Florida State football will be kicking off versus the Alabama Crimson Tide in the newly renovated Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday, August 30th. The Seminoles are entering a pivotal year in the sixth season under the guidance of head football coach Mike Norvell.
Florida State is looking at a variety of transfer portal options after the spring window closed on Friday, April 25th. This seems to suggest that the Seminoles have holes on the roster to fill.
As a result, here are three things that are missing on Florida State football's roster for the 2025 season:
DYNAMIC WEAPON AT WIDE RECEIVER
I don't want this to be something to discredit the abilities of USC's Duce Robinson and Tennessee's Squirrel White, sophomore Lawayne McCoy, redshirt freshman Elijah Moore, and true freshman Jayvan Boggs in the rotation.
I know that White had over 800+ receiving yards in 2023 with the Volunteers, but he has dealt with issues with injuries. Then Duce Robinson's 6'7" size is intriguing, but he has only recorded 750 yards and seven touchdowns in two seasons with the Trojans.
Quarterback Thomas Castellanos was brought in to bring a veteran who could transform the running game and allow the passing game to open up. It will make it easier for Castellanos will have more weapons at his disposal.
It never hurts to get more playmakers.
PROVEN PASS RUSHERS
Florida State football had pass rushers in the recruiting ranks to sign with the program, such as LaJesse Harrold, Tylon Lee, as well as Mandrell and Darryll Desir. Then, the Seminoles acquired Deamontae Diggs, Deante McCray, and James Williams via the transfer portal.
Florida State is used to grabbing talented pieces via the transfer portal, such as Jared Verse, Jermaine Johnson II, and Keir Thomas.
The defensive ends that were secured don't have quite the bit of production as the latter so the coaching staff will try to scheme up with the defenders in new defensive coordinator Tony White's defensive scheme.
Coach White has been on record saying that he wants his defenses to be physical and aggressive. This will include pass rushers getting after opposing quarterbacks.
ANOTHER RELIABLE OFFENSIVE TACKLE
Florida State fired former offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Alex Atkins. The fan base is searching for answers as Coach Atkins was deemed a good recruiter, but none of his high school recruits (besides Robert Scott Jr., Jaylen Early, and Andre Otto), and relied heavily on transfers.
The Seminoles hired former UCF offensive line coach Herb Hand to be the position coach. Coach Hand has coached all through the Power Five.
The Seminoles' offensive line has had to deal with a multitude of injuries (none that are serious) during the spring. The two potential offensive tackle starters look to be Vanderbilt's Gunnar Hansen and Ole Miss's Micah Pettus.
The other offensive tackles on the roster who have experience are Tye Hylton, Mario Nash Jr., Jacob Rizy, Andre Otto, Manasse Itete, Jonathan Daniels, Jayden Todd, Lucas Simmons, Chavez Thompson, and Chastan Brown.
Personally, that depth doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies. There should be a reason that the program should take another offensive tackle to its roster. Especially, with the injuries that happen on the offensive line.