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The State of FSU Football: Mike Norvell is FAILING | What Happens Now? · FSU Football: Doak Talk

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey, it's CJ Wilson here with Dope Talk. FSU is
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: currently 1-1 coming off the loss of the SMU Mustangs.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: It's a bye week. We have Bama the upcoming week.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: There's been a lot of chatter around the program as
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: far as the head coach, the future of the head coach,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the state of the program, all of them losing, this, that,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: and third, etc. So I decided to post a little
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: video just to, I guess, give a little background story
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: to how we kind of got in here. Even though
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: everyone pretty much, if you're an FSU fan, you know
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: fully how we got to this point. just to bring
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: awareness to the situation and to where, to how we
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: got to this point within Mike Novell's tenure and how
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: this fan base is just pretty much checked out and wanting,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: you know, tired of how things are going and wanting
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: new blood to run the program. And again, it's understandable
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: with how things have been going the last few years
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: since the 2023 season. But again, make sure you guys
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: hit that like button, subscribe to the channel to stay
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: tied to the list of the video. And let's discuss
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: how we got to this point. Over the years, I
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: think it kind of puts a lot of things in perspective.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: It's a lot of, I guess it's this accumulation of
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: stuff where you add it all together. I mean, you
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: look at the results that we've gotten, there's no surprise.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: All right, so this is, what, year seven of Mike
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Morvell's tenure. He's currently 39 and 35 at Florida State
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: within six years in two games, if you want to
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: go into this season's slate of games. It's crazy if
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: you look at the context. He won 38 games at
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: the University of Memphis in only four seasons there. So
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: it pretty much tells you the 180s, so to speak,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: of the highs and lows of coaching. He was great
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: at Memphis during that short term, and then your six
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: years at FSU going to seven, and you only won
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: one more game.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: That speaks a lot of my opinion. Like I said,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: I know we're currently 1-1.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: A lot of people don't want to hear– I guess
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: talk like this or just breakdowns or videos like this
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: as far as us being one-on-one. It's early in the season.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Some people say no need to panic. You still have
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: the rest of the season to play, this, that, and
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: the third. I get that, but it's how you look
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: within those first two games, right? How you look within
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: those first two games. You struggled 34-17 against New Mexico State.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: They pretty much have their way on third downs in
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: certain situations. Didn't really bully them how you should have
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: did up front from an offensive line and defensive line standpoint.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I think you only got like two sacks in that game.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: The third down conversions, like I stated.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: It was eight for 14 or something on those lines
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: and passing downs. One third down, 150 plus yards, two touchdowns.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Then you translate that over to the SMU game. It's
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: pretty much the exact same thing SMU did. Whatever they
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: want on third down, high percentage on third down. On
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: the flip end, FSU was terrible on converting third downs,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: just two for 15. Pass game was pretty much wide open. 500-plus,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: close to 600-plus in total offense. Receivers being wide open
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: in zone coverage and man coverage. Defensive backs playing 11
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: yards off and back-pelling on third and six, giving up
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the first down at the sticks and missing tackles, which
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: turns to a long touchdown, right? And people look at,
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: are you struggling in those two games? The schedule only
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: gets worse from here as you have Alabama, Louisville, Virginia,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Miami all up on deck.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: In the coming weeks in big time ACC games at that.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: So just putting two together as far as how the
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: season started, what's up on the schedule, and also recent history, right?
