In 2023, perfection just wasn’t good enough for Florida State, whose 13-0 squad had to sit and watch the College Football Playoff on their couches while two different one-loss teams made it in.
That’s grounds for some serious motivation heading into 2024, a year where On3’s Andy Staples and Jesse Simonton agree that FSU is the clear favorite yet again in the ACC. On an On3 YouTube live stream Tuesday morning, Staples explained why, despite a sort of personnel overhaul, the ‘Noles are still in great shape.
“They’re a very different-looking team this year,” he explained. “Jordan Travis is gone, Jared Verse is gone, Braden Fiske is gone, Keon Coleman is gone. It’s a different group, but in a lot of ways, it may be a deeper and more talented group than what they had last year.”
Staples really likes what Florida State has coming up the pike to replace those guys, starting with a former Georgia DL.
“Apparently, the reports of Marvin Jones Jr. coming out of Tallahassee are pretty spectacular,” Staples added. “So he could wind up being their best edge rusher and they don’t really drop off after losing a first rounder in Verse.”
Simonton was on the same page, noting that the return of Patrick Payton, who recorded 7.0 sacks in ’23, gives the Seminoles perhaps as formidable a pass rushing duo as they had a year ago.
“Well, they returned a guy, too, you know, opposite of him. I think that tandem is going to be really good — Jermaine Johnson 2.0, I think Florida State fans would sign up for that immediately.”
Staples said he even brought up the Johnson comparison to Mike Norvell, who deflected the idea. “I mentioned that to Mike Norvell last week at ACC meetings and he’s like ‘No, very different than Jermaine because of what’s around those guys.'”
Aside from the Jones addition to beef up the defensive line, Simonton really loves the transfers FSU was able to pillage due to the leadership changeover at Alabama.
“The train from Tuscaloosa to Tallahassee has been really positive for Mike Norvell,” he said. “You get a starter at nickel in Earl Little. I think that they like what they’re going to have in Roydell Williams at tailback. You get some offensive linemen. No one has been better than Norvell at identifying precisely the type of player and who they want, and then hitting on that guy. They have such a success rate, it’s been really good.”
All told, FSU landed FIVE transfers from Alabama alone, and you know those are some talented players. So the transfer recruiting has been one home run or grand slam after another for Norvell, but Simonton’s only nitpick on the recruiting front is the lack of a stable high school pipeline.
“They need to get better — and Florida State fans have talked about this, some FSU experts have noted this — they have to get a little bit better off the field in terms of high school recruiting. They have top-five potential as a recruiting program and they haven’t quite reached that.”
Focusing back on just the 2024 season, though, Simonton and Staples are very high on this squad as the clear-cut No. 1 in their conference.
“Again, I’m very high on Mike Norvell. I think, coming off last year’s storied season, if DJU can just not kind of mess it up, I think the Seminoles are going to be clear favorites in the ACC,” said Simonton.
Andy Staples then jumped in with his own evaluation of what DJ Uiagalelei needs to be (and not be) for Florida State to reach their potential.
“That’s the thing: how good is DJU going to be? We’ve seen him at Clemson, we’ve seen him at Oregon State. I don’t think he’s ever going to be what he was hyped as, and that’s fine, because that happens.
“But I do think he can be a very good starting quarterback for them if he does what Mike Norvell asks him to do, protects the ball. And DJ doesn’t have a terrible history of committing turnovers. So as long as he’s careful with the ball, I think they have enough weapons around him and a good enough defense that you can play that way and be fine. I do think this is the team to beat in the ACC.”
High praise from the two On3 experts when it comes to Florida State, who’s the clear favorite to repeat as ACC champions.
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