Robert Craft
On The Clock
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Atlanta Falcons have the eighth pick in the NFL Draft. Round 1 begins on April 27 in Kansas City. The Falcons own eight total picks in the draft.
Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot had some roster rebuilding to do in their first two seasons, starting with shedding expensive salaries.
Weathering that stretch came with back-to-back 7-10 seasons, but they had money to spend this offseason for the first time.
They first used it on safety Jessie Bates III, defensive tackle David Onyemata, linebacker Kaden Elliss, cornerback Mike Hughes, wide receiver Mack Hollins and quarterback Taylor Heinicke; then, they traded for former Titans and Patriots tight end Jonnu Smith.
Casey Hayward will be entering his 12th season this year, and he’s coming off a torn pectoral muscle. The Falcons need an heir similar to Hayward, who they can pair with A.J. Terrell into the future.
Bates addresses the immediate need in the starting lineup, and 2021 second-round pick Richie Grant will man the other spot, but the Falcons need depth and could use special teams bodies as well.
Hollins’ signing takes care of the No. 2 receiver position, but the modern NFL rewards teams who have a lot of targets. Atlanta needs at least one more wide receiver.
The one position everyone was sure the Falcons would address in free agency was edge rusher. The Falcons were 31st in the NFL last season in pressure rate (25.8 percent), which was an improvement over dead last in 2021 (24.1 percent).
Atlanta’s 39 sacks over the last two seasons rank last in the NFL by a wide margin. The 31st-place Raiders have had 62 in that span. Sixteen teams have at least doubled the Falcons’ total.
None of that changes the fact that the Falcons need a pass rusher, and at this point it’s going to have to come with the No. 8 pick in the draft.
So here I go with three pass rushers who the Falcons should be looking at in Rounds 1.
Tyree Wilson, edge, Texas Tech: It feels like Wilson moves up one spot in all the mock drafts every week, and he might not be available at No. 8.
The Falcons might be able to get the No. 6 pick from Detroit by swapping this year’s Nos. 8 and 75 for it.
That would be contingent on two things, the Lions not loving Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson and the Falcons really loving Wilson.
There’s a lot to love about the 6-foot-6, 271-pounder, who has an 86-inch wingspan. He will make an immediate impact as a pass rusher, but Wilson needs to be a better run defender (the lesser of Atlanta’s concerns).
Myles Murphy, edge, Clemson: If Wilson is off the board, then Murphy is the next best thing. At the moment, Murphy is mid- to low-first round in most mock drafts, but that could change on April 4, when he holds a private workout.
A tweaked hamstring kept him from doing much of anything at the combine or at Clemson’s pro day. A lot of people will be comparing the numbers from Murphy’s workout against the numbers Wilson puts up at the Red Raiders’ pro day Wednesday. Murphy has pedigree (five-star high school prospect) and production (more than 10 tackles for loss each season).
Nolan Smith, Edge, Georgia: Atlanta will be tempted to end the consecutive Georgia guys in the first round to 4, but four consecutive Bulldogs on defense, they might be tempted to extend it.
That’s never a bad strategy when drafting a Georgia defensive player. Smith has the sixth-best relative athletic score (RAS) among defensive ends in this year’s class and ran a blazing 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the combine. Four. Point. Three. Nine. Seconds.
With the 8th pick in the NFL Draft the Atlanta Falcons select….
Falling Apart?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Many talent evaluators around the NFL believe Jalen Carter is the best player available in the NFL draft.
Whether he goes first or fifth or somewhere significantly south in the draft depends in large part on whether: 1) He has a significant turnaround from his current physical and mental state , or 2) a team locks onto his raw talent only.
The best version of Jalen Carter was not on display at Georgia’s Pro Day. NFL personnel officials, coaches and media members in attendance saw an overweight Carter huffing and puffing through drills that were set up for defensive linemen. He did not participate in any other skills tests, nor the 40-yard dash.
Carter weighed 323 pounds, that’s 13 pounds heavier than he was listed at during Georgia’s season. It’s also nine pounds heavier than the 314 he weighed at the scouting combine two weeks ago. It was clearly not nine pounds of muscle. He looked flabby. He looked like a risk for any team that decides to hand him a $20 million-plus signing bonus.
After arriving in Indianapolis to undergo physical exams and meet with teams (Carter had already opted out of workouts), the arrest warrant was issued in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. Carter left Indianapolis, turned himself in and was booked and released within hours. Then he returned to the combine and resumed interviews with teams.
