FSU football: Top 5 January observations with Mike Norvell

FSU football head coach Mike Norvell put in a lot of work his first month on the job. Here’s five observations from the second month.

FSU football coach Mike Norvell wasted no time hitting the ground running his first month on the job.

He was able to hire most of his coaching staff while working to make the Early Signing Period the best in FSU history.

Coach Norvell was able to sign two prep quarterbacks which addressed a need that hadn’t been met since Jimbo Fisher was head coach.

They signed 17 of their 18 commitments early and had eight of those players enroll in the spring semester which will be huge for their development.

I can’t think of any negatives as he seemed to execute his first 30 days on the job to perfection with the hand he was dealt with.

However, there were still questions about how he’d handle everything that comes with being the head coach at FSU.

It’s his first power five job and can he handle consistently recruiting at this level? I think the answer is quickly coming to fruition as Norvell has accomplished a lot in his second month on the job. Here are my top five observations from January with Mike Norvell.

Quick Reaction To TJ Rushing Leaving

The situation with hiring TJ Rushing to coach defensive backs and then have him leave before actually being in Tallahassee for a month caught a lot of people off guard.

However, it seemed Mike Norvell never flinched and already had a plan in place in case that was to happen.

Rushing coached with both Norvell and FSU defensive coordinator Adam Fuller last season at Memphis.

The latter likely being the biggest reason he got the job in the first place.

However, Norvell’s ability to hire Auburn’s defensive back coach Marcus Woodson within about two days of Rushing leaving was impressive.

I think the Woodson hire is better overall than Rushing because of his overall experience of coaching and being the recruiting coordinator at Auburn. Guess who else just came from Auburn to coach again with Norvell? FSU offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham, so it’s good he and Woodson have some familiarity too.

It helped Woodson coached under Norvell while at Memphis, but it almost makes one feel Norvell has an endless Rolodex of prospective coaches available should someone leave his staff.

What’s even better? If guys work with him they seem to have no problem rejoining him later down the line.

Coaches Believe In Mike Norvell

I hit on this in the last slide and wrote about this a few weeks ago when Mike Norvell announced his coaching staff to the media.

He allowed each of his new hires to speak with the media and answer whatever questions came their way. The majority of the questions revolved around how the hiring process went.

Why did they want to coach at Florida State? It boiled down to two main themes with almost all of their answers.

FSU is one of the best places to coach in the country. The prestige and history of the program are second to none. The second reason was to work for Mike Norvell.

Almost every single coach voiced those two things and communicated they want to help Mike Norvell bring FSU football back to what it’s supposed to be.

That wasn’t the case with the last TWO regimes that have coached here. I’ll get into it later, but I can see why these coaches feel that way about him and I believe he’ll get their best efforts in helping develop these FSU players.

Ability To Identify Roster Needs And Pursuit

This was a big one, and an area the last staff struggled in mightily. Coach Norvell and staff have done an amazing job of identifying what the recruiting needs of the roster are and pursuing players to fit those needs.

They knew they needed two quarterbacks and signed quality players. The running back room lacked depth and experience so they have two transfer running backs on the way.

They’ve already signed Lawrance Toafili and had Corey Wren commit less than a week ago while possibly signing one more running back.

They’ve done a solid job of pursuing offensive tackles. They flipped Robert Scott from Ole Miss this week and have Devontay Taylor as a graduate transfer from FIU in the fold.

It’s possible they could land another graduate transfer offensive lineman too. The staff was able to identify Jarrett Jackson in the transfer portal from Louisville as he was a need at defensive end.

This coaching staff is relentless with the transfer portal and on the recruiting trail in general.

Foresight

This area is one of the more refreshing things I’m learning about Mike Norvell. He seems to be incredibly prepared, being more proactive than reactive.

The coaching staff almost has its 2020 recruiting class finished as they have 23 commits. I doubt  there will not be a lot of drama on National Signing Day.

The only thing that could happen is four-star commit Malachi Wideman de-committing and signing elsewhere.

Want to talk about foresight? Mike Norvell got a commit from Darion Williamson Tuesday who will likely play wide receiver.

Is Darion Williamson the same caliber player as Wideman? No, but he does have good size and the ability to play wide receiver and will help meet the numbers need at that position instead of trying to scramble for another player on National Signing Day.

The other thing that’s good to see is the coaching staff being proactive with their pursuit of 2021 recruits and beyond.

They’ve already sent out 201 offers to recruits in that class and did a good job with their first junior day last week with several quality players expected on campus this week.

That’s what it’s going to take to build those relationships to starting signing a higher quality player in future recruiting classes coupled with progression on the field during games.

Intensity

I think a lot of FSU football fans were surprised at the intensity of Mike Norvell’s introductory press conference.

I likened it to a southern Baptist preacher talking about fire and brimstone near the end of time.

He was almost over the top in his delivery, but we’ve found it’s no show as he’s displayed that intensity several times at practice already.

A lack of intensity seemed to be one issue FSU fans had with the last coach, but I don’t think that will be a problem with Mike Norvell.

He commands attention when he speaks and quite frankly has me looking for some pads and a helmet to run through a wall myself. They say a team will take on the characteristics of its head coach.

I think FSU football will be a team that plays with a lot of passion and intensity if that’s the case.