There are 13 days left until Florida State football starts the 2018 season. As part of the offseason, we’re highlighting players, games, and specific moments from FSU football history.
Today, it’s former defensive end Bjoern Werner and his 13 sacks during an All-American season of 2012.
A native of Germany, who played his high school football in Connecticut, Werner committed to Florida State on National Signing Day in 2010. At 6-foot-4, Werner was long, fast and athletic and soon became a mainstay in the lineup.
After a productive freshman year in which Werner recorded 3.5 sacks, six tackles for loss and a forced fumble, the Berlin native worked himself into the starting lineup in 2011. As a sophomore, Werner would start all 13 games for a Florida State defense that ranked fourth nationally in both points and yards per game allowed. Werner recorded seven sacks, 11 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and scored his only career touchdown, but it would be as a junior when he would become one of the nation’s premier defensive ends.
During the 2012 season, Werner began the regular season with four sacks against Murray State and capped it with 3.5 against rival Florida. In total Werner would finish the campaign with 42 total tackles, including 18 for loss and 13 sacks en route to being named a Unanimous All-American.
The season in general for Florida State would be a good one, especially for the defensive line. Anchored by Werner and Cornellius “Tank” Carradine, FSU tallied 38 total sacks, which led the ACC and ranked 14th in the country.
Although FSU did suffer defeats to NC State and Florida, the Seminoles finished 12-2 to tie a school-record for wins. FSU topped Georgia Tech in Charlotte for its first ACC title since 2005 before beating Northern Illinois in the Orange Bowl. The 31-10 victory over the Huskies marked FSU’s first major bowl victory in 13 years and cemented its first top-10 finish in the AP Poll since 2000.
As for Werner, he would go on to be drafted 24th overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 2013 NFL Draft. Werner would last three seasons in the NFL, totaling seven career sacks. His 13 sacks in 2012 however, ranks seventh in FSU history. The 23.5 for his career is tied for fifth.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole and former editor of Noled Out. Mike has more than seven years experience as a sports writer including the last four in print and online media. Mike graduated from Florida State University in 2009 with a Bachelors in Religion and a minor in Communications. Mike provided press coverage of Florida State's run to the 2013 BCS National Championship. Mike is also a news reporter at Polk County's newspaper, The Ledger in Lakeland, Florida. and contributes to Athlon Sports and ACCSports.com. Mike has been featured on sites as prominent as Yahoo Sports, FoxSports.com, Associated Press and the front page of SI.com while interviewing athletes as high profile as 2013 National League MVP, Andrew McCutchen. Email Mike at Mike@TheDailyNole.com. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson.
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