FSU football: Mike Norvell looking for leaders to live up to the expectations

FSU football is a young team looking for leaders to emerge.

FSU football head coach Mike Norvell has endured a lot of things in his first year in Tallahassee. He’s taken over a team that has been through a lot as well, and that seems to have shown up over the past 11 months.

We’ve seen injuries take their toll, other players have left, been dismissed, or opted-out of the program over the past few months.

The Noles have one of the youngest teams in the nation, but as I wrote a week or so ago, it’s not a youth movement.

The coaching staff has been clear these are the best players available when they go out on the field and compete.

However, when you have a young team still trying to figure it all out their will be growing pains, and that’s what seemed to rear its head at Tuesday’s practice.

Mike Norvell has been candid about how each practice has gone, and Tuesday was one of the first ones in a while that he didn’t seem particularly pleased with how things went.

Thoughts

The problem with this team is there’s a lot of youth, but nobody seems willing to step up and grab the leadership baton and run with it.

I understand it. Usually, a player that assumes a leadership role is someone that can lead but also have great production on the field to back it up.

This team is so young, and there’s so much inexperience, that makes it more difficult for a young leader to emerge with the production to back it up.

There are some leaders on the team, but they choose to lead more by example than verbally. I can relate because that was my way of doing things when playing college baseball.

However, football is a sport that relies on more emotion, so having a couple of leaders willing to talk the talk and walk the walk is invaluable.

Here’s to hoping some of the young gunners on the team can step up and help the team meet expectations.