FSU football: 5 MAJOR takeaways from successful 2025 Early Signing Day
By Kelvin Hunt
Ability To Sell A Vision With New Staff
FSU fans were done with Mike Norvell after finishing the worst season in most of our lifetimes, a year after going undefeated. It felt like a major opportunity missed to build on the previous two seasons, where they went 23-4.
However, in hindsight, the season was likely a blessing in disguise. If FSU finished 8-4, they likely don't make the necessary coaching changes, and I'd bet they wouldn't obtain a better transfer portal class than what FSU will get over the next few weeks.
A lot of pressure was on Mike Norvell, and between hiring two coordinators and getting the remaining staff to continue working on this high school class, he had to sell a new vision to these recruits in a short amount of time.
The track record of Gus Malzahn and Tony White days before the Early Signing Period injected new life into his vision. They joined him to help sell the vision of what's to come in Tallahassee.
It would have been easy for a few of these guys who had been committed for a while to abandon the ship. However, all stayed the course(except Solomon Thomas), and FSU has some momentum going into the offseason.
The key will be continuing to sell that vision to 2026 recruits and beyond while showing an improved product on the field next year.