No, Carter shouldn’t get brownie points for having to leave the combine in the first place. Yet, he returned when others might have stayed away. Which is an additional point for teams to consider in assessing one of the most intriguing prospects in the draft.
Carter is the most dominant defensive lineman in this draft, who had a viral moment in the SEC Championship Game when he lifted LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels with one arm while throwing up the No. 1 sign with his other hand.
Putting aside Carter’s two misdemeanors, the main questions about Carter that have been out there among pro scouts since during the season related to his consistency and work ethic.
Carter’s Pro Day was not a good look. There already were lingering questions about where Carter might be psychologically after the accident, and how he had handled himself in the suddenly negative spotlight.
All 32 NFL teams attended the Georgia pro day, including Falcons Head Coach Arthur Smith, Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus and General Manager Ryan Poles and Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin and GM Omar Khan.
Carter helped lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships and played at a dominant level despite dealing with knee and ankle injuries.
He has a month before the draft to get into shape and ease concerns. He has a month to realize he is in the midst of a job interview.
Greener Grass
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
In a talk that generated headlines across the ACC, Florida State Seminole athletic director Michael Alford pointed out the difference in projected conference revenue between the ACC, the Big Ten, and SEC once their new media rights deals begin.
It’s true, FSU does not have a viable escape route anytime soon. In the Texas/OU and USC/UCLA cases, the schools waited to leave until their leagues’ Grant of Rights were up. (Two Big 12 schools have since negotiated an early exit.)
The ACC’s deal goes another 13 years. In that board meeting, FSU’s general counsel threw out $120 million as a cost to leave the ACC, but as best I can tell, that’s just the league’s exit fee.
The cost to buy back more than a decade’s worth of your own TV rights from the conference would be exponentially more.
It’s been suggested that FSU and Clemson (or others) could challenge the Grant of Rights in court, but contracts that deal with millions of dollars tend to be pretty ironclad. If they weren’t, someone would have challenged one already.
FSU, as well as Clemson, are posturing for unequal revenue sharing, under the premise they bring more value than the other 12 schools, the implicit threat is lingering: if you don’t pay us, we’ll leave eventually.
This story is similar to USC’s decade of largely behind-the-scenes grumbling, but this time the other schools have no short-term incentive to agree to it. The best case the pair could make might be,
“We’re your conference’s best hope of winning a national championship in football. The 12-team Playoff Model is expected to be more performance-based than presently, if a big money team like Clemson or FSU wins three games in the playoffs en route to the 2026 national title, everyone reaps benefits.”
I don’t think anyone wants to take in less money than they are currently making. The question is one of leverage. Do Florida State, Clemson and others have actual leverage in today’s negotiations?
They’re locked into a deal with the ACC through 2036 that could cost more than $300 million to break between just exit fees and the grant of rights.
If those schools do not have offers in hand to join the Big Ten or the SEC, can they really force the rest of the conference to acquiesce on this?
For what it’s worth, I’m not sure shuffling around a few million dollars per year actually closes the revenue gaps Alford was talking about with his board.
If FSU gets, say, $5 million more per year than it does now, does that actually close the gap it’s staring down with powerhouses like Georgia? Or is this more of a philosophical conversation?
The ACC should be thinking externally, not internally, and figuring a way to generate more revenue, because soon their schools are going to be sharing it with their athletes
I see the anxiety and hear the chatter from FSU fans every day. Everyone’s worried about revenue, stratification and falling behind. So it may help fans to hear your leaders fighting for more. But I’m also not sure there’s going to be enough of a force to force real change.
My two cents: Though I do recommend making some effort to keep your marquee programs happy, FSU does not have much leverage here. You’re talking about a “threat” that might not come to fruition for more than a decade, by which point the sport’s traditional conference model could be abandoned entirely.
Who knows what will happen in 13 years’ time, programs can only plan for the near future.
Bad Rep
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Star defensive tackle Jalen Carter became the third member of Georgia’s 2022 national championship team to be charged with reckless driving.
A fourth bulldog was charged with a DUI and the fifth was reported to have gone 34 miles over the speed limit at the time of arrest.
In total, nine Georgia players have been arrested in the last 13.5 months.
These arrests don’t have to be blamed on Georgia. There’s nothing that’s come to light that suggests it is. With that being said, these incidents still reflect poorly on the program’s image, as a charge reflects poorly on all five player’s criminal records.
All of these are misdemeanors, but Georgia’s program is at their highest media coverage nationally in the history of college football. The microscope is more zoomed in than ever, and narratives will be longer if these habits continue.
