Florida State got a lot out of Tommy Castellanos last season, even if the box score didn’t always make it obvious.
On the surface, the Seminoles’ passing game was only so-so. It ranked No. 34 nationally in predicted points added and No. 60 in success rate, according to fourthandshort.com.
That kind of production points to a quarterback who could be uneven from snap to snap. But that misses the part that made Castellanos such a tough act to follow: when the down and distance got ugly, he kept Florida State alive.
On passing downs - second-and-long, third-and-long and fourth down - FSU finished No. 5 in passing success rate at 39.1 percent. Vanderbilt led the country at 46.1 percent, and nobody else was above 41 percent.
Those snaps mattered. They extended drives, steadied the offense and helped explain how Florida State’s offense could finish No. 26 in points per drive despite a 5-7 season.
That’s the hidden value Mike Norvell and first-year general manager John Garrett now have to replace with Auburn transfer Ashton Daniels.
Castellanos was never a clean, conventional pocket passer. He was severely undersized, had real limitations seeing the middle of the field, and that forced receivers like Duce Robinson and Micahi Danzy to operate mostly outside the numbers.
But he was dangerous in his own way. He didn’t stay in the pocket and wait for things to develop.
He bailed, improvised and ran. Castellanos picked up 44 first downs on the ground last season, which was the 19th-most among quarterbacks, per PFF.
That’s what made him so tricky for defenses. Even when the defense knew a throw was coming, he still found answers. In an offense built around play-action and misdirection, Castellanos managed to be hyper-efficient on the exact downs where the pressure should have been highest.
Daniels can bring some of the same rushing threat to Norvell’s offense, and at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, he brings better size than Castellanos. But the passing profile is different.
Daniels is a career 60 percent passer. Last season, when he dropped back without play-action, he had a troubling 3.06 time to throw and a 15% scramble rate.
For his career, he has nearly as many interceptions as touchdowns. And on those non-play-action dropbacks last season, he had four turnover-worthy plays and just one big-time throw, according to PFF.
That’s why expecting Florida State to keep doing what it did on late downs would be asking a lot. Castellanos’ playmaking was real, and it was unusual. Daniels may be able to cover some of the same ground as a runner, but he’s not the kind of quarterback who is going to consistently solve third-and-long by dissecting a defense from the pocket.
Florida State’s broader path forward isn’t complicated, even if it won’t be easy. Last season, 30.3% of its offensive snaps came in passing downs, just a shade below the national median of 31%. The issue wasn’t just how often the Seminoles landed in those spots; it was what happened once they got there.
The answer this year has to start with staying on schedule more often. Tennessee was the only top-10 offense by points per drive that also ranked outside the top 10 in passing down success rate, and it did that by using passing downs less frequently than almost everyone else. Florida State can chase that kind of balance with a stronger run game and more efficient work from Daniels, especially if he can use the middle of the field on slants and drags - throws Castellanos didn’t make enough.
The other issue is finishing. Florida State ranked No. 95 nationally in red zone conversion rate and No. 44 in red zone touchdown rate.
Castellanos helped keep drives alive, but he didn’t finish enough of them. That’s the other part of the offensive equation Daniels has to improve if Florida State wants to make up for what it’s losing.
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Florida State has spent a good chunk of camp trying to sort out what its offense will look like as Ashton Daniels keeps settling in at quarterback, and Mike Norvell said after the second scrimmage that the progress is there even if the whole operation still needs more consistency. Around him, the program has had a little bit of everything lately, from Eric Luallen being named the new public address voice for FSU football to recruiting activity that included 2028 defensive lineman Prince Che visiting Tallahassee, all while the soccer team gets ready to open against Stetson.
One of the more intriguing subplots, though, is Micahi Danzy, whose development keeps turning heads for reasons that go well beyond the football field. He has added notable physical growth and paired it with a standout track resume, including an ACC and Florida State record in the 400-meter run, and his athletic profile is drawing real national attention as a player who may soon be viewed in a much different way by Seminoles fans. [Read more 🡒]
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For Florida State, the calendar matters almost as much as the player. The staff sees those visits as key moments in its push for the 2028 class, and Ches return trip later in the fall should only add to the intrigue surrounding a recruitment that is still very much taking shape. With so many programs in the mix, every visit counts, and the Seminoles have lined up two of the most meaningful ones they could ask for. [Read more 🡒]