{"id":229427,"date":"2026-04-13T07:44:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/229427\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T07:44:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T07:44:22","slug":"florida-state-freshman-linebacker-shining-at-spring-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/229427\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida State freshman linebacker shining at spring practice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/ncaaf\/teams\/florida-state-seminoles\/3409\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Florida State;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Florida State&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Florida State<\/a> landed one of the top linebackers in the 2026 class when blue-chip prospect Izayia Williams signed. Although he wasn&#8217;t quite as sought-after, three-star Karon Maycock was a big target for FSU, as they&#8217;ve held a commitment from him since February of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Injuries during spring practice have presented an opportunity for Maycock to get a head start on learning what defensive coordinator Tony White wants in his 3-3-5 scheme. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/college\/florida-state\/article\/vip-scoop-details-from-florida-states-final-spring-scrimmage-281366258\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Noles247&#039;s Zach Blostein;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Noles247&#039;&quot;}\" class=\"link \">Noles247&#8217;s Zach Blostein<\/a>, he&#8217;s shining daily.<\/p>\n<p>With veteran linebacker Mikai Gbayor currently sidelined with an injury, true freshman Karon Maycock has turned heads as he has been granted more reps. A source said they feel like he may crack the linebacker rotation this season for the &#8216;Noles.<\/p>\n<p>Maycock picking things up this quickly is good for a few reasons. It shows that he can translate his game from the high school level to the collegiate level without having a huge learning curve. Also, it speaks well to how new linebackers coach Ernie Sims is getting his philosophy across.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>FSU has veterans like Omar Graham Jr., Chris Jones, and Blake Nichelson at linebacker who he will compete for playing time with. However, Maycock, along with Williams, will need to adjust at a rapid speed as they will be counted on as well.<\/p>\n<p>Contact\/Follow us @FSUWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida State news, notes and opinions. You can also follow Matthew on X @StarConscience<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on FSU Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/fsuwire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/college\/fsu\/football\/2026\/04\/12\/fsu-football-linebacker-karon-maycock-turning-heads-spring-practice\/89581924007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:FSU Football: Florida State freshman LB Karon Maycock turning heads;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;FSU Football&quot;}\" class=\"link \">FSU Football: Florida State freshman LB Karon Maycock turning heads<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florida State landed one of the top linebackers in the 2026 class when blue-chip prospect Izayia Williams signed.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13166,103039,28,30,29,1320,3603,103037,103036,30011,58511,35620,103038],"class_list":{"0":"post-229427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-chris-jones","9":"tag-ernie-sims","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-florida-state","14":"tag-fsu","15":"tag-izayia-williams","16":"tag-karon-maycock","17":"tag-linebacker","18":"tag-linebackers-coach","19":"tag-tony-white","20":"tag-top-linebackers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}