Duce Robinson, Jeremiah Wilson are the big personalities Florida State football needs

It's 5:15 a.m.

Jeremiah Wilson jumps out of bed, brushes his teeth and says a prayer before getting into his car and driving to the Florida State football facility before the sun peaks over Tallahassee's tree-filled skyline.

He arrives around 5:30 a.m. and begins his day with film study, treatment and breakfast. He's the first player in the door and he buzzes around the facility with his enthusiastic energy before Duce Robinson arrives, much to the admiration of the USC transfer.

"Jerry is one of those dudes who pushes me, Jerry's work ethic is incredible. I think Jerry's work ethic is better than mine. I try to be one of the first people to the facility every day, and he is always here before me," Robinson said. "It really makes me mad because I see his car in the parking lot every single day before me, and I try to show up earlier, earlier and earlier and somehow he's still beating me. So I'm questioning, 'Does he just live at the facility?"

"But then you really see how much it translates on the field. He puts the time in physically and mentally, too."

The pair of transfers are no strangers to each other, often lining up on the field across from one another at defensive back and wide receiver, respectively.

Wilson was a productive player at both Syracuse and Houston. He was ranked a top-10 graded corner by Pro Football Focus (PFF) in 2024, and ranked third in the Big 12 with four interceptions. Robison recorded 747 yards and seven touchdowns in his two seasons at USC, and is poised to take a big leap as the potential top target for Tommy Castellanos.

While their battles on the field are crucial to the Seminoles' success, the battle taking place in the dawning hours of the morning is one of equal importance.

While a playful battle of "I got here first" doesn't fully translate to wins or success, the actions of the pair set a professional standard for the Seminoles. Neither player is afraid to showcase their emotions and speak up, be it in a comedic way or by taking a leadership tone.

After a dismal 2-10 campaign from a team that lacked true, vocal leadership, FSU was in desperate need of new, and arguably big, personalities that could push the team just as much on the field as they could off of it.

Both Wilson and Robinson have provided that for the Seminoles since their arrival and in the early days of fall camp.

"My goal every day is just to try and bring one guy along with me," Robinson said. "If I can continue to bring one guy along with me every single day for a lot of days in a row, that ends up being multiple guys that ended up getting better because of me and my actions."

Wilson said he's had his early morning approach since he was in high school, and it really picked up while at Syracuse, where he claimed the days trudging through the rain and snow in upstate New York at 4:30 a.m. were some of his favorites.

Robinson also has taken a similar approach throughout his career, and it's a professional one that requires discipline.

The early arrivals haven't gone unnoticed either, as Wilson said he's had more teammates joining him at the facility before the break of dawn.

"Ed[win] Jospeh, Earl Little, Q [Quindarrius Jones], we are getting here early now, and I don't know if they were doing it before, but they are getting here early with me," Wilson said. "Not only that, after practice, we are getting extra work too. Running, conditioning, making sure we are going to be ready for August 30 and every other game after that."

"We got something cooking.

The chemistry built shows up in the field in subtle ways, with Wilson saying he's already at the point with KJ Kirkland that he can give him a slight glance and know his teammate will be there to help him in coverage.

With the pulsating sounds of Doak Campbell Stadium and other venues on the Seminoles' schedule, Wilson said the unspoken communication learned and developed in the early hours of the day is vital to the defense's success.

"It's going to translate to the field so good... When it gets loud, it gets loud, so you got to use hand signals, give somebody a look like 'you got me in the post,' he's going to know he got me in the post," Wilson said. "Me and KJ did that a couple of times."

"We got the chemistry down pat and it's only day two."

As the Seminoles continue through preseason camp, and Wilson and Robinson continue their battle over who shows up first, the early leadership qualities shown by both players are promising.

It remains to be seen how their influence impacts preparation ahead of kickoff against Alabama, but it's clear that neither player is going to shy away from showing their personality.

Wilson described his actions as "just the guys having fun," but his leadership and personality is seemingly making an impact. As he prepares for lights out at 9:30 p.m. to maintain his early rising, Wilson believes the buy-in from his teammates will benefit the program this season.

"It feels like people I've known my whole life, the way we are talking on the field," Wilson said. "It's easy when we get on the field, we go through everything else together, we are going through camp together. Camp's hard, playing football is easy. All of the other stuff is the hard part."

"As long as we keep staying together, everything is going to come together, everything is going to be easy."

FSU football 2025 schedule

• Aug. 30, Alabama, 3:30 p.m.
• Sept. 6, East Texas A&M, Noon
• Sept. 20, Kent State, TBA
• Sept. 26, at Virginia (Friday), 7 p.m.
• Oct. 4, Miami, TBA
• Oct. 11, Pittsburgh, TBA
• Oct. 18, at Stanford, 10:30 p.m.
• Nov. 1 Wake Forest, TBA
• Nov. 8 at Clemson, TBA
• Nov. 15 Virginia Tech, TBA
• Nov. 21 North Carolina State (Fri.), 8 p.m.
• Nov. 29, Florida, TBA

Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @__liamrooney

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football's Jeremiah Wilson, Duce Robinson: The leaders FSU needs