Mike Norvell talks about Akeem Dent’s return, secondary depth

Florida State defensive back Akeem Dent is close to making his return to the field, which would provide a major boost to the Seminoles secondary. Dent has missed the past two games after suffering an injury in Week 2 against Southern Miss.

FSU has struggled to defend the pass with Dent sidelined, giving up 305 yards through the air in Week 3 against Boston College before going the overtime with Clemson in Week 4. So far the Seminoles rank last in the ACC with 272.0 air yards allowed per game.

However, after a bye this past week, Dent has a chance to play on Saturday against Virginia Tech, and coach Mike Norvell knows how valuable that would be.

“Akeem, when he went down, that’s a three-year starter that’s played a lot of ball,” Norvell said. “We kind of hit one of those perfect negative storms. Kevin Knowles missed a lot of fall camp. It’s just a repetition of all of those things. He kind of got thrust into heavy action there that BC week. You look at other guys that might not have as much experience.”

Akeem Dent started 12 of 13 games for Florida State last season as they finished 10-3. He ended the year with 53 tackles, four passes defended and a quarterback hurry. He had five tackles in Week 1 against LSU before getting hurt the following week.

His absence has forced others such as redshirt sophomore Shyheim Brown to step up. He totaled a season-high eight tackles the win against Clemson and will aim to carry that over into Week 6.

Norvell has been pleased to see Brown and others step up, and with Dent close to making his return, he believes the Seminoles secondary will be better off for having gone through that adversity.

“Shy has really done a good job of growing up and we’ve got a couple newcomers at safety behind him,” the coach said. “Those are things that you gotta have it. The only way you get better is through those on-field experiences and what you do in practice. I think those guys have grown up. I think that they’re building in their confidence. We’re excited about Akeem coming back but also the positive steps that we’ve seen in those guys the last couple of weeks.”

Florida State and Virginia Tech are set to kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Tallahassee.