Florida State’s decision to bring Tom Herman onto Mike Norvell’s staff looks less like a splashy headline and more like a practical fix.
The Seminoles hired the former Texas, Houston and Florida Atlantic head coach on July 14 as an assistant to the head coach, and Norvell made clear the move was about adding another voice and another set of hands. At ACC Media Days in Charlotte on July 15, Norvell said, “He came in during the spring and was able to come out to practice and visit with the staff,” Norvell told reporters at ACC Media Days in Charlotte on July 15. “We were able to visit a little bit this summer and we found a role and opportunity that I think he can make a great impact (with) in helping support the staff and add a new perspective to things.”
That role gives Herman, 51, a way back into the college game after his stint at Florida Atlantic in 2024, where he went 6-16 in two seasons. Before that, he posted a 22-4 record in two years at Houston and went 32-18 in four seasons at Texas.
For Norvell, the hire fits the moment. He has taken back offensive play-calling this season, and Florida State is still searching for a way forward after back-to-back seasons of 2-10 and 5-7. Herman gives the staff more experience, and perhaps a little more flexibility.
The early schedule will tell plenty about where the Seminoles stand. They open at home against SMU on Labor Day Night, Sept. 7, then head to Alabama on Sept. 19.
Elsewhere around local sports:
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ Iron Jaguars Games II wrapped with a winning team captained by Dennis Gardeck and Patrick Mekari. Episode 3 of “The Hunt,” the team’s in-house production, laid out the competition run by strength and conditioning director Eric Ciano. Six teams, each with two captains and 8-10 players apiece not including rookies, took part in seven events from April 22-June 16.
The Gardeck/Mekari group included B.J. Green, Yasir Abdullah, Robert Hainsey, Carter Bradley, Antonio Johnson, Keith Taylor, LeQuint Allen Jr. and Ameer Abdullah. Because their team won, those players do not have to stay at the team hotel during training camp.
Jaguars quarterbacks coach Spencer Whipple also talked about the backup quarterback situation. Nick Mullens is locked in as the No. 2, while Bradley is competing with Joey Aguilar for the No. 3 job, a spot that will likely land on the practice squad.
On Mullens, Whipple said: “He does a great job of preparing. The role of the back-up quarterback is to prepare as the starter and he does that and more. He’ll call the plays into his phone and then hear it back so he’s truly getting the feel of the play coming through the helmet.”
On Bradley, Whipple said: “I thought he took a lot of strides (in the spring). Obviously through last fall, he was the other team’s quarterback in practice and not in position to play in our offense.
To have his first spring running our plays, I thought he did a great job. He’s hungry.
He wants to learn every day. He’s super, super eager to improve.”
North Florida and Jacksonville University will meet in women’s basketball on Jan. 9, 2026, at Swisher Gymnasium, and the matchup will open league play for both teams. Their last meeting ended in a 79-71 JU win and turned ugly, with four players suspended and the entire JU bench ejected after leaving the bench area to join the fray. JU finished that game with four players.
Sports Illustrated’s list of the top 50 all-time college football players included several names with local ties: Travis Hunter at No. 39, Deion Sanders at No. 14 and Tim Tebow at No.
- The top five were Jim Brown, Herschel Walker, Barry Sanders, Jim Thorpe and Cam Newton.
NASCAR is also making a change for the next Daytona race after the closing laps of the Daytona 500 in February produced little more than a single-car procession. The sanctioning body expects the adjustments to raise single-car speeds by 3 mph, with the same bump in multi-car packs. One of the main changes is a rear spoiler trimmed from seven inches to four to cut drag.
“What we’re essentially trying to recreate is Atlanta (racing) at Daytona and Talladega,” said Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 and co-owner of 23XI Racing.
And in a few other notes, Tom Dundon is drawing criticism for putting the names of his wife and their five children on the Stanley Cup, MLB’s All-Star Game microphone experiment was praised for the idea but not the sound, and the league’s newly released 2027 schedule may not survive the labor fight that could push the start of the season well beyond late March.
In Other News...
10 In-State Recruiting Misses FSU Fans Still Hate Remembering
Florida has always been fertile ground for college football talent, and the Seminoles have spent years trying to keep the best of it from leaving the state. The latest reminder comes from a familiar kind of recruiting pain, the sort that still lingers because the names were so good and the fit seemed so obvious at the time. Players like C.J. Spiller, Leonard Williams, T.J. Yeldon, Amari Cooper, Joey Bosa and Patrick Peterson all grew up in Florida before becoming stars elsewhere, a list that says as much about national recruiting as it does about the pressure on Florida State, Miami and Florida to hold serve at home.
For FSU fans, the frustration is not just that elite in-state prospects keep ending up in other uniforms, but that some of those decisions helped shape the balance of power far beyond the state line. The article also points to newer misses such as Jeremiah Smith, another huge Florida talent who went elsewhere, underscoring how little margin there is when the top programs in the country come calling. It is the kind of recruiting ledger that can make a fan base wince years later, because every name on it still feels like a chance that got away. [Read more 🡒]
Two Former Seminoles Just Put FSU Back In The NFL Spotlight
The NFLs annual Top 100 countdown has already given Florida State a little spotlight, with two former Seminoles landing in the first 40 names revealed. Josh Sweat checked in at No. 78 after a strong first season with the Arizona Cardinals, while Jalen Ramsey came in at No. 82 after his first year with the Pittsburgh Steelers, keeping both veterans in the conversation as the league rolls out its rankings.
For FSU fans, it is another reminder that the program still has plenty of recognizable names making noise on Sundays. The list will keep unfolding through early September, which leaves open the possibility that more former Seminoles could surface before the countdown is finished. [Read more 🡒]