ChantRant

Former FSU assistant Dexter Carter sizes up the running backs he coached

Dexter Carter has moved on from his three-year gig as FSU's running backs coach, and holds no grudges. But Carter knows talented runners when he sees them. After all, he was a star RB at FSU and went on to be a role-playing back and kick returner for the 49ers during their dynasty days. So we asked Carter to evaluate the Nole players he worked with and who he thinks will emerge to be this year's starter.

Today, the first in the series, spotlights Ty Jones.

"Ty Jones struggled to manage his diabetes. And 80% of the time his diabetes was off the charts. It was literally over 600. Now that's comatose for most older people. So we would teach him how to manage it and the importance of it, but it seemed like nothing ever got through to him.

"Now if he were the starter and you wouldn't know when his diabetes was going to hit, and he gets that diabetic fatigue, he's gotta sit, and he may be out for two days. So if he were the starter you'd have to work around him and those problems. But if he's learned to manage it and his diabetic numbers are near perfect (as suggested recently by Jimbo), there are things I saw him do on the field that you don't see done everyday. I'm talking about natural make-you-miss things like Amp Lee used to do. But Ty has tremendous power. So if he did all those things to control his diabetes, he'd be the one to beat out."

FSU baseball season post-mortem by former Nole pitcher Michael Hyde

FSU Baseball Championship Run Ends

by Mike Hyde Public Relations Director, Next Level Baseball, LLC

Every Florida State fan was hoping for the Seminole baseball team to complete a story book ending in Omaha at the College World Series this year. It would have been fitting to have Mike Martin win his first championship in the final season that Rosenblatt Stadium will have its lines chalked and bases painted. However, those hopes were diminished after Texas Christian plated an unlikely eight runs in the eighth inning of last Wednesday’s elimination game. The 2010 Noles’ landed back in Tallahassee from Omaha empty handed for the twentieth time in school history.

Six outs. The last six outs of the game are always the toughest ones to get. It is hard to explain why the hitters seem to get better and the strike zone smaller in the eighth and ninth innings. Unfortunately, those last six outs were FSU’s undoing in Omaha this year. The Seminole pitching staff, which had been riding high leading up to the CWS, has been a roller coaster ride all season long. The questions surrounding the rotation and the lack of dominance from a Friday night starter coupled with hot and cold spells from the bullpen had been a concern for many. These are all issues that placed the 2010 team behind the eight ball in Omaha.

The teams that make it to the CWS championship will have one or two guys that they can run out to the mound and shut the opposing team down on any given night (hence UCLA and South Carolina). On the positive side, you have to give credit where credit is due. This year’s staff had proven two things this post season: they would compete and they would never give in. Those two characteristics are what took them to the show this year. They went out each game and gave their offense a chance to win games for them. Even in the last game against TCU, the Seminole offense had the chance to make it a game with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the eighth inning.

From the outside looking in, you can speculate on numerous events that occurred during that elimination game that were uncharacteristic by this year’s club’s standards, from the hanging full count slider that was hit out to give TCU the lead to the defensive breakdown in the field. Basically, it boils down to the game of baseball. Sometimes the baseball gods have different plans.

Most fans said if this year's club made it to the Super Regionals they would consider the season a success. They did. Some said they would consider the season a success if this group made it to Omaha. They did. After losing game one in Rosenblatt, many said they would be content with this year’s season if the Noles’ eliminated the Gators from the College World Series. They did that too. In my opinion, this year’s club had a heck of a year and should be extremely proud of everything they achieved.

Bill from Tampa explains the Solomon NBA Draft selection

As we saw last night in the NBA draft, Solomon was surprisingly selected 50th in the draft by Dallas who traded him to Toronto not soon after picking him. Even the few mock drafts that had him going in the second round didn't have him going that low and most had him late in the first round.

Now it comes out from the Tallahassee Democrat that Solomon was diagnosed with a rare medical condition (that is not life threatening, thankfully) in the pre-draft physical exams which was shared with all NBA teams.

That obviously had an affect as to where he was drafted with teams shying away from him coupled with his leg injury two years ago. How much this condition affected his game we don't know. It sure didn't help.

So this helps to explain why he went so late. I can assure you that Leonard Hamilton and Stan Jones work very hard for their potential NBA players prior to the draft to get a good idea where players are likely to go in the draft. It was difficult to believe they could be so wrong.

Solomon just can't catch a break. But here's hoping he can stay on with Toronto or some other NBA team.

He was confident he was going in the first round when he declared last April.

Update: Leonard Hamilton reacts to Solomon's draft situation.

In other FSU basketball draft news, Ryan Reid was a surprise pick going 57th to Indiana (later traded to Oklahoma). Ryan as early as early April had workouts scheduled with NBA teams and obviously someone liked with what they saw with his physical play and his willingness to do the dirty work. Will he stick in the NBA, who knows? But I will tell you this, Ryan is going to be missed by FSU fans more than they know come next season.

On a side note: Ryan in his senior year in high school went head to head against Stanley Robinson of UConn. Ryan had his hands full in that game and Robinson did get the better of him with Ryan eventually fouling out. Robinson garnered a good deal of attention while at UConn. Certainly more than Ryan did in his college career. Turns out Robinson was selected 59th two slots behind Ryan. I consider that a small piece of payback for that game six years ago.

Another Day, Another CWS Hangover

You didn't like the way it ended, but there's still a lot to like about this season -- isn't there?

