Florida State football has been facing a ton of negativity throughout the offseason because many individuals thought that head coach Mike Norvell should have been fired a while back. With that said, this has caused the doubters to come out.
It makes sense why the Seminoles are not on many people's radar after they have had six losing seasons in eight years. However, Mike Norvell has proven in 2022 and 2023 that he can get the job done once again. The administration is hoping so too, so they don't have to pay that extraordinary buyout.
Norvell went back to the drawing board again to add new pieces from the transfer portal. One point of discussion was the quarterback position, where the Seminoles added one from the portal for the third offseason in a row with the pickup of former Stanford and Auburn signal-caller Ashton Daniels.
Ashton Daniels seems to be getting praise from a source highlighted by a national analyst
Daniels has never been an ultra-productive quarterback in college, but his two-game sample size against Vanderbilt and Alabama to close the year at Auburn was encouraging. Daniels had over 800 total yards and five touchdowns combined (according to ESPN Stats and Information).
It makes you wonder why Auburn never saw the potential when transfer Jackson Arnold struggled for them and Deuce Knight was too young. With that said, it shouldn't be a surprise that Hugh Freeze was fired with the Tigers.
It could also be a blessing in disguise that Auburn hired Alex Golesh from South Florida and he brought his own quarterback in with Byrum Brown. This allowed the Seminoles to get Ashton Daniels in the portal. While Daniels wasn't necessarily their first choice because Colton Joseph, Anthony Colandrea, and DJ Lagway were pursued, it was an option that they felt comfortable with.
CBS Sports dropped some post-spring intel about a variety of ACC teams, and Florida State's Ashton Daniels was mentioned. In the piece, they highlighted that a source mentioned that he was going to play better than people think. Some fans think that Florida State is just "punting" on 2026 to get Mike Norvell out of Tallahassee, but this source thinks that the Seminoles are far from doing that.
The source also states that Florida State has enough playmakers for Daniels' talent to show up. If we look back at last year, the Seminoles also had talent on offense with Duce Robinson, Micahi Danzy, Jayvan Boggs, and Lawayne McCoy, but former quarterback Thomas Castellanos wasn't consistent enough.
This needs to be the year for Florida State's program to finally get over the hump and get the job done in 2026.
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