Florida State freshman insists facing Alabama ‘didn’t feel hard for me’
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Florida State freshman Mandrell Desir might have had some first-game jitters back on Aug. 30, because making your college football debut can be an arduous experience no matter who you’re facing.
That afternoon, in a Week 1 showdown at Doak Campbell Stadium, Desir and the Seminoles just happened to be facing mighty Alabama in a national TV showcase. So, Desir could be excused if he was feeling some extra butterflies and pressure to do well against the Crimson Tide.
But that wasn’t the case for the 6-foot-4, 265-pound Miami product. Not at all, actually.
When Desir was asked this week if he was expecting to have a hard time as a Florida State true freshman against that talented Alabama offensive line, he had a very unexpected answer.
“Coming into this game, they were talking about best O-line in the country,” Desir said to reporters. “I felt like it was another high school game. It didn’t feel hard for me. It just felt like I could dominate, and that’s what I went out there and did.”
According to Pro Football Focus, Desir did indeed hold his own quite well against the Tide O-line. He finished with 4 tackles, 2 of them solo, and had 3 quarterback pressures. Even better was the fact that Desir’s efforts helped produce a dominant 31-17 upset of Alabama that was followed by the Seminoles fans rushing the field.
It was quite the first college gameday for Desir, who followed that debut up with 2 tackles, both of them solo, in FSU’s 77-3 rout of East Texas A&M.
Next up for the super confident Desir will be a home matchup with Kent State on Saturday afternoon, as the 7th-ranked Seminoles look to go 3-0.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
