Florida State football is spending big, but the returns still aren’t matching the bill.
According to reporting from The Athletic, the Seminoles are investing an estimated $23 million to $30 million into their 105-player roster. That number puts FSU behind Miami, Clemson and Virginia Tech in the ACC, even as college football’s money game keeps climbing into territory that would have sounded absurd not long ago.
The spending comes with pressure attached. Florida State has gone 8-18 over its last 26 games, a stretch that makes the size of the payroll hard to ignore. In an era of NIL and revenue sharing, the Seminoles are paying like a program that wants to stay in the race with the country’s biggest spenders - but the record says there’s still plenty of work to do.
Miami sits well ahead of FSU in the league’s spending race, with an estimated roster cost of $41 million to $48 million. Clemson is next at $29 million to $32 million, followed by Virginia Tech at $25 million to $30 million. Florida is also spending heavily, with an estimated range of $31 million to $41 million.
That backdrop adds more weight to the search for the right athletic director after the firing of Michael Alford. If Florida State wants to operate among the sport’s elite, the money has to be there - and it has to be spent in the right places.
So far, the return on investment has been uneven.
There have been hits, including transfers Duce Robinson and Ashlynd Barker. But the Seminoles have also put serious money into players who haven’t delivered enough.
Quarterback has been the clearest example. DJ Uiagalelei was paid over $1 million, Tommy Castellanos flirted with surpassing seven figures, and current quarterback Ashton Daniels is in that same neighborhood.
Even with all that spending, Florida State is still looking for a real answer at the position since Jordan Travis left.
The same issue shows up elsewhere on the roster. Running back Tre Wisner, whose total package is a little but larger than the reported $650,000 mark, was one of the top backs in the portal. But he has been limited to four carries in two games because of the play of Ousmane Kromah and Samuel Singleton Jr.
Wisner should see more work eventually, but the broader point remains: putting a big chunk of the budget into a player who is not locked into a starting role is the kind of roster management decision Florida State can’t afford to miss on.
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