FSU football: 3 burning questions after 2023 spring camp

How Balanced Will Offense Be in 2023?

The Noles beat the brakes off several teams last year and ran the ball relentlessly 56.3 percent of the time. I wrote about this before last season and got laughed at, but I compared Jordan Travis to Lamar Jackson when he was at Louisville.

The point I was making was that Bobby Petrino essentially put everything on Jackson’s shoulders the year he won the Heisman. The problem with Jordan Travis before last year was he hadn’t proven he could play an entire season without getting hurt.

That narrative almost continued with the injury at Louisville last season, but Travis is tough as nails, and FSU got good injury luck for a change.

Now that he’s proven a capable passer and not a guy that has to rely solely on his legs to make something happen, how much will Mike Norvell put on his shoulders in 2023? Will he turn him loose through the air more? Will the offense be closer to 50/50 run/pass with the command Jordan Travis has over the offense?

Travis went from 19 pass attempts per game in 2021 to 27 in 2022. Jackson averaged 31 pass attempts and 20 rushing attempts per game in 2016. Travis only averaged six rushing attempts in 2022.

I know the concern for injury is still there, so I know we won’t see Travis averaging 20 rushing attempts per game. Could we see an uptick to 30+ attempts?

Travis went over 30 pass attempts in nine games last year and had 35 or more four times. If FSU has more success passing, that would open up the run game even more.