Florida State has put 13 days of fall camp in the books, and Mike Norvell says the Seminoles are starting to look like a group with a real chance to be more than the sum of its parts.
That matters a lot in Tallahassee right now. Norvell is heading into his seventh season as Florida State’s head coach, and the pressure is impossible to ignore after a 38-34 overall record and just seven wins over the last two seasons, the program’s fewest since 1974. Even with that backdrop, there are reasons to think this group has a higher ceiling.
One of the biggest is continuity on offense. Tim Harris Jr. is taking over as offensive coordinator for the first time after serving last season as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach, stepping in for the retired Gus Malzahn. That kind of internal promotion keeps familiar voices in the building and should help the Seminoles settle in quickly on that side of the ball.
Florida State is also bringing back 58 percent of its offensive production from last season, and the headliner is Duce Robinson. The No. 1 receiver was a 1,000-yard target and a first-team All-ACC selection a year ago. The quarterback spot, though, remains a major storyline: the Seminoles will start a transfer quarterback for the third straight season, with Auburn transfer Ashton Daniels now set to run the offense.
Norvell said on the ACC Roadshow that a team’s ability to handle adversity is part of how he measures whether it can win.
“We defined a unified group as one that is willing to work together, one that is willing to challenge each other, pick each other up,” Norvell said. “Yesterday was a prime example.
We were working a two-minute situation. We gave the situation to the offense: this is how far you have to go; this is how much time you have, and you got one timeout.
The offense said ‘no, we don’t want any timeouts, we are gonna choose hard here.’ And they were able to go out and finish that drive they way they wanted to.”
There’s plenty to like on defense too. Florida State brings back the Desir twins up front and added linebacker Chris Jones from Southern Miss, a high-volume tackler who posted 135 stops last season and ranked in the top ten nationally with 10 tackles per game. Even with that production, Jones was left off this year’s Butkus Award watch list.
Cornerback Ja’bril Rawls is back as well after briefly flirting with the transfer portal before deciding to remain in garnet and gold. Phil Steele named him preseason second-team All-ACC.
Daniels is another piece Norvell and his staff believe can help lift the team. His career touchdown-to-interception ratio sits at 27/22, and Florida State is looking for steadier play and fewer giveaways from the quarterback spot. Daniels has also talked recently about “what he could do to be better,” and the staff believes camp has given him a chance to sharpen that part of his game.
That growth has been a theme around the program this month. Norvell and his staff say they’ve watched the team mature through camp, and the feeling inside the program is that a mindset shift is taking hold. If that continues, Florida State believes it has the pieces to exceed expectations and, in Norvell’s words, “do something pretty special.”
In Other News...
Florida State Basketball Enters A New Era With A First For The Program
Florida State basketball is about to add a new look as the program steps into a sponsorship model that has never been part of Seminole athletics before. Florida State Athletics announced a multi-year partnership with ReliaQuest, making the company the official jersey patch partner for the men's basketball team beginning in the 2026-27 season, with the logo set to appear on all game jerseys.
The deal marks the first jersey patch sponsorship in Florida State Athletics history, a notable shift for a program now tying its identity to a corporate partner in a more visible way. The school framed the move as a shared commitment to innovation and excellence, and it gives the basketball program a fresh layer of distinction as it prepares for a new era on the floor. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State's Secondary Just Took A Tough Hit At Safety
Florida States secondary took a significant blow with Karson Hobbs sidelined after a season-ending knee injury, a setback confirmed by coach Mike Norvell. The Notre Dame transfer had been working through a position change and giving the Seminoles another option in the back end, which made his progress one of the more quietly important developments in camp and early-season preparation.
Hobbs absence leaves Florida State thinner at safety, especially with the staff still sorting out the best pieces behind its top group. The encouraging part is that he is expected to recover, but for now the Seminoles have to absorb the loss of a player who was starting to fit into the rotation and could have helped stabilize a position that does not have much margin for error. [Read more 🡒]
Florida State Football Faces An Awkward Revenue Question Fans Will Notice
The NCAAs new approval of commercial patches on uniforms has opened another lane for athletic departments to chase revenue, and plenty of schools have already moved quickly to lock in sponsorships across multiple sports. Florida State has taken a step in that direction with its announced Reliaquest patch deal, though that agreement is tied to basketball and begins in the 2026-27 season, leaving the broader push around uniform branding very much in motion.
What stands out for Seminoles fans is that football, the sport that drives the biggest spotlight and the biggest dollars, still does not have a patch deal in place. In a market where athletic departments are weighing every new revenue stream and trying to keep pace with the national heavyweights, the absence of a football sponsorship only adds another layer to the discussion about how aggressively Florida State is monetizing its brand and where the next move might come from. [Read more 🡒]