Since Hamsah Nasirildeen sustained an ACL injury in his junior year of high school and missed much of his senior year, we’ll look at the 11 games he played as a junior in 2019.
In the Seminoles’ defense, Nasirildeen predominantly played safety but also saw significant time in other areas. The 2019 snap counts for him are as follows:
- Free safety: 42.3% of defensive snaps
- Strong safety: 21.2%
- Slot cornerback: 17.7%
- Inside linebacker: 12.8%
- Outside linebacker: 5.3%
- Outside cornerback: 0.7%
Nasirildeen made a high number of quarterback rushes for safety, as Florida State constantly tried to pressure the opposing team’s quarterback. In 2019, he blitzed 46 times, accounting for 6.6% of his defensive snaps and an average of 4.2 snaps per game. Among NFL safeties in 2020, he would have placed sixth if he had averaged 4.2 pass-rush snaps per game.
Nasirildeen’s defense is mostly reliant on playing in a zone formation, with him playing 78% of his career coverage snaps in a zone and only 22% in a man’s defense.
Nasirildeen was asked to fill in for the Seminoles occasionally in the slot, and he did so by lining up there on 20.4% of his career coverage snaps.
How Good Is Hamsah Nasirildeen?
The passes that were thrown to Nasirildeen in 2019 resulted in a passer rating of 68.9, one touchdown, and two interceptions. According to Pro Football Focus, he has an 81.6 coverage grade, putting him in the 90th percentile of all eligible FBS safeties.
While on an away game against Trevor Lawrence and Clemson’s fourth-ranked scoring offense, Nasirildeen allowed 0 catches in 41 covering snaps. His two targets resulted in an interception and an incompletion.