Florida State defensive end Jacob Pugh isn’t mincing words about one of the reasons Florida State has been listless in 2017.
Pugh told Rivals’ Warchant.com that he feels some players are looking out for themselves more than the team in 2017. Florida State was beaten 35-3 Friday night by Boston College. The loss dropped the Seminoles to 2-5 on the season — a season that Pugh told the site is a “nightmare.”
“Lack of leadership,” explained Pugh. “Everybody is just doing their own thing, pretty much. I just feel like everybody is worried about everything else. There are probably players worried about the draft or whatever so ain’t nobody really focused.”
He also had this to say when contrasting this year’s Florida State team to the one that made the College Football Playoff in 2014.
“We had a lot of older guys that demanded respect and demanded us to play hard and fight for one another,” he said of the 2014 team. “It’s not like that now.”
As we said Friday night, there’s far more that’s gone wrong for Florida State this season than simply losing quarterback Deondre Francois to injury. The Seminoles were a five-point favorite against the Eagles on Friday and were outplayed in every facet. Boston College got consistent pressure on freshman quarterback James Blackman even without all-ACC defensive end Harold Landry, who missed the game due to injury.
Pugh’s concerns of people looking out for their draft status have been shared before by other teams. Clemson safety Jadar Johnson said last year in the lead-up to the College Football Playoff that it was “obvious” some of his teammates had their eyes set on the NFL during the 2015 season.
But that 2015 Clemson team still made the national championship. This 2017 Florida State team may not even make a bowl. The Seminoles have to win their final four games of the season — including a game vs. Clemson — to get to 6-5 and bowl eligible.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
