FSU football: ‘Needs to be a sense of urgency in every player’

FSU football head coach Mike Norvell has rejoined the team after quarantining with COVID-19. He spoke on the team after Tuesday’s practice.

FSU football is looking to put the blowout loss to Miami behind them as they prepare for Jacksonville State on Saturday afternoon.

FSU head coach Mike Norvell spoke on a variety of things after Tuesday’s practice but spent a great deal of time talking about the mental aspect of the game.

The team still doesn’t know how to respond to adversity, but even more importantly, I’m not sure they understand the mentality needed BEFORE they walk on the field to play a game.

I think that’s what Norvell meant when he said, “needs to be a sense of urgency in every player.”

I wrote about the change I think is needed at quarterback as I feel the team has adopted the personality of James Blackman.

Blackman gets incredibly high when things are going well, but has never shown the ability to respond when adversity comes his way.

Norvell did point out freshman quarterback Tate Rodemaker seems to be on the right track when it comes to handling adversity, so we’ll see how that position shakes out Saturday afternoon.

Norvell spoke a lot about the “why” of how they do what they do, and it seems players are still trying to grasp that concept. The standard is the standard, and I’m interested in if Mike Norvell will adhere to some things he’s said before the season.

There some older players who are not playing with an all-out effort. Are they going to be held accountable by watching more on the sidelines this week? The depth chart released Monday did show some changes at certain positions, and I’m sure how the players practice this week will be taken into consideration regarding playing time.

This week would be a great opportunity to hold those players accountable should they not step up their level of play and effort.