The car crash that took the lives of Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy is a terrible tragedy. The other parts of the story have always seemed irrelevant: I don’t care about staffers socializing with athletes. I don’t care very much about a university car being used. I don’t care that they were at a strip club.
I do care what directly led to the crash. Now, Kirby Smart should talk with his program and take a leadership role in athlete risk aversion.
Smart needs to get a handle on street racing and reckless driving. Police report the cause of the car crash to street racing and reckless driving.
A coach can’t take away anybody’s ability to drive, but they can take away a starting roster position. An athletic director may set an example by suspending or dismissing players for criminal offenses while eligible.
Smart has indubitably built an athletic powerhouse in seven seasons in Athens, going for his third consecutive National Championship next season. However, after their latest title win, the team has been marred with bad morale and criminal news headlines.
The one thing that could bring down Smart and the Bulldogs’ dynasty is legal actions and a criminal reputation. Anybody remember the facelifting SMU and Miami have been doing after their debacles?
University of Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks stated that neither Willock, nor the driver of the car was on “athletic department business” at the time of the accident.
Brooks added that his department “[conducted] a thorough review, in coordination with appropriate legal counsel, to fully understand the circumstances surrounding this tragic event.”
This sounds like Brooks is trying to minimize sue damage. In a wrongful death case involving a motor vehicle accident, it is sometimes possible to hold an employer responsible if their employee’s negligence was responsible for the fatal accident. This is a vicarious liability under Georgia law.
Georgia follows a “comparative fault” standard in all personal injury cases, which includes wrongful death claims. Basically, this means that when the negligence of multiple parties led to an accident, a judge or jury must apportion the blame accordingly. The judge will then reduce the victim’s damages to account for their determined percentage of fault.
Willock’s family has not filed any legal action arising from his death. High-profile accidents like this one often raise a number of questions regarding the law in this area. Dave Willock, who is the father of the late Devin Willock, said that he was not planning a lawsuit at this time.
“Georgia is working with us,” Willock told the AJC. “We have no reason to do that (sue Georgia), because they are compensating us 100 percent.”
I have a feeling that in the near future lawsuits will be filed, but until then, Smart and Georgia’s athletic department have to clean up their public image.
In scenarios like these, a little bit of prevention is worth a whole lot of cure- Georgia got lucky, but it won’t matter if these incidents keep happening.
Prospect AR15
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Florida Gators quarterback Anthony Richardson, one of the hottest and most difficult-to-sort prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft, has every athletic trait I can think of.
At 6-foot-4 and 231 pounds, Richardson has a missile launcher for a right arm. He’s expected to flirt with a 4.4-second 40-yard dash at the combine. He’s even got a big, bright, Draft Day smile.
Richardson will be covered relentlessly for the remainder of the draft cycle, because the football world knows so little about him (and he has incredible skills). He made just 13 starts in college and threw fewer than 400 career passes. Teams will want to know more about his personality, football IQ and leadership.
Somewhere along the way scouts and coaches will learn that Richardson is a prospect who has been waiting a lifetime for this opportunity. Right now, he appears to be the most interesting man in today’s draft cycle.
In his only season as a starter, Richardson completed just 53.8% of his passes for 2,549 yards, 17 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. He also rushed for 649 yards and 9 touchdowns.
ESPN’s Todd McShay has Richardson going ninth overall to the Carolina Panthers in his latest mock draft.
From a draft perspective, the most pressing question on Richardson is; how high does his stock rise before late April?
Overall, reactions to Richardson’s pros and cons are mixed, but his ceiling is higher than any quarterback in this class.
When people watch his film, they’ll find the times where Richardson struggled (early 2022), where he progressed and where he improved as the season wore on. Is he closer to being ready than some think? I believe he is
Many wonder if Richardson will be a first-round pick. To me, the actual mystery is whether Richardson will climb into the top 10.
“The questions about his readiness are valid and his game needs refinement” is what pro quarterback coaches will say. On the other hand, offensive coordinators are gonna say, “Give me Anthony Richardson. I’ll give you a quarterback in two or three years who will win BIG.” That to me is a big-time look ahead. It’s a leap of faith in talent.
Physically, he is the most talented quarterback in this class, but he’s not developed yet. He’s not ready. Carolina needs an NFL ready quarterback.
Why not take a shot? In order to have success in this league, you’ve got to have a quarterback. Anthony Richardson has a chance to be a star or you could wind up drafting another quarterback in a year or two. That’s the most fascinating part about him.
