At 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, with a big arm and great mobility, Ashton Daniels has always had the physical tools to play the quarterback position at a high level. Yet, whether it was his three years at Stanford or his late-season starting stint for Auburn last season, turnovers have always held him back.
Through 721 career attempts, Daniels has 22 interceptions to just 24 touchdowns. So, when asked what he’s doing well in fall camp to inspire praise from his teammates and head coach Mike Norvell, who called Wednesday’s practice his best of fall camp so far, Daniels cut right to the biggest lingering question surrounding his game.
“Just taking care of the football,” Daniels told reporters in his media availability on Wednesday, “just being smart, knowing the situation. I think that’s a huge thing. We do a lot of situational work in practice and knowing when it’s okay to go down and take a sack, when it’s okay to throw the ball away, not put the ball in jeopardy. I think I’ve done a fantastic job with that, not turning the ball over, being stupid, being careless with the ball.
“I feel like it’s a process. Once you realize that you need to take care of the football, which obviously, I have from early on in my career and all the experiences and things that I’ve gone through, that was obviously an issue in my past.”
Florida State’s season could hinge on Ashton Daniels solving his turnover troubles
For the third straight offseason, Florida State had to go into the transfer portal to find its starting quarterback. So far, it’s been mixed results for Mike Norvell in that department, following up Jordan Travis, whom he inherited from Willie Taggart’s staff, with DJ Uigalalei in 2024 before handing the keys to Tommy Castellanos in 2025.
Daniels wasn’t exactly a top-of-the-market pickup this offseason, after spending much of 2025 backing up former five-star Jackson Arnold at Auburn. His high turnover rate certainly suppressed the market for an otherwise talented dual-threat QB with significant starting experience at the Power 4 level, and with a tight budget, Norvell and newly hired general manager John Garrett pounced.
If Daniels’ improvements as a decision-maker are more than just preseason lip service, then the Seminoles may have gotten a steal. Though Norvell is reclaiming play-calling duties after a year with Gus Malzahn running the offense, FSU will remain a run-first team on that side of the ball.
Listening to all the buzz out of camp, it seems Ousmane Kromah is poised to be a breakout star of 2026, and with Quintrevion Wisner and Samuel Singleton Jr. joining him in the backfield, Norvell will lean on multi-back formations and heavy tight-end usage. That run game will include Daniels’ legs, too.
The Seminoles need to control the ball with long, methodical drives and give Daniels the chance to hit a few deep shots to his talented group of big-play wide receivers. That formula can work, but it requires a quarterback who protects the football because this isn’t a team built to play from behind.
With the right game script, Florida State can be a devastating offense, and if Daniels has improved his ball security, it can play to that script. However, with four seasons of evidence saying Daniels is a high-turnover quarterback, he’ll need to prove it on the field, not just in practice or at the podium, before it's time to believe that Norvell finally got it right at QB.
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