FSU gets a transfer portal quarterback, but is he QB1?

Florida State went into the transfer portal window knowing it needed at least one transfer quarterback to provide some depth and experience to redshirt freshman Kevin Sperry and freshman Jaden O’Neal.

FSU had three quarterbacks visit campus over the last two days: UNLV’s Anthony Colandrea, Florida’s DJ Lagway, and Auburn’s Ashton Daniels.

Colandrea and Lagway left without committing to visit other schools, and Daniels committed. Daniels would be a good take for a backup role, but wouldn’t be QB1 by my estimation. He seems to think that he’ll be QB1, based on what he told some outlets after committing.

He was a starting quarterback at Stanford in 2023 and 2024 before playing as a backup to Jackson Arnold at Auburn in 2025. He’s a fit for Gus Malzahn’s offense as a dual-threat guy, but threw 21 touchdowns to 20 interceptions as a starter at Stanford.

He’s kind of like a taller Thomas Castellanos, and we’ve documented that Castellanos’ failures in the passing game are what held the FSU offense back in 2025.

I think the ship with Colandrea has probably sailed based on how things were before he visited and during the visit. FSU seemed to pull out the stops for DJ Lagway when he visited, and I’d have to think they’d still take him if he wanted to come to FSU. Duce Robinson spent a lot of time with Lagway, and it's hard to believe he'd stay at FSU with someone like Daniels as QB1.

FSU usually carries four quarterbacks, and two of them have literally no college experience. If the goal is to win enough games to save his job, it would be a huge gamble to only take Daniels. I’ll wait to see if Lagway signs elsewhere before giving final thoughts, because I thought they’d take Daniels as QB2 behind Lagway or Colandrea.