Whether he goes to the Panthers or elsewhere, Richardson’s development will be interesting to follow over the next couple of seasons. He might need some time, and picking him before he blossoms could end up paying off in a big way.
So, he might stand as too big a challenge for a franchise without a foundation. For one with ground underneath it and a willingness to develop a QB, though? Richardson could be the lottery ticket it’s always wanted.
Anthony Richardson is an incredibly talented yet unproven prospect, with a heart the size of his frame. For NFL programs, he’s a guy who can either make your draft or break your heart.
The Bobo Sequel
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Todd Monken is no longer in Athens, headed back to the NFL ranks to join the Baltimore Ravens after leading Georgia’s offense for three seasons.
Mike Bobo is stepping into the role as offensive coordinator after having served as an analyst for the Bulldogs this past season and a quite well-traveled past before that, much of which took place in Athens.
What’s old is new again, with Bobo’s promotion to offensive coordinator being announced. There were two other options for Smart to go in replacing Monken, and each had its upside but also a downside.
Look outside the program. Smart may have operated quietly behind the scenes, the same way he did with Monken after the 2019 season for James Coley’s job. There may not have been a home-run hire available: Look at the trouble Nick Saban had finding a new offensive coordinator before landing Tommy Rees, who had an uneven and inconsistent past with his years at Notre Dame. Now, Notre Dame is having trouble finding a replacement for Tommy Rees.
Sources report that Monken played a big role in Bobo being named offensive coordinator.
Monken and Smart had more than one conversation about Bobo and his contributions in 2022, and Bobo was a big part of the game planning each week.
This isn’t to say Georgia has upgraded or downgraded, just because Bobo’s past two stints in the SEC didn’t go well. It’s best to label it a lateral move for the program, because fans still harbor reservations about Bobo’s early years at Georgia.
It took time before he grew into his position and became cutting-edge. For some reason, there’s a perception he was a run-first coordinator, but Georgia passed 57 percent of the time in 2011 and 2012, following 50-50 in 2013, then run-heavy in 2014 when it had the triumvirate of Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel.
Were there play-calling mistakes during the Bobo era? Sure (feel free to bring up not giving the ball to Gurley at the goal line in 2014 against South Carolina, even though Georgia scored on a goal-line pass earlier in the game).
Does being a good fit make Bobo the right hire? There are no guarantees; in the position that Georgia is in now — more talent, more financial support, everything in place that led to two straight national titles — the safe hire seems like the right one.
Revamping NIL In Florida
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Less than three years after Florida enacted a law to help athletes and universities get a head start in the profitable NIL space, now the legislature is ramping up efforts to make sure those groups don’t get left behind.
When the State House and Senate convene next week for a two-week session, one of the main topics tackled will be revamping Florida’s existing NIL law.
“In 2020, Florida was proactive in creating legislation which governs how college athletes can be compensated for use of their names, images and likenesses,” House Speaker Paul Renner wrote in a Friday memo to House members and staff.
“However, the recent enactment of NCAA regulations regarding athlete compensation has put many states with such laws at a disadvantage, causing a need for Florida to revisit our current law. We recognize the need to address this issue in a timely manner so our collegiate teams can remain competitive.”
The 2020 Florida law made it permissible for college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness, but it prohibited coaches, staff and other representatives of universities from being part of the process.
That became an issue when the NCAA subsequently ruled that all athletes could earn money from NIL deals as long as they followed their state laws, which meant those in Florida and a handful of other states would actually be at a disadvantage.
Several states promptly repealed their state laws once that happened, but two bills in Florida stalled during the 2022 session.
The new House legislation will be referred to the Education and Employment Committee, according to Renner’s memo. The Senate version will go to the Post-Secondary Education Committee.
Virtually, all college coaches claim it has led to widespread tampering and even more illegal recruiting than usual, and many programs worry about the effect it is having on locker room chemistry.
At the same time, people also believe it is long overdue that college athletes have the right to earn money through marketing agreements and other above-board business opportunities.
The proposal by Rep. Chip LaMarca, R-Lighthouse Point, would align Florida law with those in other states with schools that compete with Florida universities, which generated $1.1 billion dollars in revenue last year, according to a House analysis.
This Bill would allow schools to set up space on campus for NIL entities to meet athletes and for university employees to introduce athletes to companies willing to pay them to use their name and likeness.