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Let's not deny the recent history. And that's the reason
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: why you have fans who are like, right, enough is enough.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: We've seen this story multiple times. And I told you
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: guys on the last video, the last live video, if
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: you got the reviewing the SMU tape, if you guys
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: haven't checked out the last live video, go ahead and
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: tap in. But pretty much, Talked about, whew, that was
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: a tough game. How they kind of did whatever they
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: wanted to within that game. And then the upcoming schedule
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: that we do have is the reason why people feel
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: this way. And let's, I guess, make no mistake about it.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: SMU did everything in their power to try to make
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: sure FSU won that game. You have the four turnovers,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: different ways, interceptions, muffed punts, fumbling the football. Jumping offsides
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: on a fourth and four on the field goal attempt
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to have FSU extend the drive to begin. SMU did
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: everything in their power to gift wrap the game. I'm sorry, SMU, yeah,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: did everything in their power to gift wrap the game
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: to FSU. But Florida State didn't want it at all.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: I think I tweeted this just talking about SMU was
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: pretty much like a school teacher that left all of
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the answers on the chalkboard the day before the test
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: and forgot to erase the chalkboard. And FSU, being the student,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: still went into the test the next day and failed it.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: So that's pretty much how that game went. But just
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: recent history, FSU is 7-18 in his last, no, I'm sorry,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: not 7-18 in his last 25 games.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: We are 7-17, 1-8. We're 8-18 in the last 25 games.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: My apologies. 8-18 in our last 25.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: 25 games, 2-12 in ACC play in the last 14.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Again, 2-12 in.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: ACC play and conference play in the last 14 games.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Sounds like I'm talking about the Blue Devils in the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: 90s or something. It's hard to imagine that we're talking
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: about Florida State. The Florida State Seminoles are 2-12 in
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: ACC play in the last 14 games. FSU has not
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: won a world game in almost three calendar years. FSU
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: has not won a true road game in almost three
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: calendar years. The last road game FSU won was in 2023,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: the last game of the season against the rival, the
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Florida Gators. So, again, six years so far for Mike Neville.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I know this is year seven, but year seven hasn't
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  Speaker 1: concluded yet. We have two winning seasons in six years.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Four of those six years have been losing seasons, even
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: though the first four was a steady trajectory, right? You
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: go back. Three wins in 2020, five wins in 2007
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: and 2021. After that, I think it was an 0-4 start.
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  Speaker 1: Then you go 10-3 winning a bowl game against Oklahoma
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: in 22. And, of course, you have the 13-0 regular
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: season finishing 13-1 with the Georgia Orange Bowl game for
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the 2023 season. So now we kind of get to
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: the root of the problem, right? What happened after the
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: 2023 season? Did the 2023 season break Mike Norvell? Clearly,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: he's not the same guy. Doesn't have the same edge.
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  Speaker 1: Doesn't have the same fire. Doesn't have the same excitement
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  Speaker 1: that you see on the sideline, that you typically see
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: from the sideline from Mike Norvell. If you guys remember
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: from 2022 against the Miami Hurricanes, we would be in
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  Speaker 1: Miami like 35-3 or whatever it was at that point
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  Speaker 1: in time.
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  Speaker 2: And him and Deuce Spann got into it on the sideline.
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  Speaker 1: And you can see the passion in Mike's eyes and
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: trying to get Deuce to calm down and understand from
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: a coaching standpoint where he was coming from.
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  Speaker 2: We haven't seen that type of fire at all.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, fast forward from 2022 to that moment against Miami. Again,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: we are killing the Hurricanes, killing them. But it's that
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: attention to detail that made Mike Norvell the coach he
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: was at that point in time and honestly made me
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: a big fan of him initially at Memphis.
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  Speaker 2: So you fast forward.
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  Speaker 1: 2022 to the 2025 season, the Stanford game, for an example,
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  Speaker 1: you have Edwin Joseph. We're going to use that whole
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: sequence of Edwin Joseph. So Edwin Joseph, we hold Stanford
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  Speaker 1: to a field goal opportunity. Edwin Joseph jumps offside. Stanford
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  Speaker 1: ends up missing that field goal. But due to Edwin
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Joseph jumping offside, we get a new set of downs,
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  Speaker 1: first down for Stanford, right?
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  Speaker 2: I think the very.
