ESPN College Football

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida State offensive line coach Rick Trickett likes to joke that the Seminoles have their own version of the United Nations.

Star defensive end Bjoern Werner is a native of Berlin, Germany, and the Seminoles’ starting offensive tackles this coming season might be from England and Switzerland.

Anything might be better than the inexperienced group the Seminoles put on the field last season. Because of injuries, Florida State started four freshman offensive linemen in its 18-14 victory over Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl.

As FSU begins spring practice, those freshmen are now sophomores, and two JUCO transfers -- Daniel Glauser and Menelik Watson -- might step in to anchor the offensive line.

Glauser, a native of Rheinfelden, Switzerland, enrolled at FSU in January and is participating in spring practice. Watson, from Manchester, England, is expected to join the Seminoles this summer.

“The [foreign-born] players are more mature,” FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said.

But when it comes to football, Glauser and Watson are relatively inexperienced. Glauser grew up playing soccer in Switzerland, but he was encouraged to move to the U.S. by his American-born coach to play college football. Glauser, 6-foot-6 and 315 pounds, spent the past two seasons at New Mexico Military Institute. Fisher was so impressed with Glauser that he offered him a scholarship even though he’ll have only one season of eligibility at FSU.

“New Mexico Institute didn’t know they could have redshirted him,” Fisher said. “They didn’t know. We didn’t know.”

Watson took an even longer route to Florida State. He came to the U.S. to play basketball at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Watson, 6-6 and 320 pounds, averaged 4.4 points and 3.3 rebounds for the Red Foxes during the 2010-11 season.

“Watson was a Division I basketball player,” Fisher said. “He was 270 pounds and was a wing, not a post player. He wasn’t scoring with his back to the basket. He was making moves and driving to the basket.”

Because of his size, Watson figured he’d reached his ceiling as a basketball player. After briefly considering a professional boxing career, Watson enrolled at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif., where he not only had to learn how to play offensive tackle but also the game’s rules. He played in eight games at Saddleback last season. The Gauchos’ other offensive tackle was Kyle Long, son of NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long, who signed with Oregon.

Watson still has a long way to go in his development, but he’ll probably compete with Glauser and sophomore Bobby Hart for the starting offensive tackle jobs this coming season. The Seminoles lost departed senior tackles Zebrie Sanders and Andrew Datko, who combined to play in 90 games in their FSU careers. Datko missed all of last season because of shoulder injuries and chose to turn pro, instead of appealing to the NCAA for another season of college eligibility.

Sophomores Austin Barron, Tre’ Jackson and Josue Matias, who started against Notre Dame at center, right guard and left guard, respectively, are coming back to compete in the middle of the offensive line. Cameron Erving, a converted defensive tackle, also will be in the tackle mix.

“I like the young guys,” Fisher said. “They’re all sophomores. They’re big and athletic. They actually know they can play with the way they came back [against Notre Dame]. They’re confident now. They don’t have to walk on the field and think, ‘Can I play?’ They know they can play.”

Right guard Bryan Stork said continuity and staying healthy are keys for FSU’s offensive line this coming season.

“Before you’re at the top, you’re always at the bottom,” Stork said. “I feel like we’re a diamond in the rough. We’ve got the guys. It’s just everybody getting better together.”

Our offseason spotlight series continues today with Florida State. A reminder: This series features individual players, position groups and coaches who really need to have big offseasons -- starting this spring.

Spotlight: Offensive line.

2011 Summary: Florida State’s woes up front began at this time last year, when several players were injured during the spring and the group never truly gained any cohesiveness or continuity, as injuries remained an issue through the entire season. The players who lined up for the season opener had only practiced together for about a week, and by the time FSU hosted Virginia on Nov. 19, the Noles had used six different starting lineups. No single group was in the same position for more than three straight games, and true freshman tackle Bobby Hart was thrown into the starting lineup at 17 years old. Four freshmen were in the starting lineup against Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl, and that’s where the Seminoles will start off this spring.

The skinny: The good news is that David Spurlock, who missed more than five games with a knee injury, is back in the mix. The most pressing question is who will replace the two talented tackles in Zebrie Sanders and Andrew Datko. Hart, Austin Barron, Josue Matias and Tre' Jackson were the starters for the bowl game, and matured rapidly from one half to the next. If the Noles are going to get more out of their offense, particularly the running game, they’re going to have to get more out of their young linemen.

• More in this series

Thanks as always to the sports information directors throughout the league for this week’s package of notes:

ACC: With Virginia Tech RB David Wilson, North Carolina RB Giovani Bernard, and Miami RB Lamar Miller leading the way, the ACC could set a league record for the most 100-yard rushing games in a single season in its history. Heading into Saturday, ACC runners have reached or surpassed the 100-yard mark in rushing on 47 occasions led by Wilson (9), Bernard (6) and Miller (6). The league mark of 55 100-yard rushing games was set last year. What makes this year’s total even more impressive is the fact that Boston College’s Montel Harris, who personally has 22 career 100-yard games, has contributed just one to the total this season due to an injury which has forced him to miss almost the entire 2011 season.