When the NCAA issued new NIL guidelines last October to allow schools to have a more active role in connecting athletes with NIL entities, Florida schools — such as the University of Florida, University of Central Florida and Florida State University — suddenly found themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
The Bill specifically states that a school is not required to identify or facilitate NIL opportunities for students, or that an NIL deal qualifies a student as a university employee.
Also, they amended the proposal shielding schools and coaches from liability related to damages resulting from routine decisions — like benching a player — because schools have sovereign immunity.
The proposal has two more committee stops before it is introduced to the House floor.
As always, the unintended consequences could be problematic. On its face, it’s much better they are in charge of managing the brand and not relying on outside or non-auditable parties.
You have to assume that this will lead to some sort of mutually agreed salary cap by conferences at some point down the road.
I believe this will have universities explaining why they are not using new TV revenues and other income sources to pony up for 5 stars, rather than asking their alumni/booster base to take on the additional burden of NIL.
War Chief
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Most Florida State fans and media expected to see improvement from the FSU football team in 2022; few could have honestly predicted that the Seminoles would go 10-3 with wins over the likes of Florida, Miami, LSU and Oklahoma after their lackluster 2021.
Coming into the 2022 season, it would be Jordan Travis’ first year as a full-time starter but his third year in the system. On top of that, it would be Travis’ first opportunity to be the unquestioned leader of the Seminoles’ offense, which comes with large potential upside.
Travis not only emerged as Florida State’s best starting quarterback since Jameis Winston, but one of the very best in the country.
In leading the Seminoles to a 10-3 record, Travis completed 226 of 353 passes (64.0 percent) for 3,214 yards and 24 touchdowns with five interceptions. He also rushed for 417 yards and five touchdowns and even hauled in a touchdown catch.
Travis was named second-team All-ACC. He showed great improvement as a passer and appeared completely confident in his third season in Norvell’s offense.
Since the Seminoles didn’t have a proven backup, some worried that the season could be derailed at any moment.
Fortunately for FSU, backup QB Tate Rodemaker showed great composure and led the Seminoles to a 35-31 win over Louisville.
Rodemaker’s stellar performance in a hostile environment, along with Travis’ ability to rebound quickly from injury is what alleviated most of those concerns.
After Travis’s start against Boston College, it turned out he would remain healthy for the rest of the year, and play in all 13 games.
Based on Travis’ performance and Rodemaker’s improvement as a redshirt sophomore, the Seminoles discovered one of the best quarterback situations in college football by the end of the season.
Travis didn’t waste much time in announcing that he would return and he already is appearing on some early Heisman predictions. Rodemaker and AJ Duffy are also expected to be back, and the Seminoles also will bring in freshman Brock Glenn, a four-star prospect from Memphis.
Travis not only led Florida State to its first 10-win season since 2016, but according to Pro Football Focus, he was the best Power 5 quarterback in the nation.
The way Jordan Travis played in the second half of this season, and with the moves the Seminoles are making in player retention and in the transfer takes, I think Florida State is poised to take another big step next season.
Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
With Florida’s season over and the early signees on board for 2023, Florida Gators’ coach Billy Napier has officially turned the page on his first year with the Gators.
Following Florida’s regular season finale at Florida State, a recruiting drought went into effect on Nov. 28. A flood of transfers and bowl opt-outs soon followed.
Sixteen of UF’s 22 outgoing transfers announced they were leaving after the FSU game, although a handful of players stayed with the team through the bowl. The Gators also had four key starters skip the Las Vegas Bowl after declaring for the NFL Draft.
To complicate matters more for Napier and his assistant coaches, Florida’s selection for the Dec. 17 bowl meant the trip would take away from their in-home visits before signing day. Two days after the contact period opened on Dec. 2, UF was matched up with Oregon State.
With the team flying out on Dec. 13, Napier managed to make 30 different stops on the recruiting trail over a five-day stretch. The contact period ended on the day Florida returned from the bowl game, so he had to fit in enough in-home visits and trips to high schools before traveling to Las Vegas.
During the first week of the contact period, Napier likely made more recruiting stops than any coach in the country.
The juggling act of bowl practices, portal exits and recruiting visits created a challenging and hectic month for Napier and his staff to close out 2022.
The Gators ended the year on a low note, dropping their third straight game with a depleted roster. Despite the lopsided loss to Oregon State and UF’s 6-7 record, Napier still expressed that his team made progress over the course of the season.
Despite the losses on the field and the portal, Napier and his staff scored some big wins on the recruiting trail. UF inked a top 10 class on signing day, with 15 blue chips.
