Florida State football is paying the price of going 7-17 over the last two years and deciding to roll with Mike Norvell into the 2026 season. There’s no excitement surrounding the program with the fans or recruits, as Florida State has the No. 43rd-ranked recruiting class nationally, with only seven commits.
They only have one commitment from a player who’ll play with his hand in the dirt, and only three composite blue-chip players committed. The attitude from fans on social media is mostly negative, but former Florida State quarterback Danny Kanell says it’s as bad as he’s seen it in Tallahassee over the last decade:
"The vibes around Tallahassee are as bad as I've seen them in the last decade." - @dannykanell is struggling to find reasons to be optimistic about his beloved Florida State Seminoles pic.twitter.com/0mC2uby06X
— The Next Round (@NextRoundLive) May 28, 2026
Danny Kanell is speaking nothing by the truth in this clip.
The common denominator is the decision to keep Mike Norvell as the head coach. Fans have lost all hope in believing he’ll turn the program around again. Kanell hints that boosters with the power to help in recruiting feel the same way, and why they are not willing to cut any more checks to help in that department.
It’s almost like the program is in Hospice care, and everyone is waiting to pull the plug on the Mike Norvell era. As Kanell stated, he's usually optimistic, and I'm the same way. However, I was ready to move on from Mike Norvell after the Stanford loss last year. I wrote about the consequences of keeping Mike Norvell after it was clear they were not going to fire him last year.
Those fears have come to fruition. As an Athletic Director in real life, I understand Michael Alford's position better than most, and spending over 50 million to fire a coach and his staff, while having to hire a quality coach and staff, and find money to pay quality players? If you don't have it, you don't have it. While I believe Florida State has the money to fire Norvell, I don't believe they saw anyone realistic who could come in and win right away.
If that's the case, you're putting them in the same situation Mike Norvell faced when he got to Florida State, losing a lot of games early and then it's an uphill climb once again.
The hope is Norvell can get Florida State back to respectability at least. There's a slim chance that could happen if Ashton Daniels plays out of his mind, the offensive line is solid, and the defensive front can make his presence felt.
Nothing can help the program right now until they start winning games consistently again, and they won't get the opporunity to do that for another three months.
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