Florida State's football season started off so well after defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide in the opener. The Seminoles began the year with a 3-0 record and had individuals believing that they could be serious College Football Playoff contenders.
However, it all came to a screeching halt as the program lost seven of its last nine games, which is actually incredible how they achieved that feat. The belief in the season with quarterback Thomas Castellanos stating that Nick Saban couldn't save Alabama then he went out and handled business, it was a sight to see.
It stinks that Castellanos got injured in that Kent State because the offense then became limited, and he wasn't himself anymore. Nonetheless, the team was inconsistent and didn't play complementary football with each other.
Florida State has had trouble finding an effective quarterback in the Mike Norvell era when it wasn't named Jordan Travis. It was unfortunate that Travis suffered that devastating injury because then the Seminoles might could have not gotten left out of the playoff (I don't know with this committee).
Thomas Castellanos wasn't anywhere near how underwhelming DJ Uiagalelei was during the 2024 season, and this isn't a shot at Uiagalelei because I know that he cared about Florida State. However, some fans were skeptical of Castellanos' throwing ability and how he got benched at Boston College.
Those issues reared its ugly head as the Seminoles lost their season finale to the Florida Gators with an interim coach (for the second time). The hope from the fan base is that Florida State would lean on redshirt freshman signal-caller Kevin Sperry and build around him instead of going back into the portal.
However, On3's Pete Nakos reported that Florida State has been in contact with West Florida quarterback transfer Marcus Stokes. The former four-star prospect was originally committed with the Florida Gators before pledging there.
Among the schools that have been in contact with West Florida transfer QB Marcus Stokes are Syracuse, Florida State, Iowa, Northwestern, Old Dominion, UTEP, Buffalo, Liberty and App State, among others, per his rep @bnm_nil.
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos) December 5, 2025
Former 4-star prev. committed to Florida. He totaled… pic.twitter.com/U0u2oaUZqh
Stokes completed 223 of his 368 passes (60.6%) for 3,297 yards and 30 touchdowns with 13 interceptions. He also added 367 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground (Statistics found via goargos.com).
The troubling aspect is the turnovers. There were three games this season where he threw multiple interceptions, which the Seminoles don't need to have in critical moments.
This is a situation where it is okay to be in contact, but Florida State could probably be better off with Sperry and not entering the transfer portal once again for a transfer.