Quarterback signee Jaden Rashada has not enrolled at the University of Florida for the spring semester. Rumors are he has requested to be released from his National Letter of Intent.
With 80 percent of the class holding a four-star rating or higher, it marked Florida’s best blue-chip ratio since Urban Meyer’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class in 2010.
Prospects from Florida also comprised 70 percent of the Gators’ class for the fourth time since 2000. Most importantly, Napier and his staff got a feel for the recruiting landscape along with a better understanding of how to navigate the new and ever-evolving NIL market.
The Gators not only flipped some of their top signees such as Rashada (Miami), Dijon Johnson (Ohio State) and Roderick Kearney (Florida State), but down the stretch they also prevented Alabama, FSU and Michigan from poaching pledges Kelby Collins, Andy Jean and Aaron Gates respectively.
As Florida prepares to welcome 20 mid-year enrollees to campus and begin Phase 1 of the offseason program, Napier reflects on his first year at UF and what the future holds for 2023.
It created the silly narrative of questioning whether Napier is the savior that many of these same fans made him out to be when he was introduced as the head coach in December.
So, consider this a recommendation not just to UF supporters, but all those irrational college football fans with knee-jerk reactions to many recruiting developments involving their program: relax and take a deep breath. Rome was not built in a day, and neither were your delusions.
Napier and the rest of the program needs time to get there. Who knows if he’s going to be a transformative coach? Time will tell if Billy Napier will be the SEC’s next big thing, or if he will end up a small flash in a big pan. He clearly inherited a so-so roster from Mullen, so this recruiting bounce back is a good sign.
An uphill summit is never climbed immediately. The same goes for consistently recruiting top-10 national classes.
While UGA repeats as national champions, Napier has challenged UF’s players and staff to stay focused on what winning looks like to improve the team’s long-term trajectory.
Gator fans, let’s not kick sanity to the curb or kill the Billy Napier honeymoon after his first year. Quit the mental gymnastics, and enjoy the ride
Return Of The Seminoles
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It started with a block in New Orleans and ended with a sack in Orlando. Those two moments felt like bookends to a resurged Florida State football program.
I don’t know if Florida State football is “back.” A Cheez-It Bowl victory is a step in the right direction.
But man, how sweet it must feel, a team that went from five wins a season ago to a 10-wins today.
It’s not easy to double your victory total in a year, but that’s exactly what the Florida State football team did this season. So, what outlook does that give the Seminoles in the 2023 season?
Florida State has already received a slew of good news about next season, with stars and starters like Jordan Travis, Trey Benson, Mycah Pittman, Robert Scott, Kalen Deloach, Tatum Bethune, Jarrian Jones, Renardo Green and others announcing they are coming back for the 2023 season.
“The Big Three” we still don’t know about are defensive end Jared Verse, defensive tackle Fabien Lovett and defensive back Jammie Robinson.
Verse and Robinson have said they will make their decisions in the coming days. Lovett hasn’t spoken publicly in weeks.
Norvell and his staff have done yeoman work in the portal this cycle. They’ve brought in one of the top offensive tackles Jeremiah Byers from UTEP), a potential starting guard (Casey Roddick from Colorado), two of the top tight ends (Jaheim Bell from South Carolina and Kyle Morlock from Shorter), maybe the best defensive tackle (Braden Fisk from Western Michigan), a rising-star defensive tackle (Darrell Jackson from Miami) and arguably the top cornerback ( Fentrell Cypress from Virginia).
That’s six potential starters; seven important rotation guys acquired in about three weeks.
To speak frankly, Norvell needed to hit the portal to supplement FSU’s lackluster high school recruiting. The Seminoles’ 2023 signing class ranked 19th; the 2022 class ranked 24th.
Sustainability when building by the transfer portal is a legit question. FSU, LSU and USC, among others, brought in big transfer groups in the offseason, and all had successful seasons. Does this foreshadow what the future of college football will look like?
I think most would agree that Florida State was the best team in the ACC during the second half of the season, and I think the Seminoles are going to be better in 2023.
I can’t say the same for the Clemson Tigers, the team that had a stranglehold on the ACC for the past decade.
With the way Jordan Travis played in the second half of this season, and with the moves the Seminoles’ staff is making in both player retention and in the transfer portal; Florida State is poised for another growth spurt next season.
And unless something changes at Clemson, (with declining talent in both players and coaches), there’s a very good chance they will continue to fall.
I won’t be the only person who writes this during this coming offseason, but I will definitely be among the first: For the first time since 2014, Florida State will be favored to win the ACC next season.
