By: Garrison Ryfun

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

After a disastrous 2-10 season in 2024 and a disappointing 5-7 finish in 2025, Florida State enters 2026 still looking for signs that the program is moving back in the right direction.

Following the 2024 season, Mike Norvell made sweeping changes to his coaching staff. He brought in Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator and handed over play-calling duties, while hiring Tony White away from Nebraska to take over the defense.

Those changes helped FSU improve last season, but not enough to get the Seminoles back to a bowl game.

Now, Mike Norvell enters his seventh season at Florida State firmly on the hot seat, and without the offensive coordinator who gave the Seminoles the 6th-best offense based on yards per game in 2025.

Malzahn retired in February after just one season in Tallahassee, with wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator Tim Harris Jr. promoted to offensive coordinator. Norvell, however, will take back over the play-calling duties in 2026 after giving them up to Malzahn last season.

At starting quarterback, Auburn transfer Ashton Daniels is expected to take over after spending his first three seasons at Stanford before playing in four games for the Tigers last year.

Daniels brings plenty of experience to the position and is also a threat with his legs, but he’ll need to take better care of the football this year as he has nearly a 1:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio over his college career.

Daniels will have a pretty decent receiving core to throw to with returning starters Duce Robinson, Micahi Danzy, and Jayvan Boggs.

Robinson returns after catching 56 passes for 1,081 yards and 6 touchdowns last season, becoming FSU’s first 1,000-yard receiver since 2019.

Micahi Danzy, the FSU track star, also gives FSU another explosive option, racking up 787 total yards and 6 touchdowns last year as a starter.

An emerging name to look out for in this group, though, is Jasen Lopez, a slot receiver who has turned a lot of heads in fall camp this year.

The Seminoles should have several options in the backfield as well. Sophomore Ousmane Kromah showed flashes as a freshman, averaging 5.7 yards per carry, RS-Junior Sam Singleton who broke out last year averaging 7.1 yards per carry, and Texas transfer Quintrevion Wisner gives FSU another talented option in the backfield.

The offensive line will be worth watching after some offseason turnover, but there should still be enough talent for FSU to once again have one of the better offenses in the ACC.

On defense, the Seminoles showed plenty of improvement in year one under White. FSU finished second in the ACC in pass defense and inside the top five in the conference in total defense and sacks per game.

One of the biggest names to watch on that side of the ball will be Mandrell Desir. Desir earned Freshman All-American honors after recording 7.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks last season, and his twin brother Darryll gives the Seminoles another young piece along the defensive front.

The schedule should be manageable for the talent level Florida State brings in:

August 29th – vs New Mexico State

September 7th – vs SMU (ACC)

September 19th – @ Alabama

September 26th – vs Central Arkansas

October 3rd – vs Virginia (ACC)

October 9th – @ Louisville (ACC)

October 17th – @ Miami (ACC)

October 31st – vs Clemson (ACC)

November 7th – @ Boston College (ACC)

November 13th – @ Pittsburgh (ACC)

November 21st – vs NC State (ACC)

November 27th – vs Florida

FSU plays SMU and Alabama in its second and third games of the season, two teams which should give us a good look at how this team will fare this year.

There is enough talent on this roster for Florida State to get back to a bowl game and make some noise in the ACC in 2026.

At this point, though, simply showing improvement will not be enough. That improvement has to start showing up in the win column for Mike Norvell.