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  Speaker 1: Next player or a few players, I can't remember which,
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  Speaker 1: When Joseph also gives up a touchdown pass on that
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  Speaker 1: very same drive to Stanford. So you had a penalty
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: that ended up extending the drive. It was a missed
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: field goal, rather. And then you have the touchdown he
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: gave up. So you have two plays that pretty much
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: added seven points on the board for Stanford. Get to
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  Speaker 1: the sideline. Mike Novell confronts him about it. He goes
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: back and forth with Mike Novell. Have a sparring session
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  Speaker 1: for words with Mike Novell. not being accountable for what
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: he did and then, you know, that type of deal.
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  Speaker 1: What happens the very next drive? Edwin Joseph is back
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  Speaker 1: on the field playing for FSU. Like, you see the
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  Speaker 1: 2022 Mike Norvell to the 2025 Mike Norvell. There's no
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  Speaker 1: way in hell that situation happens in 22, 21, 23.
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  Speaker 1: During that time frame, it's the same reaction that he
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: got in 2025 where this guy is right back on
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  Speaker 1: the field after pretty much causing the entire sequence of
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  Speaker 1: that drive, as far from a scoring standpoint, then not
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  Speaker 1: having any accountability on the sideline and challenging the head
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  Speaker 1: coach in a sparring match of words.
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  Speaker 2: That's just not....
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  Speaker 1: It's just not strong program culture, in my opinion, which
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: is important.
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  Speaker 2: That stuff goes a long way.
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  Speaker 1: And I do think after the 2023 season, that culture
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  Speaker 1: of player accountability and that type of deal Kalen DeLoach,
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  Speaker 1: Taylor Bethune, all those guys, they left.
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  Speaker 2: And then Jordan Travis, all of.
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  Speaker 1: Those guys left. And we're pretty much left with what
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: we have from the recruiting of Michael Revell and then
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: some other important additions to that type of deal. And
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: then you develop bad culture within your program. So I
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  Speaker 1: do truly think that 2023 season, broke my novella. And
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: then just think about how unfair that season was to
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  Speaker 1: those guys, right? Climbed the mountaintop, still not enough. Players
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: within the program were clearly mad at the situation. You
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: talk about the foundation of his program and his messaging to.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Get guys motivated and that type of deal. Decline, right?
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: keep climbing.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: You do this the right way, do this the right way,
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: you attack this in that way, you keep climbing and
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  Speaker 1: you keep doing those things over and over and over
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  Speaker 1: that at a certain point you're going to get to
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the mountaintop and you're going to be rewarded due to that, right? Well,
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: those guys did X, Y, and Z as far as
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: the climb that we perceive as the message and it
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  Speaker 1: still wasn't enough. 13-0, P4, P5, I think it was
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: P5 at that time, conference champ. The first in the
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: college football playoff era to not be elected for the
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: playoffs while being undefeated and winning one of those conferences
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: right one of those conference championships so and rightfully so
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of players that were mad hurt upset
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: etc as far as that because you listen to everything
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  Speaker 1: the coach says you do all those things and it
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: still isn't enough so as a coach how do you
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: How do you circumvent that situation and getting those guys
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: motivated in that type of deal?
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: And how do you reel those guys back in?
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: And I'm pretty sure Mike Novell at that point in time,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: lost the words, pretty much had no idea how he
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: could do that and pretty much feeling the same feelings
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: that those players were feeling. But as a head coach,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: you can't show those emotions. You have to be a
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: primary approach to that third. You have to show the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: leadership capabilities intangibles, whatever it may be, during that time frame.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: But as a player, you're just not trying to hear
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: that shit. It's an emotional time. You put everything on
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  Speaker 1: the line. And those guys were beat up at the
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: end of the season. Walking boots, this, that, and the third.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: And as a result, you have guys like Keon Coleman,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Braden Fisk, Jerry Versch, Renato Green, Jerrion Jones, Taylor Bethune,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: Trey Benson, Johnny Wilson, Josh Farmore, Fabian Levin, et cetera.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: These are all the guys that set out and did
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: not play against Georgia during that game. And again, I
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: can't say that I blame those guys, especially with how
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: the situation was played.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: I know a lot of people want to, I don't
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: even want a word I want to.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Use, but more so, I guess, criticize those guys for
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: not playing in that Georgia game and use that as
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: a grip against Florida State and say, hey, you know,
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: beat Georgia and prove you should have been in the playoffs.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: No, motherfucker.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Excuse my language. No, we just proved them 13 damn games.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Probably we should have been in the playoffs, right? Like,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: what are we talking about? We lose our starting quarterback.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: And this is the part that I don't want to
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: get into a 2023 spiel because that's not what this
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: video is about.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: But you lose your starting quarterback, right?
