Mike Norvell has given Florida State fans one more thing to stew over before Week Zero, and it has nothing to do with New Mexico State.
The Seminoles coach said he does not plan to release a depth chart for the opener and that he probably will not issue one at all this season. His explanation centered on how Florida State might deploy players across different packages.
“As we look at different dynamics of how guys might be utilized in certain packages….if you have four different personnel packages and a guy's starting in a handful of them and not starting in any others, well is he a starter? Is he not? It's still kind of up in the air," Norvell said.
That decision has already become part of the conversation around a program that is still under plenty of scrutiny. Norvell also said he feels as good about this year’s Seminoles as he has in a few years, which mirrors what he said last year.
The larger picture is even louder because Miami and Florida State are headed toward their October 17 meeting, and the Hurricanes have been cast here as the team that will help bring the Norvell era to a close. The source material frames that matchup as one that will end “the Mike Norvell experience.”
There is also a reminder of how quickly Florida State has been forced to clean up its own messes. Miami beat the Seminoles in Doak in 2019, a game in which Greg Rousseau had about 15 sacks, and Willie Taggart was fired the next day. Florida State then hired Norvell, only to turn around and give him one of the worst contract extensions in the history of sport after he won a few games.
For now, the immediate issue is simple: Norvell will not be handing out a depth chart before Miami, and he likely will not be doing it the rest of the season either. The source material says Florida State may end up firing him and trying to crowdsource the money to cover his buyout.
It is another awkward chapter for a program that was supposed to be on Miami’s level and instead, in this telling, has drifted into the pack under Norvell’s watch.
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