Florida State’s offseason checklist keeps moving, and the latest stop is a familiar one: academics. The Seminoles put 308 student-athletes on the ACC Academic Honor Roll, a haul that fits into a run of strong department-wide results.
That group is headlined by some of FSU’s biggest names across the board. National champion women’s soccer had 16 student-athletes recognized, matching the ACC indoor champion men’s track and field team and the Big 12 champion beach volleyball team. Kayleigh Clark of women’s swimming and diving made the honor roll for the sixth time, women’s lacrosse attacker Marleigh Sanders did it for the fifth time, and 20 student-athletes were honored for the fourth time.
The list also includes a few of the most decorated athletes in the program. Shenese Walker, the NCAA 60-meter and 100-meter national champion, is on it, along with ACC Pitchers of the Year Jazzy Francik and Wes Mendes and Big 12 Beach Volleyball Pair of the Year Alexis Durish and Audrey Koenig. Academic All-Americans Duce Robinson, Tommaso Baravelli, Durish and Koenig were also recognized, with Robinson listed as an All-American wide receiver on the football field and Baravelli as a 200-meter and 400-meter relay All-American swimmer.
The honor roll itself is straightforward: it recognizes student-athletes who were part of an intercollegiate team and maintained at least a 3.0 GPA during the academic year. But the numbers behind Florida State’s latest showing point to something bigger.
In the 2025-26 academic year, FSU student-athletes broke the department’s cumulative GPA record twice. The fall 2025 mark of 3.333 didn’t last long before the spring 2026 GPA climbed to 3.348.
Last year was the first time Florida State student-athletes posted at least a 3.333 GPA in both semesters of an academic year, and after spring 2026, the department’s cumulative GPA stands at 3.385, the best in school history.
Florida State also turned in a school-record score of 993 in the NCAA’s multi-year Academic Progress Rate report released in May. Five programs posted a perfect 1,000 in the multi-year report, and 12 teams earned a perfect single-year APR score in the 2024-25 academic year.
In Other News...
Florida State Camp Has A Different Feel This Time
Florida State spent another offseason reshaping its football roster, and this camp is supposed to feel different in more ways than one. After back-to-back overhauls, the focus has been as much about who is in the building as what the Seminoles can do on the field, with an emphasis on clearing out bad energy and building a more unified culture around the program.
Ma'Khi Jones has been one of the players noticing the shift. The sophomore safety, who transferred in from Duke, said the preseason work has featured real competition and a stronger sense of camaraderie, while the safety room and coaching staff have given the group a steadier foundation. For a team still trying to define its identity after so much change, that kind of buy-in matters, even if the biggest proof still has to come when the games start. [Read more 🡒]
FSU Secondary Is Giving Tony Whites Defense Real Early Juice
The early days of preseason camp have offered a promising glimpse at Florida States secondary under safeties coach Evan Cooper, and the unit has quickly become one of the more encouraging parts of Tony Whites 3-3-5 defense. The emphasis has been on work ethic, versatility and getting comfortable in a scheme that asks a lot from the back end, with players embracing the challenge of learning their assignments and sharpening their consistency.
Ashlynd Barker has stood out as a player in line to handle the hybrid ROVER spot, a role that should give the Seminoles extra flexibility if he settles in as expected. MaKhi Jones has also been part of the early buzz, and together the groups progress has given Florida State some real optimism that the secondary can provide immediate juice for a defense still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]
FSUs First Scrimmage Puts Its New-Look Team Under Early Pressure
Florida States first preseason scrimmage of 2026 arrives Tuesday at Doak Campbell Stadium, and it will do more than break up the summer routine. It also gives the Seminoles their first real look at a roster that has been heavily remade, with 57 newcomers joining the program and starting to settle into the speed and demands of life in Tallahassee.
The session should also sharpen some early questions on offense, where Ashton Daniels is being evaluated for how he leads the unit through its first major test. Behind him, the backup quarterback race is part of the intrigue, and the offense will be working against a defense that has also been reshaped, giving coaches an early chance to measure how quickly all the moving pieces are starting to fit. [Read more 🡒]