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: You guys help me understand this because in my thinking,
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: this should help your resume, in my opinion, right? It
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: shows that you're more than perceived the starting quarterback, which
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: was the notion it was trying to push, right? So
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: you lose your starting quarterback and you go into your
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: rivalry game against the Florida Gators, right? on the road,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: that type of deal with your backup quarterback. You end
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: up winning that game and covering the spread. I say
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: covering the spread because a lot of people like to
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: talk about that Florida game and how we played and
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: how we looked at how close that game was. We
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: ended up winning by double digits, right? The other games
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: within that rivalry weekend that don't get the same criticism,
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Washington and Washington State. Washington was a playoff team. They
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: failed to cover the spread against Washington State. Alabama versus Auburn.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: This is how they Even got in the first place. Auburn,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: Alabama was a heavy favorite. Ended up beating Auburn on
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: a game-winning fourth and whatever touchdown. They didn't cover the spread, right?
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: So you look at all these teams that played in
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: those games and that type of deal, they did not
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: cover the spread for rivalry weekend during that time.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Frame, but Florida State gets.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: But again, we already know the fix is in, but
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: that's just a talking point as far as us as
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: far as it being deemed against us. So fast forward,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: you go to the conference championship game, right? The conference
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: championship game. You go against the top 20 opponent in
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Louisville who has a top 20 offense and you end
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: up holding them to six damn points. You go into
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: that game and you start a true freshman there quarterback.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: So you go from your Heisman candidate quarterback to your
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: backup quarterback in the rivalry game to your conference championship.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: You start a true freshman who found out he was
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: starting in that game, the day of the game, had
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: no preparation throughout the week as a starter at all, right?
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: You go into the biggest game of the season as
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: a true freshman against a formidable Louisville team. You beat
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: that opponent. So again, I say that to say this
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: with that resume, there's no way in hell those guys
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: should have been left out or should have been deemed
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: against them as far as in cover spread against Louisville.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: So that's the part I don't understand because you've really
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: seen that team transform into a defensive team that can
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: run the football and just play aggressive-style defense and not
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: let you score, which they did for sure. But that's
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: another story as far as that. But I say all
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: that to say this. I really do think that 2023
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: season has some lingering effects and broke the spirit of
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Mike Norvell and pretty much changed his approach in certain aspects.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: And we have the results we have now as far
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: as a two-win season, a five-win season, and a start
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: to a one-on-one season that doesn't look promising at all.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Now let's move on to the recruiting side of things.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: You know, recruiting is the lifeblood of the program. I
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: just want to go over some rankings, and these are
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: part of 247 composite and kind of put things in perspective.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: The 2026 will go from latest to last. The 2026
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: recruiting cycle, last recruiting cycle, FSU, and again, this is
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: part of 247 composite. FSU finished 17th in the recruiting rankings, 2025.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: FSU finished 20th, 2024, off of the 13-1 season. This
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: is the one that blows me. FSU finishes 12th. There's
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: no way in hell you finish. If you have a
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: good recruiting staff, there's no way in hell you have
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: a 13-0 Florida State team. And at that point in time, 13-0,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: they won X amount of games in a row going
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: from the 2022 season. Can't remember the number exactly.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: All that type of deal.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: A lot of excitement within the program that you have
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: the 12th, ranked recruiting class for 247. 2023, you have
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: the 19th class. 2022, you have the 20th class. 2021,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: which is the COVID year, you have the 23rd ranked class.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: And 2020, which is a transition class from Willie Taggart
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: to Norvell, which I don't typically hold against coaches because
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: it is a transition class. You're jumping in there at
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: the last minute trying to salvage things going into your
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: tenure as the head coach.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: That was the 23rd recruiting class.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: So out of all those classes, the average, the class
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: average is number 19. Number 19 during Mike Novell's career
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: per two for seven sports.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: The composite.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: Number 19. Top 20, which is far from the FSU standard, right?
