Football is (kind of) back.<\/p>\n
Mike Norvell and the members of the Florida State football coaching staff joined local media members for a luncheon Friday \u2014 preceded by a Norvell press conference \u2014 before the team takes the field to begin spring practice on Monday.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a team with plenty of questions, with a new quarterback, newcomers galore (50 in total), a few new coaches and a familiar (but also new) offensive playcaller in Norvell.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s certainly an important spring for any hope of Norvell building a team that will help him keep his job after back-to-back tenuous seasons have ramped up the thermostat on his seat.<\/p>\n
Here are three takeaways from Norvell\u2019s opening press conference.<\/p>\n
No. 1: Norvell\u2019s playcalling return<\/p>\n
With Norvell\u2019s job all but certainly hanging in the balance this fall, it makes sense in a way that he would step back into the offensive playcaller role he held at the start of his tenure in Tallahassee.<\/p>\n
That was the opportunity presented when Gus Malzahn abruptly retired in early February after one season as FSU\u2019s offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously grateful for everything that Gus poured into the program,\u201d Norvell said. \u201c \u2026 I know it was a tough choice, but it was the right choice for him and what he felt for him and his family.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Norvell felt it was right to take the step back and focus on the bigger picture last offseason, he now feels ready to step back into the playcalling shoes. He\u2019s also excited by the early returns he\u2019s seen from wide receivers coach Tim Harris Jr. since he was promoted into the offensive coordinator position which will help build gameplans even if not directly involved in in-game playcalling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to be back in the room. Tim Harris, in the last more-than-a-month period of time, really has done a an outstanding job of putting his stamp on this offense,\u201d Norvell said. \u201cThe way that he pushes, challenges, lifts up guys, he\u2019s a tremendous leader of men. He\u2019s been in this position before and it was a very seamless transition for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a role Norvell has had success in previously, both at FSU and Memphis and coming up through the assistant-coach ranks. When things have been clicking under Norvell, he\u2019s played a critical role in that with how he\u2019s managed the offense during games.<\/p>\n
Part of why he feels more comfortable stepping back into the role, he said Monday, was his renewed confidence in Florida State\u2019s revamped front office with new GM John Garrett and new director of football and player acquisition Taylor Edwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think with some of the enhancements within our personnel department, being able to bring John and Taylor into the program, and some of the additional personnel, it really allows me the opportunity to where I feel I can put everything I have into the task that is at hand, knowing there\u2019s ownership in every one of those other areas with a well-equipped and very talented personnel staff that we have now,\u201d Norvell said.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally looking forward to how all of it comes together. I\u2019m having fun and doing one of the things I really love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
No. 2: Quarterback battle for FSU?<\/p>\n
When Ashton Daniels committed to FSU, he seemed to be exactly what Malzahn was looking for in a quarterback.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s remarkably mobile, and we saw at times what that can do for opening up the run game as a whole in Malzahn\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n
But with Malzahn now gone, it\u2019s fair to wonder if that changes the conversation around the starting quarterback job entering this spring.<\/p>\n
Daniels is a career 60.2% passer with nearly as many interceptions (22) as he has touchdowns (24). He\u2019s also ran for over 1,400 yards \u2014 including 669 at Stanford in 2024 \u2014 but aside from what he built with Jordan Travis, overly mobile quarterbacks haven\u2019t often been Norvell\u2019s offensive ideal as a playcaller.<\/p>\n
Could redshirt freshman Kevin Sperry have a greater opportunity to start in 2026 with this change? He was consistently praised last offseason and nearly led a game-winning drive in his first real game action last season at Stanford.<\/p>\n
To hear how Norvell said it during his press conference, everything is on table, something that we didn\u2019t ever really hear the last few seasons when more proven transfers were brought into the QB room.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be best man will play. I think we have big expectations for Ashton, you bring a guy in that has experience, at this point of his career there are high expectations for what that needs to look like,\u201d Norvell said. \u201cKevin\u2019s been here for a year. Really proud of him and his growth, his progress. This is going to be every day, I want to see guys challenged to go be the the best that they can be and who\u2019s going to lead in production when they step on the field. Ten other guys that are playing you know better because of what (the quarterbacks) do.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got very high expectations for Ashton. He\u2019s got to go be all that I know he can be. Same thing with Kevin. That position specifically is going to be a fun one to watch because they\u2019re very talented young men that you can feel their presence within this football team you know. \u2026 Definitely looking forward to the battle that\u2019s ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n
No. 3: The Duce Robinson hype builds<\/p>\n
While there aren\u2019t too many known commodities about this team entering the offseason, one thing is clear.<\/p>\n
Florida State has one of the best offensive players in the ACC, if not the country, in returning wide receiver Duce Robinson.<\/p>\n
Robinson was sensational in his first season with the Seminoles, leading the ACC in regular-season receiving yards (1,081), making him FSU\u2019s first 1,000-yard receiver since 2019. He caught six touchdowns and was a walking big-play machine, averaging 19.3 yards per catch, second only to teammate Micahi Danzy in the ACC.<\/p>\n
It was something of a surprise to many when Robinson announced his intention to return in 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe absolutely could have declared and went and he would play in the NFL next year if he elected to do that,\u201d Norvell said.<\/p>\n
And yet, it sounds like Robinson has made the decision to return not just about himself and boosting his personal draft stock but improving the team as a whole, ensuring everyone works as hard as they can, just like he does.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis football team has his DNA. I say that as a great compliment. I\u2019ve coached for 20 years, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve been around (anyone) better,\u201d Norvell said. \u201c \u2026 Duce is somebody that his heart, the willingness to serve, what he pours into his teammates, how he challenges himself, I\u2019m grateful for the opportunity to coach him for another year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norvell told a story Monday about how Robinson was getting some individual work at the indoor practice facility early in Tour of Duty when he didn\u2019t think the newcomers responded to a question asked of them during an introductory workout with the proper intensity or buy-in.<\/p>\n
Robinson personally interrupted the workout to inform his teammates what the expectation is.<\/p>\n
That set the tone for an offseason of accountability that Robinson has taken on as a personal challenge towards his teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s an opportunity to call someone up, he\u2019s calling them up. If there\u2019s an opportunity to be able to put himself out there, he\u2019s doing it,\u201d Norvell said. \u201cWhat does that mean for him this year? I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m really confident the best Duce Robinson is going to show up and I\u2019m very confident in what the results will be because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Football is (kind of) back. Mike Norvell and the members of the Florida State football coaching staff joined…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[10867,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-797705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-florida-state-football","9":"tag-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116186203103907994","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}