To say that this has been a catastrophe of a gap stretch to the season for the Florida State Seminoles could be an understatement. The Seminoles have gone from a top-10 workforce within the preseason polls to 0-3 towards the likes of Georgia Tech, Boston School and now Memphis, with two of these video games being at house. The seat for head coach Mike Norvell (who was given a large extension this offseason after rumors about him taking the Alabama job began swirling) is more and more getting hotter, and the schedule doesn’t get simpler.
The largest query right here is: how did all of it go mistaken for the Noles?
Let’s begin with the expertise acquisition portion of issues. The Seminoles beneath Mike Norvell have usually been fairly good with utilizing the switch portal. Shoot, most of their workforce that went undefeated final 12 months was constructed by the portal. QB Jordan Travis was at Louisville, RB Trey Benson got here from Oregon, WR Keon Coleman got here from Michigan State, WR Johnny Wilson was at Arizona State. On the defensive aspect, DE Jared Verse got here from Albany and DT Braden Fiske got here from Western Michigan. These impression gamers all got here by the portal searching for higher alternatives, which is the great thing about the switch portal. You discover gems by that alley that may elevate the ceiling of a workforce when the ground is constructed by highschool recruiting.
Nevertheless, the switch portal is a fickle magnificence. For each gem you discover, it’s also possible to strike out on important gamers at important positions, which is the place the Seminoles discover themselves offensively. The largest switch was QB DJ Uiagalelei from Oregon State. That is Uiagalelei’s third cease, with a number of coordinators and offenses making an attempt to unravel the query of “how is a child this bodily gifted this unhealthy?” By three video games, the Seminoles’ offense hasn’t figured it out, both.
Uiagalelei is 117th in Passing Success Price (per gameonpaper) and hasn’t been a risk on the bottom in the identical means Travis was final 12 months. Whereas Travis was higher at creating when the pocket collapsed and being explosive on the bottom, Uiagalelei is extra of a lumbering runner who can’t create beneath stress. As a result of Uiagalelei is basically a statue who isn’t assured when throwing in commonplace dropback conditions, the offense is proscribed to rollouts and half subject reads. When he’s requested to throw in these commonplace conditions, the offensive line falls aside and it seems like this:
Not fairly in any respect.
The offensive line is a a lot greater subject than the QB or any of the opposite portal additions. After being so good final 12 months, and three of the 5 starters coming again, this skilled offensive line shouldn’t be as porous as it’s. However once more, that comes all the way down to improvement. A few of these guys are redshirt seniors who’ve performed a number of soccer, but when they aren’t good now, then the teaching has to take some blame. When Uiagalelei was at his finest at Oregon State, that they had a imply and bodily offensive line that would run the ball rather well, and Uiagalelei didn’t need to shoulder the load offensively. That’s not the case at FSU, and it’s as a result of the road play has been so poor. The receiver expertise after Coleman and Wilson left has additionally been hit and miss, with no one constantly creating separation. From the identification of the expertise to the event, it’s all gone unhealthy at Florida State.
That is the place highschool recruiting and improvement turns into so, so necessary. It’s actually exhausting to win constantly by solely getting transfers out and in of this system. Transfers are extra like one to two-year fixes, whilst you may get a highschool recruit for not less than three years. Florida State is in an odd interval the place the highschool recruiting is ok; the Seminoles haven’t completed outdoors the highest 25 of 247 Sports activities recruiting in Norvell’s whole tenure. Nevertheless, if the recruits coming in are good, however the product continues to be unhealthy, then improvement isn’t taking place. It’s what separates groups like Florida State from groups like Texas or Ohio State. Each recruit at a really excessive stage and each use the switch portal rather well, like FSU. The issue is that Ohio State and Texas are each significantly better at creating the highschool expertise they’ve, and never needing to depend on transfers in important spots just like the offensive and line of defense.
That’s the place the Seminoles want to enhance, and I’m unsure if Norvell will get the time to enhance them.