BOSTON COLLEGE: In BC’s 38-7 home loss to Florida State, a season-high 10 players were sidelined with injuries. In addition to the five players who have suffered season-ending injuries – WR Ifeanyi Momah (knee), DB C.J. Jones (knee), DL Connor Wujciak (shoulder), RB Montel Harris (knee) and DL Kaleb Ramsey (foot) – five veterans have suffered various recent injuries. They include senior OL Nate Richman, redshirt freshman RB Tahj Kimble, sophomore LB Kevin Pierre-Louis, junior DB Jim Noel and sophomore RB Andre Williams.

CLEMSON: The Tigers have defeated Wake Forest 23 of the past 25 meetings in Death Valley and have not lost to Wake Forest at home since 1998. Clemson has a 6-0 record at home this year and an average victory of 41-25. A win Saturday would also give Clemson a 7-0 record at home this year, the program’s first perfect home season since 1990 when Clemson was 6-0 in Death Valley.

DUKE: Duke has played five one-possession games (decided by eight points or less) this season with an average margin of difference of 2.40 points. The five games are tied for the third most in the nation. Duke’s 2.40 average is the sixth lowest nationally among schools that have played at least three one-possession games, with Buffalo ranking first at 1.67 average points in three games.

FLORIDA STATE: In 2011, 15 true freshmen have played, tied for the seventh-most among all FBS teams. The ‘Noles have played 11 redshirt freshmen for a total of 26 freshmen played. That number is tied for third among FBS schools, trailing only Clemson and Indiana, with 29 each. Five FSU true freshmen–-C Austin Barron, RB Devonta Freeman, WR Rashad Greene, OT Bobby Hart, and TE Nick O’Leary – have made starts, along with redshirt freshman QB Clint Trickett. FSU played 12 true freshmen in 2010 and 12 redshirt freshmen for a whopping 40 freshmen who have played to this point over the past two seasons.

GEORGIA TECH: The Jackets have allowed a 100-yard rusher in a game five times this season (all five have been ACC opponents). David Wilson’s rushing total (175 yards) was the most by a Tech opponent since 2009.

MARYLAND: WR Quintin McCree had his second career 100-yard receiving game with 117 yards against Virginia. It was also McCree’s second 100-yard effort in his last three games. WR Kerry Boykins also had the first of his career with 101 yards in Saturday’s Virginia game. McCree and Boykins are just the second Maryland duo in the past 16 years to post 100 receiving yards in the same game. Danny Oquendo (111) and Torrey Smith (115) both went over 100 receiving yards against Boston College on Nov. 29, 2008. Prior to that, the feat hadn’t occurred since 1995.

MIAMI: With his 202-yard performance against Duke on Nov. 5, Jacory Harris remains in second place in Miami’s records book with 8,097 career passing yards, surpassing Gino Torretta and trailing only Ken Dorsey (9,565).

NORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina has never had a 1,000-yard runner and 1,000-yard receiver in the same season. Last week at NC State, Bernard became the 15th player in UNC history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season and the first since Jonathan Linton in 1997. Heading into the Virginia Tech game, senior wide receiver Dwight Jones, who has 913 receiving yards, needs 87 yards to become just the second player in UNC history with 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.

NC STATE: Tom O’Brien has won 42 games in BC’s Alumni Stadium, but is looking for his first win there as a visitor.

VIRGINIA: The Cavaliers enter Saturday’s game at Duke tied for third in the ACC in total offense at 427.7 yards per game. UVa is tied for 13th nationally with just eight sacks allowed this season (312 pass attempts). OG Austin Pasztor along with OT Oday Aboushi, OG Luke Bowanko, C Anthony Mihota and OT Morgan Moses have started all nine games this season. The only other ACC teams to start the same offensive line this year are NC State and Virginia Tech. The last time the same five players started an entire season on the offensive line at UVa was 2004. Coincidentally, that was the last time UVa averaged more rushing yards (242.8) per game than this year (190.1).

VIRGINIA TECH: The two rushing touchdowns by quarterback Logan Thomas against Georgia Tech gave him eight for the season, tying the single-season record for rushing touchdowns by a Tech quarterback. In 1999, Michael Vick rushed for eight touchdowns (he had another in the Sugar Bowl, but the NCAA didn’t count bowl statistics then). Thomas finished with 70 yards rushing,

WAKE FOREST: Wake Forest had come away with points on 11 straight trips to the red zone over four games heading into the Notre Dame game. Wake scored touchdowns on each of its first two trips to the red zone against Notre Dame and held a 17-10 halftime lead. But Wake’s string of 13 consecutive scoring trips came to a close when the Deacons failed on both red zone visits in the second half. The drives ended with a Brandon Pendergrass fumble at the Notre Dame nine-yard line and a missed field goal by PK Jimmy Newman.