Florida State could conceivably have its best defense under Mike Norvell in his third season as head coach.
Even after the departures of NFL first-round bound Jermaine Johnson II and fellow defensive linemen Keir Thomas, who claimed third team All-ACC honors last season.
Safety Akeem Dent’s recent evolution played a major role in how the Seminole defense has transformed by the end of spring football. The redshirt junior has built off his strong finish to last season, emerged as a consistent playmaker in practice and finally turned into the player he was expected to be as a heralded recruit.
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By defensive coordinator Adam Fuller’s count on Twitter, Dent recorded a team-high six of the 38 turnovers FSU forced in the 13 practices before the Garnet & Gold Spring Game on Saturday.
“At his best, he’s a multi-tool player,” Fuller said. “He can tackle. He can cover. He can make plays on the ball. He can blitz. He can do a lot of things. It’s just about making sure that he’s confident in everything we are telling him to do. And that comes with reps. It comes with clean, concise coaching, too, to make sure that it makes sense to him.”
For the Seminoles to be successful in the back end, they only need Dent to be competent. Star safety Jammie Robinson significantly improved the position group last season, claiming first team All-ACC honors after transferring from South Carolina to FSU.
So if Dent translates his stellar spring football campaign to this fall, the Seminoles will have quite the safety duo. The 6-foot-1, 196-pound Dent brings all of the physical qualities necessary to make that possibility a reality. Dent just needs to be more dependable, which is an attribute he has exuded all offseason.
“I’m just trusting my keys, trusting what I see. That’s the difference. I’m not second-guessing anymore,” Dent said. “I just trust, and I get it. Get it, grab the ball and that’s all I have to do.”
Patience paying off
Dent needed to trust a lot more than his reads early in his Seminole career.
Watching two head-coaching changes alone could have prompted Dent to look elsewhere. He verbally committed to FSU in July of 2017. Jimbo Fisher left for Texas A&M five months later. Dent still signed to its 2019 recruiting class, only for then-head coach Willie Taggart to be replaced by Norvell almost exactly a year later.
Then there were the position switches. The Seminole coaching staff converted Dent to cornerback for the 2020 season, which was a failed experiment. Dent transitioned back to safety last season but struggled until the final few games.
“It was a, ‘Wherever they need me,’ type of situation when I first came in,” said Dent about his openness to switching positions.
When considering how his collegiate career started, Dent easily could have abandoned the Seminoles. Hopped into the transfer portal. Found a better fit. Even his older brother, former FSU walk-on wide receiver Adarius Dent, transferred to Eastern Illinois last summer.
But Akeem never wavered.
It’s understandable why a top 100 recruit like Dent took this long to blossom. Sticking around certainly paid off for him.
“Akeem is a very talented young man,” Norvell said. “He has great range. Speed. That playmaking ability is something that as he made the transition from corner to safety, it really put him in a great spot to utilize all of those talents. And he is doing a good job in the run game. He’s doing a really good job in the passing game.
“And you just see the confidence, communication and the things that are necessary to let him play at a high level.”
When it clicked for Dent
FSU’s 10th game of last season – a 31-28 victory over Miami – is when Dent said he finally started to feel comfortable.
“Safety brought me to be able to see the field, seeing more,” Dent said. “So now I can react to formations instead of just being locked in close up on a man. So that change definitely helped me be able to make more plays and be in this situation right now.”
Dent recorded four tackles and a pass breakup against Miami, his first career interception in the following game at Boston College and eight tackles to finish the season at Florida. Overall, Dent tallied 44 tackles and five pass breakups last season.
The confidence Dent built left him aspiring to be a leader alongside Robinson.
“It helps a lot knowing that both of us are older,” Dent said. “Both of us know the game. And now we both can put the younger guys in better situations. And we can both help each other out by being veterans, seeing cues and making plays that shouldn’t be made. But with the age of us, we still make the plays.”
One of the biggest indications that Dent has permanently turned a corner is the way he now quickly recovers from miscues. Dent does not seem to dwell on occasionally losing a battle in 1-on-1 work. And he does not sulk after the defense surrenders a big play.
Bringing consistency has helped Dent transcend in his development. He no longer looks like a hot-and-cold player. The good significantly outweighs the bad with his play.
“The greatest thing was last scrimmage,” Fuller said. “Akeem had two really poor plays early in that scrimmage and came back and played really well. That’s what it’s about.
“It was Thursday, we started off practice, and I think our offense scored every time they touched the ball in the red zone. And we had a missed tackle. We had a missed execution. You name it. We came back and had one of our better sessions for the next hour and a half. That’s all part of the development.
“I don’t want it to happen that way. But our guys are listening to the coaching right now, and they love football. And that’s a big deal.
“So that’s part of where Akeem is at, and I’m proud of the progress he’s making. Really happy for him. He’s set to have a great year.”
Reach Carter Karels at ckarels@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @CarterKarels.
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