Alex Atkins expresses faith in Florida State’s depth on offensive line

In his second season as the offensive coordinator at Florida State, Alex Atkins explained that he’s confident in the team’s depth on the offensive line.

A big part of this comes from moving Casey Roddick to center, a position he’s adjusting to quickly because of his maturity.

“Yeah, center is the idea where you do it in is perfect…when you get to a team, a little more thought process that ball has to consistently be snapped better with the thinking involved in operating the real offense, 11-11 football,” Alex Atkins said. “And you can’t simulate that. So, you’ve got to put him out there and let him do it. Just kind of give them some locations skills.”

As Alex Atkins explained, by moving Casey Roddick to center, Florida State is building its depth on the offensive line as a whole for the 2023 season.

“But, I think he’s growing in it. I think it’s helping us creating that depth that we need at that position. If we need it, you know, have to go to it. And he’s a guy that’s an old head so he picks up the offense really quickly because he’s played a lot of football, he has a lot of experience,” Atkins explained.

“So, as long as he can hear the concepts, he’s pretty well versed. It’s just more thinking in the 11 on 11 when you have to snap the ball and a whole different cadence and things like that, but I’m very pleased with Casey Roddick. Man, he’s a good football player.”

Alex Atkins on the value of rotating the offensive line

Alex Atkins knows that having continuity on the offensive line is important. However, depth matters too and injuries are likely to happen. So, being able to rotate offensive linemen is important, especially in the spring.

“Continuity is always a big thing with O-line, but that’s not the focus in the spring. You never have a set of five that’s going out there all the time. There’s a different guy in there. It might be, ‘Hey, you go with the ones this time, you go with the twos, you go with the threes,’ so it’s more creating matchups with competition like going against the one D-line, two D-line, three D-line,” Atkins said.

“It’s different. You might put a guy in there that’s doing really well with the three D-line, like let me see what you’re going to do versus the two D-line, let me see what you’re going to do against the ones and how that correlates.”