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Crying croc tears the morning after in Omaha

Seminoles Send The Lizards Packing

If you had a sinking, dyspeptic feeling when you saw the Noles would face the gators in a CWS elimination game, you weren't the only one. It was easy to imagine fickle fate's scenario of a painful loss to the most painful opponent to lose to.

We should've known this amazingly unpredictable team would rise from the dead again, like the final scene of a hokey horror flick. Just when we thought they couldn't go any further...well, this is one crow we're happy to eat.

Best of all, you get to turn the tables on all those gator co-workers and neighbors -- even family members -- who haven't missed a chance to rub it in lately. So enjoy every sweet moment of payback

One final cherry on the sundae that is Monday's 8 - 5 win: FSU's all-time record against the gators in baseball is now 120 - 96 - 1.

Tell that to the guy in the cube next to yours who still hasn't taken down his creepily religious shrine to The Tebow Child.

Seminoles look to BBQ the Gators today in CWS Elimination Game

by Michael Hyde

Former FSU Pitcher and Public Relations Director of Next Level Baseball, LLC

As the Seminoles baseball team sat down to dinner Sunday night in Omaha, you can bet the coaches and players had a hard time swallowing. The Noles find themselves on the verge of elimination in the final World Series at historic Rosenblatt Stadium. However, the game has more at stake than survival in Omaha. Because on Monday the Seminoles and Gators will face off for the fifth time this season -- except this time it’s on college baseball’s biggest stage.

To the victor: Bragging rights and a game three at the CWS. For the loser: a flight home to Florida with a very sour taste of defeat in their mouths.

Orange & Blue. Garnet & Gold. Colors that always clash when matched together. Each time the Noles and Gators step between the lines, you can bet each player will leave everything he has on the field. As if playing in the College World Series wasn’t enough for these two programs and their fans, now the rivals have the opportunity to stick it to the other on TV screens from coast to coast.

As a former Seminole, I can remember lacing up my spikes for the first time against the University of Florida and feeling something different in the locker room. Something I’m sure each one of my teammates must have felt as well.

It’s that twisted feeling in your gut when you want something so bad it hurts.

It’s knowing that on this particular day, every guy on the team will compete with everything in their being for 27 outs.

You start to realize that you’re playing for much more than yourself, your teammates and your coaches.

You finally realize what being a Seminole is all about.

When #11 addresses the team before Monday’s game against UF, there will not be a need for a motivational speech. There will not be a need to discuss everything that went wrong in Game One. And there’ll be no need to shake up the batting order or change the pitching philosophy. At this point in the season, and against this particular opponent, it’s simply time to let the athletes play. 

The Seminoles have shown the ability to battle and overcome adversity all year long. When everyone counted them out, they buckled their belts a little tighter, pulled their hats down a little further and took their game to the next level.

Many people like to speculate about what adjustments the coaching staff should make and how the strategy should change heading into Monday’s game. But I believe Mike Martin and his staff will run out the same lineup, play Seminole baseball and live with the results.

With an ACC title and the 20th trip to Omaha on this year’s resume, I’d say that’s a pretty solid strategy.

Now for a little good news from FSU Baseball

This may help cure your hangover from the Noles CWS opener. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that one of the nation's top prospects is still considering Florida State over pro ball.

Kaleb Cowart, an FSU signee and the 18th pick in the recent MLB Draft, spent three days in Tallahassee this past week for freshman orientation, according to the AJC. He also hung out with Mike Martin and watched the Noles work out for their trip to Omaha.

Sure, this could just be a negotiating ploy by Cowart, giving the L.A. Angels -- the team that drafted him -- the impression he might just play for FSU if they balk at paying a $3 million signing bonus.

"The talk with (Martin) went well," said Cowart. "He understands if it works out with the Angels. If not, he would be more than happy for me to come to school."

Martin would be a lot more than happy. The 6'3" Cowart can do it all. Baseball Rumor Mill says his fastball has been clocked in the mid-90s, and he has a "hard spinning" curve. He's also a switch hitter who "shows power both ways" and "an outstanding defensive infielder."

Cowart, who's from South Georgia (Adel), swears he's undecided about playing college or pro ball. "It's still up in the air right now," he said. "We're not leaning one way or the other. It's split down the middle."

Sound like a cagey teenager who wants to get rich quick? The AJC's Prep Zone blogger, Michael Carvell, says he doesn't get that feeling about Cowart. "I really think he is going to let things work out as they may, whether it means FSU or LA."

We can only hope Kaleb is the first first-round pick who delays his MLB career to play at Howser.

Urbie says adding FSU and Miami to the SEC "would be great"

So now that college football's musical chairs is over -- or is it? -- we can only wonder where FSU might have landed if all the dominoes fell. The word from Hogtown seemed to be that reptile honchos would slam the door on the Noles chances for SEC membership. But Urban "it's only esophageal reflux" Meyer didn't get the message or was blowing smoke during a recent interview on Miami's WQAM. When asked how he felt about FSU and Miami joining the SEC, Urban oozed with dubious ecumenical charm, saying:

“Well I think that would be great for the SEC...I know one thing, our commissioner and our office…they won’t be caught by surprise.  We got the best people.  They are phenomenal in the job they do. That is a natural fit, the two schools that you just mentioned. We play one of them every year and the other one is a great rivalry as well.”