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Far from the FSU standard from a recruiting standpoint. Going
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: back to Bobby Bowne, elite recruiter. FSU was elite all
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: the time when it came to recruiting certain processes overall.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: FSU is one of the top recruiting programs in the country.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: You go to Jimbo Fisher and doing his peak, FSU
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: is a consistent top five, top ten recruiting team in
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the country. Went against heavyweights for five stars, highly recruited
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: four stars just.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: In the third.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: And as a result, you've got the players to show
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: for it, right? The Jalen Ramseys, the Derwin James, the
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Dalvin Cooks, the Jameis Winstons, Timmy Jernigans.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: Et cetera, et cetera.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: So it's not the FSU standard, but at the same
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: damn time, you're still recruiting top 20, right? So why
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: are we not getting top 20 results on the field
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: with that top 20 recruiting ranking? You're not top 20
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: and you're playing an SEC schedule. You're top 20 and
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: playing the ACC schedule. You're still losing to teams that
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: have lesser talent, quote-unquote, produce recruiting sites because these guys
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: are actually being coached up. You're getting out-skinned in certain situations.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: They're getting developed as well. So you have that aspect
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: of things too because, Even though it's not great for
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: FSU standards, it's still good enough to put an eight-win
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: team out there, so to speak, within the ACC. But
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: that's something we have failed to do consistently. And, of course,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: we know the big issue as far as Mike Norvell,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: and there's a big talking point on Twitter, that type
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: of deal, getting a commit this, that, and third with
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: fans not getting excited because the history of players decommitting.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: Right, and going elsewhere. And rightfully so.
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's been some guys that could have probably–
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: change your programming in a good way that decommitted from FSU.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Just to give you guys a few names, a few
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: notable names that decommitted from FSU. You have Lou Altmyer,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: who's the quarterback that FSU recruited out of Mississippi back then,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: ended up going to end up playing good ball at Illinois,
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: has been a P5 starter. Travis Hunter, you know, you
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: guys all know Tua, number one player in the country
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: at that point in time, was the longtime commit to FSU,
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: grew up a big FSU fan, Ended up being the
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Heisman Trophy winner and the top five draft pick. Keldrick Falk,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: this is another big one. Defensive end out of Alabama,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: flipped to Auburn on the last minute, ended up being
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: a high draft pick as well.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: C.J. Baxter, five-star running back. K.J.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Bolden, this one hurt as well too. Was committed to FSU.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Committed to FSU over Georgia, Ohio State, et cetera. Front
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: of state of Georgia. Ended up flipping to the Georgia
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Bulldogs pretty much at the last minute in the wee
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: hours before signing day. Armando Blunt was committed to FSU.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Ended up flipping to the Miami Hurricanes. Solomon Thomas, five-star
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: offensive lineman, long-time commit. Ended up flipping to LSU once.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Alex Atkins and that staff got broken up. Javionn Hilson,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: five-star defensive end from Florida. Ended up going to Missouri.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Malik Clark, C.J. Wiley, Daylon McCutcheon, Tramell Jones, who flipped
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: from Florida State quarterback at Mandarin. Flipped from Florida State
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: to the Florida Gators. Lose your quarterback to an in-state rival.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Jay Timmons, this one hurt a lot because this was
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: a five-star cornerback, a legacy recruit. Lawrence Timmons' son ended
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: up flipping to the Ohio State Buckeyes once those guys offered.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: And from the early returns we're hearing from Ohio State,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: he's going to be a big-time playmaker for those guys
