FSU carried the ghost of the past season (2023) into a doomed 2024. The Seminoles capped off the season with a 2-10 overall and last in the ACC. After the infamous playoff hurt of 2023, Mike Norvell could have used the injustice in his favor. But he didn’t do that. Rather, the team recorded its worst since 1974. Now, leading up to another year in the calendar, the head coach can’t help but aim for redemption. But unfortunately, the early spring signs are pointing toward a recurring disaster in the roster.
Florida State is one-third of the way through its schedule of 15 practices, following on Thursday evening. But guess what? The same old injury fear has already started to creep into the camp. Following the latest practice, head coach Mike Norvell dropped the bad news. FSU will be devoid of its three key weapons for the remainder of the spring due to injury. Redshirt senior offensive lineman Jacob Rizy, redshirt junior defensive lineman Daniel Lyons, and redshirt sophomore linebacker Caleb LaVallee will be unavailable. But they aren’t the first slot of victims for the Seminoles’ spring shot.
Looking at the rear view picture of the injury hump, during the March 29th episode of Locked On Seminoles, insider Brian Smith said, ”I had spoken earlier this week, talking about Edwin Joseph. That was actually yesterday. But it just seems like this has been building. I’d heard about some nicks and bruises, but Joseph being out hurts because Shaheen Brown was already out.” Just three days ago, Norvell announced that Joseph was fighting with an upper-body injury. Although it wasn’t diagnosed to be a lingering one, he will still not suit up in the spring whatsoever.
Mike Norvell also highlighted some upside of the loss. It can be an opportunity for the new guys to get the reps. The bad thing is that injuries don’t seem to stop at all. “That s__ks for your secondary, and they just continue. There are a couple of different guys in that secondary that needed those reps. So maybe they’ll get some, and that’s the good news. But on the offensive line, you’ve got Jacob Rizy banged up,” Smith added.
Adding to the woes, red-shirt senior offensive lineman Gunnar Hannsen and junior offensive lineman Jaylen Early will participate with limited availability. Another defensive weapon, DT Daniel Lyons, is ‘banged up’ too. He took up a sizeable role in the Seminoles’ defense in his sophomore year. Now, that’s a real pain in the neck for Norvell.
It doesn’t, however, give you a guarantee that they will certainly fail in their playoff mission for another year. But it’s a moral degradation for sure. Smith put it up like this. “When you have this many guys get banged up, especially during a year when you have not one but two coordinators changed, you got verbiage, you got to learn from the playbooks, and all those guys just can’t afford to miss reps, no matter why. It is a killer. Coaches want to see you go live. They want to see you do it a bazillion times, and your teammates do too. So that’s unfortunate.”
It really is. Especially when Norvell still carries the wounds of his futile portal decision in the QB spot last year.
DJ Uiagalelei wounds continue to haunt FSU
Mike Norvell’s recruitment masterstroke didn’t bode well in 2024. He took a big leap of faith in the transfer portal for the 2024 season, bringing in DJ Uiagalelei and other transfers. The Florida head coach arguably vested a $12M NIL budget on the quarterback, and when that turned out hollow in output, it hurt.
The high hype faded within two weeks of his first season under Norvell. A horrible performance in week 2 and a stinker against a 16.5-point underdog, Boston College, spoke of his inability to lead the offense. It came out even worse than the imagination. Just after a five-game streak, a nasty injury put him on the sidelines. A broken finger in his throwing hand caused him to miss almost the entire season.
But even if we keep aside the injury, his performance didn’t make the stride that Norvell was expecting from a veteran to transform his offense. As per the athlete, the only thing that made him sign with the Seminoles, the urge to earn respect remained a far-fetched dream at the end of the trial. We will see how he translates to the pros going forward, but FSU doesn’t seem to be in a better position at all.
The post Major Trouble Announced for DJ Uiagalelei & Co. as Injury Galore Rocks Mike Norvell’s FSU Camp appeared first on EssentiallySports.
