1. Demarcus Christmas, DTÂ
Christmas isn’t an unknown player after enjoying a productive 2016 campaign, but the junior has the upside to be even better this year while developing into a dominant force in the middle of the Florida State defensive line.
Even with star DeMarcus Walker off to the Denver Broncos after piling up a whopping 19.5 tackles for loss and 16 sacks a year ago, the Seminoles have one of the deepest and most talented fronts in the nation. While there isn’t a preseason All-American on the unit, Florida State can throw a number of players at opposing offensive lines, including Brian Burns, Josh Sweat and Derrick Nnadi, who combined for 21.5 sacks a year ago.
Although Christmas doesn’t rack up similar eye-popping numbers as a pass rusher, he stands out as Florida State’s best run defender and is effective at swatting passes at the line of scrimmage. At 6-4 and 308 pounds, Christmas takes up a ton of space in the middle and can occupy multiple blockers, freeing up a whole number of Seminoles playmakers.
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Christmas contributes a lot beyond the box score, but Florida State would still like to see him improve upon the 21 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss he put up a year ago. The strength of the Alabama offense is going to be the ground game once again, so Christmas will be the key piece in slowing the intimidating backfield duo of Bo Scarbrough and Damien Harris.
The Seminoles have a great chance to limit the Alabama passing attack, so the game is going to come down to their rush defense. If Christmas continues to play at a high level, Florida State can pull off the upset.