FSU football head coach Mike Norvell put in a lot of work his five months on the job. Here are three observations from the sixth month.
FSU football coach Mike Norvell wasted no time hitting the ground running in his first five months 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 football 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 that he’d have any control over. 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 coaching job, and can he handle consistently recruiting at this level? What about players buying into his vision for the program? How will the coronavirus and complete shutdown of spring activities affect the progress of the program?
I think most FSU football fans have seen enough feel confident Mike Norvell can get this program turned around but some are taking a wait and see approach too. There seems to be some concern about 2021 recruiting class in the trenches and those are understood.
They were behind on the class for one because of the transition, secondly, it’s hard for recruits to buy-in to a product they can’t see up close and personal.
Norvell has accomplished a lot in his first five months on the job. Here are my top three observations from May with Mike Norvell.
Academic Success
The coronavirus pandemic is something no college football coach has had to deal with in history so, at least they are all on an even playing field in that regard.
However, that hasn’t deterred the players from scoring the highest team GPA in the history of the program this spring.
Those that follow the program closely know FSU has had one of the worst APR scores in college football dating back to Jimbo Fisher.
A low APR score hinders a lot of things, but mostly it makes it difficult to manage the roster with players that no longer fit into the team’s future.
It doesn’t appear the FSU success in the classroom will be a fluke. Norvell’s former team posted its highest team APR score ever recently.
The multi-year score of 980 was just 20 points away from perfection, and all of that has to be credited to what Mike Norvell instilled in that program as head coach. That’s a great sign for FSU football.
Recruiting Momentum
The 2020 recruiting class was all about salvaging things, trying to find the best possible players available in a short amount of time without wasting scholarships just to meet a number.
The coaching staff did about as well as one could hope for under the circumstances, addressing numbers at key positions.
Of course, finishing No. 22 in the nation in recruiting isn’t meeting the standard and that’s why the coaching staff has worked hard on the 2021 class despite ridiculous obstacles due to the coronavirus.
College football recruiting is heavily tied to momentum, and we saw teams like Tennessee capture it in April. That had FSU fans scratching their heads going into May since they hadn’t had a player commit since Jake Slaughter on April 13.
However, May turned out to be a great month for the Noles as they added the following commitments:
- Hunter Washington: 4-star DB
- Kevin Knowles: 3-star DB
- Joshua Burrell: 3-star WR
- Jordan Eubanks: 3-star LB
- Fabien Lovett: DT transfer signed with FSU that’ll count towards the 2020 class
I know, I know. There’s concern about taking a lot of three-star players but I trust Mike Norvell’s eye for talent and ability to develop players.
Staff Synergy
Seminole Boosters have done interviews with Mike Norvell and almost all of the coaches on the staff over the past few weeks.
One thing that sticks out is the number of times the coaches have talked about familiarity and how that will be helpful in combating the time missed due to the coronavirus.
Almost all of the coaches on the staff have worked with Mike Norvell in some capacity. Kenny Dillingham, David Johnson, and Chris Thomsen are familiar with what Norvell wants to do on offense.
Thomsen has coached offensive line before and should be valuable in helping FSU offensive line coach Alex Atkins.
Adam Fuller was Norvell’s defensive coordinator last season and defensive back’s coach Marcus Woodson coached with Norvell while at Memphis for two seasons. Odell Haggins has been around forever and understands a 4-3 scheme as does defensive ends coach John Papuchis
The FSU strength and conditioning staff were with Mike Norvell at Memphis too.
It’ll be a challenge to overcome all of the time missed this spring, but having a staff that’s familiar with how Mike Norvell wants to do will be a huge positive.