Danny Kanell thinks Florida State’s 2026 season needs a chip on its shoulder, and he’s not sugarcoating the message Mike Norvell should be handing his team.
Kanell, who went 20-3-1 and helped the Seminoles win two ACC titles in 1994 and 1996, appeared on CBS Sports HQ with a blunt take on what FSU needs to hear before the season gets rolling.
"I would have a very simple message if I'm Mike Norvell - everybody thinks you stink, what are you going to do about it?" Kanell asked.
""That's the message. That's it.
Everyone thinks Mike Norvell is going to get fired. Everybody thinks Florida State is going to be no good?
What are you going to do about it?"
That kind of bunker mentality usually gets rolled out as lazy sports talk, the kind of “us against the world” stuff that can feel forced when a team is already winning. But this case is different. Florida State is walking into a season where the outside noise is already loud, and Kanell’s point is that the Seminoles should use that as fuel instead of fighting it.
The burden, at least in Kanell’s view, should not be on Norvell to make himself the rallying point. It’s easier for a coach to ask his players to pull together around each other and block out the noise than it is to expect them to unite around the head coach. The players are the ones carrying the weekly pressure, and they’re the ones whose names will be attached to what happens on the field.
That’s why the season has to be about the roster, not the brand. Florida State needs strong seasons from players who are expected to deliver, including wide receivers Duce Robinson and Micahi Danzy, running back Ousmane Kromah, defensive lineman Mandrell Desir and cornerback Ja'bril Rawls. It also needs players with lower expectations, like Ashton Daniels, to flip the script and prove people wrong.
Kanell’s larger point was that the Seminoles can’t lean on history to do the work for them. The days when the helmet alone could carry Florida State are over. If this team is going to matter in 2026, it has to earn that place in the present, not borrow it from the past.
In Other News...
What Will Finally Prove FSU Is Different This Time
For Florida State, the 2026 conversation is less about chasing a headline record right away and more about proving the program has cleaned up the details that have too often worked against it. The Seminoles have spent the offseason looking for better execution, sharper communication and fewer self-inflicted mistakes, the kind of basic football traits that tend to show up before the wins do. If that progress is real, it should be visible in how the team operates, not just in the final score.
A sturdier offensive line and a more organized defense would go a long way toward making that case, especially with Ashton Daniels needing a cleaner pocket to function. Florida State has poured resources into both fronts, and the expectation is that the roster should look more stable and more connected than it did a year ago. Even the road schedule will be part of the evaluation, since the Seminoles have been trying to fix the kind of planning and organization issues that have made those games so difficult. [Read more 🡒]