Thomas Castellanos may be chasing another year of college football, but a return to Florida State does not look like the cleanest path.
The former FSU quarterback is reportedly preparing to sue the NCAA in an effort to gain access to the transfer portal after a federal ruling tied to members of the 2022 recruiting class. At the moment, though, no court has granted the immediate relief he would need to actually get into the portal and move on to another school.
Florida State has already moved forward as if Castellanos’ time in Tallahassee was finished. The Seminoles invested in transfer quarterback Ashton Daniels and built their 2026 roster with the expectation that Castellanos would not be part of it. With Daniels now set as QB1, there is little reason for FSU to shake up the continuity it spent a full offseason putting together.
Castellanos has said he would be open to coming back as either a quarterback or an athlete, but that idea comes with complications. If Florida State were to consider him, the fit would have to make sense financially and in terms of role, and that is not a simple ask for a player whose next landing spot is still unsettled.
There is at least one way Castellanos could still help the Seminoles. His athleticism could make him a candidate at wide receiver or in the return game, and he led FSU with 557 rushing yards and nine rushing touchdowns last season. That kind of open-field ability would give the staff another weapon.
Even so, the practical hurdles are obvious. Florida State would need to carve out space in a roster that is already set and pay a former starting quarterback for a role that is still undefined.
And waiting around for the next portal window does not solve much. College football’s only general portal window runs from Jan. 2-16, which means the next chance would not come until after the 2026 season.
As On3’s Pete Nakos wrote, "Now he is suing the NCAA to ensure he can enter the transfer portal. Judge Charlotte Sweeney wrote in an order earlier this week that the Colorado suit does not open the transfer portal, which is why Castellanos is preparing to file one,"
For now, that is where things stand: Castellanos is reportedly planning to file, but nothing has been granted yet, and the legal process has not produced a clear answer. Until it does, every possible outcome remains up in the air.
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