JUST IN: Head Coach Mike Norvell Sends a Strong message I can’t take this anymore “Challenges FSU Football’s…

   The Florida State Seminoles are wrapping up practice No. 7 as they charge forward to the 2024 season. Expectations are high after the ‘Noles went 13-1* and won an ACC Championship a year ago and along with those expectations comes pressure for the team wearing garnet and gold to perform.

   The offense will be replacing critical elements from last year’s team. Having to replace quarterback Jordan Travis, running back Trey Benson, and wide receivers Johnny Wilson, and Keon Coleman will be a tall order. Head coach Mike Norvell met with the media after Thursday’s practice and wasn’t pleased with how the team looked on that side of the ball.

“I thought today was, you know, there was some good and bad in today,” Norvell said. “I thought there were some times offensively where we were sloppy, you know, and had some missed opportunities.”

The defense dominated for most of the practice creating turnovers and loss of yardage consistently. When the defense shows up and puts on such a powerful performance, it can be tricky to judge whether the offense isn’t playing up to their ability, or the defense is just that far ahead in this stage of camp.

“There’s different dynamics to why. If you have a mistake and you leave somebody totally, either unblocked or you don’t, if you drop a ball or whatever the case is, that’s not allowing you to put yourself in a position to have a chance, and it makes it tough,” Norvell continued. “Obviously, the defense did a lot of good things today, but, we’ve seen good balance throughout fall camp, and I just thought the offense, we just need to be better.”

  One of the players on defense that stood out at Thursday’s practice was former 4-star defensive back Ricky Knight III. He came down with quarterback Brock Glenn’s second interception of camp after jumping a route and creating a takeaway for a high-level play.

“I like what I’m seeing from him. He had a couple of really good plays today,” Norvell said of Knight. “I think that young DB group is growing in their confidence. Obviously, Ricky coming in, you know, got here in the summer. I’ve seen some great flashes, and there’s still a lot of areas where he gets to continue to grow, just understanding some of the things physically. But I like what I’ve seen from him, and I think he’s definitely on the right path.”

   One of the bright spots on offense was former 4-star wideout Lawayne McCoy, who seemed to be all over the place during practice. Norvell said that McCoy could have a chance to make an impact early on the team and that his standout performance on Thursday was a great step for him.

   I think Lawayne’s got a real shot to make an impact for us. I think that he’s taken advantage of opportunities. I love his game. Being here in the spring, we saw the early flashes. He had a small injury that kept him from the last six or seven practices, but he’s carried it over throughout the summer. He really had a good summer, and today was a great step for him.”

   The Seminoles are gearing up for their first scrimmage of fall camp this Saturday under the lights inside Doak Campbell Stadium. It will give the coaching staff a glimpse of how the team reacts and executes without the coaches correcting them on the field.

   We’re going to go through basically how we’ve done with our first scrimmage. There are a lot of different things I want to see our guys handle, the situations I want to put them in, and see how they respond to that,” Norvell said. “It’ll be a good work day, and it’s going to be a night scrimmage, so obviously we’ll get in the stadium and work through that. I’m excited to see the guys go out and be able to work and execute.”