Willie Taggart’s favorite Thanksgiving Day side dish: ‘Gator meat’
By Keith Farner
Published:
Florida State is nearly a touchdown underdog at home this week as the Seminoles look to extend their winning streak to five games against Florida.
Taggart said the intensity in practice continues to be at a high level after he noticed a change last week.
“Guys were challenging each other more than what we had been,” he said. “We got good results behind it. We don’t have to motivate our guys to come out and practice. They’ve been locked in and getting after each other.”
Taggart said LB Emmett Rice, who is battling a knee injury, is gaining confidence in himself, especially from earlier in the season.
“As the season went on, he started making more plays and his teammates jumping all over him, and you could see the confidence growing in him,” Taggart said, according to a video posted by Tallahassee.com. “You see him each and every week excited with his teammates, encouraging his teammates. I love the fact when he goes out and makes plays, you can see the excitement in his teammates. He’s still nowhere near where he needs to be, but he’s doing whatever he can to help our football team.”
Taggart smiled and said “we’ll see” when asked if Rice would redshirt since he’s within the four-game rule.
Linebacker Dontavious Jackson, who matched his career-high with 14 tackles against Boston College, learned to control his emotions, which is something the coaching staff has worked with him on this season.
“He is growing big-time. That is who DJax is. Always told him, I don’t want you to lose your enthusiasm or your passion for the game, because that is who you are and our defense needs someone like that. But you also got to channel it in the right directions and make sure that you don’t do anything that hurts the football team with that,” Taggart said. “Each week he has gotten a lot better. At first he stopped being who he was and we didn’t want that to stop. To see him continue to grow and help our team and still play with passion has been big. Each and every game he has gotten better with it.”
Taggart also offered several injury updates, including DEÂ Joshua Kaindoh, as Taggart said he’s “Keeping fingers crossed, hope so” to play.
DBÂ Levonta Taylor is dealing with a hamstring injury, is not where he needs to be, but is improving.
About play-calling in general, Taggart said, “We haven’t put it all together like we’ve wanted to, but we’ve made strides the last couple of weeks. We need to continue to head in that direction.”
As for Thanksgiving, Taggart said he enjoys turkey and ham, the stuffing or dressing description depends on who you ask, but his favorite side dish is, “gator meat.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