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: for sure.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: So you have the lack of recruiting from elite standards.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: You have the big-time players flipping in the last minute
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: when you've spent so many resources recruiting those players. Now
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: let's talk about the most important position on the field
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: and how things have fared in recruiting that position, and
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: that's the quarterback position. So this is the list of
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: high school recruits, high school, right? This is the list
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: of high school recruits that FSU has recruited during the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Mike Norvell's era. We have Jalen Daniels, Kevin Sperry, Luke Cromerhawk,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Brock Blinn, A.J. Duffy, Tate Rodemaker, and Chubba Purdy. Not great.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: Jaden O'Neal, he is a true freshman now. Ended up
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: tearing his ACL. He's recovering from that. Kevin Sperry is
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: in his second year up in the program. Red shirted
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: last year. As you guys know, Luke was highly recruited.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: Ended up transferring to Mississippi State. Couldn't get the job
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: done there. Ended up transferring to South.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: Florida.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Couldn't get the job there as well. Brock Glenn, I
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: think he ended up transferring to a G5 team. I
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: forget the name of the team as well, but Brock
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Glenn ended up being the backup if I'm not mistaken,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: as well there.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: A.J.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Definitely think he started at an FCS program, take right America,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: transfer to Southern Miss, wasn't named a guy there, and
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Chubba Purdy pretty much bounced around to multiple programs, never
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: really getting his footing in being the starter there. For
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: the starter, have those respective programs. So you don't have
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Grady Vowles from the high school rings. We're going to
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the portal position, portal quarterbacks, right? Who did you recruit
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: from the portal? Mackenzie Milton, DJU, Tommy Castellano, and Ashton Daniels.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: Not good at all because Mackenzie Milton was a shut-off himself.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: From UCF.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Shut-off himself after he had a catastrophic injury, transferred to
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Florida State. DJU, this was kind of interesting. Of course,
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Cam Ward was the number one option within that year,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: but DJU actually had a really good year at Oregon
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: State the previous year. It ended up coming to Florida
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: State and was just terrible. Of course, we know Tommy
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Castellano during his time at Boston College and Ashley Daniels,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: 20 or so career touchdown passes, 20 or so career
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: interceptions on a 500 record, even though QB wins isn't
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: a direct relationship with quarterbacks, in my opinion.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: He did play at Stanford, back up at Auburn.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: And of course, these first two games have been short
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: of stellar in regards to his performance. So Jordan Trav
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: is the best quarterback by far that FSU has had
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: during the Mike Norvell era, and that quarterback was inherited
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: from the Willie Taggart era. Again, I do want to
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: give Norvell and mainly Kenny Dillingham credit.
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: For the development of Jordan Trav. You guys know the story. J.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Trav wasn't confident at all, wanted to change his position
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: to the receiver position, but you had that coaching staff.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Mike Kennedy said, no, we think you're going to be
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: a quarterback. Just stick with us on that type of deal,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: and the rest is history.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: But just overall, the quarterbacking vows have been abysmal. From
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: the high school ranks to the quarter ranks, it's been terrible.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: Martin O'Bell just can't identify quarterbacks.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: It's clear as day.
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, what more of a sample size do you need?
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: O-line recruiting in the vows under Alex Atkins wasn't great.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: In her opinion, isn't a better individual recruiting than Alex Atkins,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: in my opinion.
