Tony Elliott has an ungodly amount of talent in his backfield, and he’s getting one of his guys out the past couple of weeks back.
“Excited about getting Noah back,” Elliott said at this weekly chat with reporters on Tuesday, referencing as “Noah” one of his backup tailbacks, Noah Vaughn, who missed the past two games after suffering a high ankle sprain in the win over William & Mary in Week 3.
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Vaughn went for 101 yards in the first half of that one.
Another of the backups, Harrison Waylee, had 151 yards and three TDs in the 55-16 win.
They’re two of the four tailbacks with at least 100 yards on the ground this season – the lead back, J’Mari Taylor, has 397 yards and a team-best seven TDs, followed by Waylee at 229 yards and four TDs, then Xavier Brown (206 yards, one TD) and Vaughn (170 yards).
The starting QB, Chandler Morris, has 169 yards and four rushing touchdowns.
Elliott thinks Vaughn could be the best of the bunch.
“I’ve said for a long time that, prior to Harrison and J’Mari coming in, that I thought that Noah was the most complete back, because he can do a lot of different things well, and he’s just going to get better as he gets more experience over the course of this season and his career,” Elliott said.
Quick hits
Morris, who dinged his thumb on an FSU defender’s helmet in the 46-38 double-OT win on Friday, is “good to go,” according to Elliott.
Daniel Sparks is “getting closer,” and Elliott hopes Sparks will at least “be able to punt this week.”
Eli Slibeck, the backup, is averaging 45.8 yards per punt; Sparks is averaging 46.0 yards per, so, you’re good either way.
Slibeck has also been effective on kickoffs in Sparks’s absence, averaging 63.8 yards per kickoff – Sparks is averaging 64.1 yards per kickoff.
“I mean, he’s been phenomenal,” Elliott said of Slibeck, a junior. “I mean, six touchbacks this past week and then, I think he was like six out of seven or something like that the week before. So, he’s done a phenomenal job there, and then, he hasn’t had a ton of opportunity to punt over the last couple of weeks, but he’s done exactly what we’ve asked him to do.”
Starting center Brady Wilson “is another week away, but we’re hopeful that after the bye week, we’ll get him back.”
Wilson logged 231 snaps in the first four games before leaving in the second half of the 48-20 win over Stanford in Week 4 with, you guessed it, a high ankle sprain.
Drake Metcalf slid over from right guard, and has played the last 113 snaps at center.
Also likely to be out through the bye week are right tackle Wallace Unamba (20 snaps in 2025) and left tackle David Wohlabaugh (who hasn’t gotten on the field yet this year).
Elliott is hopeful to get right tackle Ethan Sipe (43 snaps in 2025) back soon.
“We’re kind of easing him back in, but I’m hoping by the end of this week, he’ll be ready for us to just kind of take all the restraints off and let him go,” Elliott said.
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