then he had a pick-six in 11-on-11, where it looked like he came off the receiver he was covering to step in front of a pass near the sideline and race uncontested into the end zone.<\/p>\n

Thomas did later give up the long pass to Poitier — he was running step for step with the receiver but the ball was underthrown and Poitier made the adjustment to come back and catch it — but Thomas has performed well enough already that it seems apparent he’ll be getting a lot of playing time as a true freshman. <\/p>\n

“Coming in, you knew the ability he has as a playmaker,” Norvell said. “He’s a very fluid mover. He’s explosive. He’s got great ball skills. He finds a way, he finds a knack for putting himself in a great position. And he had a couple today that I just love what I’m seeing.<\/p>\n

“I’m seeing those positive steps. And he plays with a great deal of confidence for a young player. Anybody can have a good attitude when it’s going good, but when you get beat on a play — and he’s had a couple of those, too — and just the way he’s able to transition to the next play. That’s a learned skill for some guys.”<\/p>\n

Not for Thomas apparently, who according to Norway has shown a remarkable ability to flush the not-so-good plays and then go make some great ones. <\/p>\n

All of FSU’s players got more opportunities to do that on Sunday as Florida State, for perhaps the first time since Norway took over, used both practice fields simultaneously for a couple of periods of 11-on-11 to ensure everyone (first-teamers, second-teamers and third-teamers) got valuable reps. <\/p>\n

“What I like is the quality of reps we’re getting,” Norvell said. “And there are still challenges when you have newcomers and you split them up … but I want those guys to get reps. And the quality of reps is what makes it very beneficial. <\/p>\n

“I think we’ve got great competition in that young group. And some guys just need (work). I mean, you look at some positions and we’re rolling with pretty good depth. Just to make sure those guys are getting the quality reps they need.”<\/p>\n

It sounded as if Norway will continue to use the two-field plan for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

He also said after one more practice in shoulder pads on Monday the team will be in full pads starting Tuesday morning. <\/p>\n

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During the past two practices, the Florida State offense held its own against the Florida State defense. On Sunday morning, the FSU defense mostly held the offense down with a vice grip. The Seminoles’ defensive backs locked down the receivers in every portion of the practice — 1-on-1, 7-on-7, 11-on-11 — and the linebackers and …<\/p>\n

Rookie cornerback Azareye’h Thomas picks off two passes and forces a fumble during team drills on Sunday.<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27919,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/florida-state-defense-rules-the-day-in-the-first-official-practice-of-the-2022-football-preseason\/","url_meta":{"origin":31787,"position":0},"title":"Florida State defense rules the day in the first official practice of the 2022 football preseason.","date":"July 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"It's back, baby! We made it!After an offseason that stretched on for what felt like decades, the Florida State football team was back out on the practice fields Wednesday afternoon for the first practice of the 2022 preseason.And I'm here to offer some observations from the two-hour session. Although I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38136,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/five-quick-takeaways-from-fsus-first-scrimmage\/","url_meta":{"origin":31787,"position":1},"title":"Five quick takeaways from FSU’s first scrimmage","date":"August 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida State moved into its Indoor Practice Facility for its first scrimmage of the preseason as surrounding lightning prevented work inside Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday.\r The Seminoles still got in significant work, with about 100 plays being run during the scrimmage as well as extended action\/live reps on special\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20445,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/with-a-matchup-on-the-horizon-lsu-head-coach-brian-kelly-praised-the-direction-of-fsu-football-under-mike-norvell\/","url_meta":{"origin":31787,"position":2},"title":"With a matchup on the horizon, LSU head coach Brian Kelly praised the direction of FSU football under Mike Norvell.","date":"July 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Less than two months before Florida State's marquee early-season matchup against the LSU Tigers in New Orleans, Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell and a group of players are heading to Charlotte for the ACC Football Kickoff media event.Four hours to the southwest in Atlanta, SEC Media Days are already underway.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30214,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/3-takes-from-day-3-of-fsu-football-camp\/","url_meta":{"origin":31787,"position":3},"title":"3 takes from day 3 of FSU football camp","date":"July 30, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"FLORIDA STATE \u2014 Day three is here heading into the weekend on Friday afternoon. The pads were on and the players were amped coming through the gates at the Dunlap Practice Fields and the defense let everyone know it. Check out our sights and sounds article to see what we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28110,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/3-observations-from-fsu-footballs-first-fall-practice\/","url_meta":{"origin":31787,"position":4},"title":"3 observations from FSU football’s first fall practice","date":"July 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"FLORIDA STATE \u2014 After coming off a long and important summer, The Seminoles put on the shells for their first practice of fall camp as they prepare for their season opener against Duquesne on August, 27th. 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He attended FSU's practices on Thursday and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.rivals.com\/image\/upload\/f_auto,q_auto,t_headline_primary\/xxfvqq4dli4h3wx55lsz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31787"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31787\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}