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: I think he is a better individual. evaluator.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: Of course, he's a better developer of talent, but as
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: far as bringing in that talent, it isn't any better.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Alex Atkins wasn't great when it came to body type
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: and that type of deal. Lastly, this is the last
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: point I want to touch on. That's portal recruiting. The
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: transfer portal recruiting. As you guys know, FSU, we were
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: early in the portal. It was effective and efficient. We
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: were tied to portal kings at a certain point in time.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: We were praised due to our work in the portal
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: early on. Just some of the names that FSU were
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: able to acquire from the transfer portal, and I do
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: believe this is the main reason that we don't have
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: six straight losing seasons in the Tallahassee versus those two
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: winning seasons we had in 22 and 23. But you
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: go and get a Fabian Lovett, a Joshua Corbin, a
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Jerrion Jones, a Dylan Gibbons, offensive lineman from Notre Dame,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Jamie Robinson, big-time playmaker for us, safety from South Carolina,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Pierre Thomas, Deion from South Carolina, Jermaine Johnson. You guys
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: know the story about Jermaine coming over from Georgia. Jerry Verge,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Trey Benson, Johnny Wilson, Tatum Bethune, Keyon Coleman, Braden Fisk,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: Jaheim Bell, Daryl Jackson. I mean, those guys went crazy
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: in the transfer portal. And as you can see, a
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: lot of those guys are playing in the NFL. That
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: was early on in the transfer portal. Like all things,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: you have to adapt. Things change. People evolve. The landscape
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: of college football has evolved, and the rest of the
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: country has caught up in regards to the transfer portal, right,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: in past Florida State. The focus shift, well, the rest
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: of college football shift their focus to the transfer portal.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: And with that, you have the tampering involved. You have
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: big money, big-time money. The dollars are starting to be
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: the main focus of the transfer portal, and that's being
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: thrown around. And clearly, FSU is in a position to
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: pay a king's ransom for certain players. But we also,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: we got cocky and thought due to our past success,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: the players would come automatically due to, you know, Jermaine Thomas,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Jermaine Johnson.
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: Jair versus whatever, whatever.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: Those guys coming from previous schools, being first round draft picks,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: that type of deal. We felt like those guys would
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: be beating down our door. But no, it's the same
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: shit you have to do in high school. You have
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: to recruit those guys. You have to make them want
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: to be a part of your program. We already are.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: weak in the area as far as convincing and putting
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: in the effort in recruiting. So that translated to the
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: transfer portal as well. We had to get them just
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: like we had to get high school guys and portal
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: success plummeted immediately in the high school recruiting was not
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: there to supplement it. Like all those years I went
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: over as far as the recruiting classes being the average
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: of 19 or 20, whichever number I said, we, and
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: of course it was bad in certain positions with the
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: portal the transfer portal not really supplementing and i guess
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: you could say taking place of the high school recruiting
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: that we're lacking at that point in time we started
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: lacking in the portal that's when those high school recruiting
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: classes needed to show up they didn't because they were
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: great recruiting classes as it was and the players you
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: did brought in it wasn't a lot of great development
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: going on within those players and now you have the
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: results that we have two win season five win season
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: 2-14 or whatever the number is. 2-12 in your last
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: 14 ACC play. 2-12 in your last 14 ACC play.
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: That is really hard to fathom.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: But again, the rest of the country kind of caught
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: up like I stated. So with all that being said,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: this is how we got to where we are now.
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: Is it time to go for Mike Novell?
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: I think it is.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Clearly the fan base has grown tired of that. of
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: the lack of winning. Just simply put, tired of the
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: lack of winning, tired of being in the situation to
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: win games, but everything has to go a certain way.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: How should I put this?
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Being in a position to win games, but you still
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: find a way to lose the game. Like SMU, it
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: was no way in hell we should have lost the game.
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: I think teams that had, and I read the stat,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: I read it one more time. Well, no need to read.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: You guys can check the live up. Pretty much it
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: was That game was made for us to win it,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: but we got in our own way to lose the game.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: That's just pretty much been the entire story of Mike
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: Norvell's tenure, so to speak, aside from one to two years.
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: So make sure you guys hit that like button, subscribe
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: to the channel.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: We have more hitters coming, but I just wanted to
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: get this information out to you guys on a bi-weekend.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Let's do a deep dive in regards to how we
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: got to the point that we are within the Mike
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Norvell's tenure.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: So again, hit that like button, subscribe to the channel.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Go Nobles.