Interesting article
"Fixing FSU's offensive line: A look at the past, present, future ByBrendan Sonnone (24/7)
Trickett literally wrote a book on coaching the offensive line,
entitled “Complete Offensive Line”, and was widely respected as a teacher by NFL teams.
The final three seasons of Trickett’s tenure, however, were defined by a gradual drop-off along the line. A lack of continuity and a myriad of other issues that we’ll detail below contributed to the demise of a unit that’s still dealing with the residual effects of widespread mismanagement
No, FSU’s wasn’t recruiting at an elite level along the offensive line at the end of the Fisher/Trickett era...but it was going toe-to-toe with other schools for sought-after linemen.
Trickett was considered a hard-nosed, no-nonsense perfectionist and his reputation as a tough coach spread throughout recruiting circles. Whether it was fair or not, a narrative built that Trickett could not attract elite linemen to come play for him...or that he wasn’t interested in those who didn’t fit his ideology of coming from hardscrabble roots.
From 2007-2017, there were 41 five-star offensive linemen listed in the 247Sports database.
FSU never signed a single five-star lineman in that span, although it did land numerous highly-rated four-star
So there’s a disconnect somewhere between bringing in quality recruits and then FSU getting into a position where it’s struggling to field a serviceable line within a fairly simple scheme.
Some of the issues FSU had (and still has) came with development. Tricket seemed to lose his touch in recent years and linemen rarely made significant progress from Year 1 to the time they left.
We’ve heard that Fisher and Trickett clashed at times regarding what they wanted from their linemen. Fisher wanted massive maulers to fit the mold of what most SEC teams did, while Trickett valued agility and flexibility in his zone-blocking scheme. The line turned into a bit of a hodgepodge with no true identity.