Florida State football had a horrific season in 2024 so it is difficult to pinpoint many positives from the campaign. Sometimes you just have to lick your wounds and forget that it even happened.
That is exactly what head football coach Mike Norvell did as he added new coaches to the staff and acquired talent via the transfer portal and recruiting ranks. One move that I thought was interesting was adding Evan Cooper as a safeties coach and allowing Patrick Surtain Sr. to remain at defensive backs coach.
Surtain Sr. was rumored in the offseason to potentially take the head coaching job at his alma mater Southern Miss. Unfortunately for him, the Golden Eagles hired someone else. As a result, he is on the Seminoles' coaching staff.
Florida State landed sixteen transfers via the portal this offseason. However, none of them were defensive backs. This speaks to how confident the Seminoles are about the position group as a whole. With Shyheim Brown coming back in 2025, that was a huge boost to a Tony White-led defense.
Someone that the fan base isn't talking about much is redshirt freshman cornerback Jamari Howard. The former four-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle was the second-highest-rated cornerback that they took in the class behind Charles Lester III.
Howard suffered a knee injury in the preseason that knocked him out for the entire 2024 season. He is now back training and expects to be ready for next year.
The former Miami Norland High School standout wants to make a name for himself in the rotation that is going to be without the services of Azareye'h Thomas, Fentrell Cypress II, and Kevin Knowles III.
I am excited to see how Howard responds to adversity from the injury where he is in a position room that has starting spots up for grabs.