Florida State heads into its trip to Miami with another unwanted headline attached to a shaky season: freshman cornerback Chuck Kennon, the highest-rated signee in the Seminoles’ 2026 class, has been dismissed from the program.
A university spokesman said Tuesday that Kennon was dismissed for “conduct detrimental to the team,” and he is no longer listed on the official roster. No additional details were provided.
Kennon arrived as one of the biggest gets of Mike Norvell’s tenure. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound defensive back out of Booker High School was Florida State’s lone top-100 recruit in the class, with the 247Sports Composite ranking him No. 41 nationally and the No. 3 cornerback in the country. The Seminoles landed him in July 2025 after beating out Georgia, Florida, Miami and LSU.
Even as questions swirled around Norvell’s job security during Kennon’s senior season, he held firm on his commitment. “I’m a Seminole fan at the end of the day.
I love Florida State. No matter the coaching staff, I feel like I’d still be where I’m at,” Kennon said.
Florida State’s staff had seen enough in him to believe he could earn a role right away. Defensive coordinator Tony White said earlier this year that Kennon had a path into the freshman rotation, and cornerbacks coach Blue Adams gave him a strong preseason review.
“He’s young, he’s energetic,” Adams said. “Sometimes you’ve got to tell him, ‘Hey, focus up.
We’re going this direction.’ But he’s coachable.
That’s what I like about him.”
That opportunity never really arrived. Kennon didn’t dress for games early in the season, then logged just one snap in Florida State’s 38-7 win over Virginia on Oct. 3.
His dismissal doesn’t change much for Saturday’s game plan, but it does strip away a piece of the program’s future. The Seminoles are trying to rebound from a 44-20 loss at Louisville last Friday, a game that followed a 10-sack performance against Virginia - the most for Florida State since 1997 - and then turned ugly in the run game when the Cardinals piled up 397 rushing yards. Isaac Brown did a lot of the damage, going for 235 yards on 17 carries.
After that loss, Norvell didn’t hide from the mess.
“Too many times, we didn’t show the detail, the discipline, the mental toughness that’s necessary on the road. And it starts with me,” Norvell said.
The defeat stretched Florida State’s road losing streak back to 2023 and kept Norvell on the latest college football hot seat index.
Now the Seminoles are 3-3 overall and 1-2 in ACC play, with a Saturday, Oct. 17 matchup at unbeaten Miami set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. It’s the same program Kennon passed over when he chose Florida State.
In Other News...
National Analyst Reignites Georgia Alabama Officiating Debate After Bulldogs Win
Joel Klatts latest comments have pushed Georgias win over Alabama back into the officiating conversation, this time from a national analysts platform rather than the postgame noise. On his podcast, Klatt pointed to a fourth-quarter pass interference that was not called and suggested the Bulldogs benefitted from the decision in a game that already carried plenty of weight in the SEC and College Football Playoff picture.
Klatts view adds another layer to a matchup that rarely needs help generating debate, especially when Georgia and Alabama are involved. Even while arguing the officials may have affected the outcome, he still described Alabama as a legitimate championship contender, which only sharpens the sense that the Bulldogs win will keep drawing scrutiny long after the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
Gunner Stockton Is Giving Georgia Fans A New Ceiling To Debate
Gunner Stocktons rise has given Georgia fans something every good October stretch tends to produce: a new argument about just how high this team can climb. After helping steer the Bulldogs to a comeback win over Alabama, Stockton strengthened the case that Georgias No. 1 ranking is built on more than reputation, showing a level of passing efficiency and calm that has started to separate him from the pack.
Under offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, Stockton keeps trending in the right direction, and the latest performance only added to the intrigue around the Bulldogs ceiling. Even Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer came away impressed with Stocktons clutch play and efficiency, the kind of recognition that tends to travel fast in a season where Georgia looks like it may still have another gear to find. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia May Be Forced To Trust An Improvised Backfield Again
Georgia had to get through Alabama without its top running backs Nate Frazier and Chauncey Bowens, and the answer was a makeshift backfield built around Dwight Phillips Jr. and Bo Walker. Kirby Smart said there are no plans to shuffle other players over to running back, which leaves the Bulldogs leaning on the personnel already in place as they turn the page toward Auburn.
That matters because Auburn arrives with a defense that has had trouble holding up against the run, giving Georgia a chance to stay on schedule even if its preferred backs are still unavailable. For a team that already had to improvise once, the bigger question now is whether the same setup can survive another week without forcing the Bulldogs to make a deeper adjustment. [Read more 🡒]