The Florida State Seminoles are 1-0 after a 34-17 Week 0 win over New Mexico State on Saturday night at Doak Campbell Stadium. That sentence holds a lot of positive information regarding the state of the Florida State football program, but if you watched the game, you didn’t feel good reading it.
Mike Norvell’s job is on the line this year, and with that performance, he did nothing to change the minds of the many FSU fans who were ready to pull the plug after 2025. Norvell needs a lot to go right to save his job this year, but in his first game of the season, nearly all of the linchpin players who will decide his fate performed below expectations.
Winners:
3. Ousmane Kromah - RB, Sophomore
Even in a crowded running back room, the preseason buzz made it clear that Ousmane Kromah is RB1 for Florida State in 2026. That was the case on Saturday night as he led the way with 14 carries, which he parlayed into 115 yards and his first career touchdown. Florida State had a 54 percent rushing success rate on the night, and that ticked up by 10 percent when the ball was in Kromah’s hands. Plus, he finally produced the explosives he was lacking last year, making multiple defenders miss in space on a 52-yard scamper late in the game.
2. Quindarrius Jones - CB, Senior
Early in fall camp, it became clear that Quindarrius Jones, not Charles Lester III or South Alabama transfer Nehemiah Chandler, would be CB2 opposite Ja’Bril Rawls. Jones missed most of last season with an injury, and when he’s been healthy, he hasn’t been particularly great. However, on Saturday night, he was FSU’s most reliable cover corner with an impressive pass breakup and his first career interception. With Rawls’ struggles, he looked like CB1.
1. Samuel Singleton Jr. - RB, Senior
Kromah was expected to be great, especially against New Mexico State, but many questioned Samuel Singleton’s decision to stick around Tallahassee after the Seminoles added former Texas Longhorn Quintrevision Wisner in the transfer portal this offseason. However, Singleton beat out Wisner, who was injured throughout much of fall camp, and had a major impact as a runner, a pass-catcher, and a return man on Saturday night.
Singleton finished with 42 yards and a touchdown on nine carries, added 54 yards and another score on four grabs, and produced a 46-yard kick return. Though the numbers aren’t particularly kind at a 33% success rate and -0.01 EPA/carry (per gameonpaper), it seems he’s cemented his place in this running back rotation and a two-touchdown outing should keep Wisner largely at bay.
Losers:
4. The offensive line
In the 2025 offseason, then newly-hired offensive line coach Herb Hand had to replace all five starters up front for Florida State. He hit at a remarkably high rate with his veteran additions. The only problem is all five graduated, so he, Norvell, and this time general manager John Garrett had to play portal roulette again, and it was always going to be difficult to hit at the same clip. The early returns are not promising.
Daniels held onto the ball too long, and that’s naturally going to invite pressure, but even when he was playing on time, he was fairly consistently under duress. Bradyn Welch-Joiner at center was overwhelmed by the interior pass-rushers of New Mexico State, which does not bode well for future matchups against Miami or Clemson. The entire line just looked Conference USA caliber. Even left tackle Xavier Chaplin, who was expected to be the star of the O-line, had bad penalties in the red zone.
The run-blocking from this group was good, but largely because Norvell kept going back to the split-zone duo well and their size was eventually enough to wear down the Aggies.
3. Ja’Bril Rawls - CB, Senior
Ja’Bril Rawls, Mandrell Desir, and Darryll Desir all entered the transfer portal in the offseason, but were all enticed to come back. All were paid handsomely to do so, and those price tags carry expectations of excellence. That group is supposed to be the core of the unit, and while the Desir’s underwhelmed, Rawls was flat-out bad.
It’s hard to hold corners completely accountable for giving up completions in White’s spot-drop zone coverage system. There are just so many open receivers underneath. But Rawls got burned deep for a touchdown, biting hard on a well-run route by the receiver and giving Aggies QB Trey Hedden a layup with no safety help over the top in Cover 1 man. Then, later, he had a horrible penalty, slamming a receiver to the ground.
It was a rough showing all-around for a cornerback who is a legitimate NFL prospect and a player FSU is counting on to be, not just good, but great.
2. Ashton Daniels - QB, Senior
Ashton Daniels came into the night with 22 career interceptions; to quell the concerns about his lack of ball security, he needed to finish the night with 22 career interceptions. Instead, he threw an inexcusably bad pick in the second quarter, squandering a promising drive. All preseason the buzz out of camp was that Daniels was more decisive with the football, throwing with more anticipation, and more willing to work to his checkdown when there’s nothing there. He did none of that on Saturday night. He looked, perhaps unsurprisingly, like the player he’s been the previous four years, three at Stanford and one at Auburn.
1. Tony White - DC
There was a lot of bad in this defensive performance. The defensive line had just one tackle for loss in the run game, despite three sacks, there weren’t many defensive linemen winning consistently in the pass rush, and coverage busts led to two touchdowns and should have given up three. However, the performance of Tony White’s unit can be summed up best by the fact that New Mexico State converted six of its first seven third downs and finished with a 63% late-down success rate.
White’s defense is simply too passive in coverage, relying heavily on spot-drop Cover 3 and ceding too much space to receivers underneath. Hedden took advantage of that space for easy completions and knew where the space would be over the middle of the field, which allowed him to throw with great anticipation, especially on those money downs. Then, even with that simplicity, all the interchangeable parts on the back end have continually led to communication issues. This defense asks its defensive line to win, and win quickly, and White doesn’t have the horses to do it, so he needs to get more creative in the secondary, but that could lead to even more coverage busts.
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