Florida State football and Jordan Travis go hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly. What’s crazy is that without Jordan Travis, Mike Norvell probably isn’t coaching at Florida State right now (and still probably shouldn’t be).
The other side of that coin is that Jordan Travis wasn’t someone who would go down as a transformative player while playing in Tallahassee in his early days at Florida State. He couldn’t beat out James Blackman for the starting job in 2020. He struggled to maintain the job while competing against McKenzie Milton in 2021.
However, it wasn’t until about halfway through the 2021 season that Jordan Travis finally realized his potential. He gave a lot of credit to former Florida State offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham for encouraging him to believe in himself. Mike Norvell played a part in that process.
The 2022 season saw Jordan Travis build on what he started towards the end of 2021, and he emerged as a true Heisman contender in the 2023 season. He helped lead Florida State to its first ACC title since the 2014 season and the first undefeated regular season since that year.
One of many Mike Norvell mantras has been what it means to overcome adversity. If you looked up that phrase in a book, you’d probably see a picture of Jordan Travis.
The injury Travis suffered at Florida State ended his college career and ultimately took away his shot to play in the NFL after getting drafted by the New York Jets. In typical Jordan Travis fashion, he landed on his feet and now works for Florida State and its booster program.
Mike Norvell spoke about Jordan Travis recently with another former Florida State standout QB, EJ Manuel of the ACC Network:
“Handing Jordan Travis that trophy will go down as one of the greatest moments I ever had.”
— ACC Network (@accnetwork) June 16, 2026
Mike Norvell says the leadership Jordan Travis displayed after his injury is something that will stick with him forever ❤️ @FSUFootball pic.twitter.com/vq27XLgRVm
Mike Norvell will always have a ton of love for Jordan Travis and what he did at FSU
Mike Norvell talks about the leadership of Jordan Travis, and that’s something that’s been missing from the Florida State program since the 2023 season. FSU hasn’t had a quarterback who could command respect and play at a Jordan Travis level. Norvell probably owes much of the success he’s achieved at Florida State to Jordan Travis, and that’s probably why he’ll always give him his flowers. However, the ultimate compliment is when he says that handing Jordan Travis the trophy was one of the greatest moments he’s had.
FSU hopes that Ashton Daniels can be in 2024 what Jordan Travis was in 2022 and 2023. He has similar attributes. He can create with his legs and make throws down the field. He's smart and has a ton of experience. One of the biggest differences between Daniels and Travis is that the latter rarely turned the ball over. That's something that Daniels has struggled with greatly in his college career.
It's something Mike Norvell and Florida State are aware of, and they spent a lot of time working on making good decisions in spring camp. Frankly, Daniels admitted it was something he started working on while at Auburn last year. It'll probably be up to Daniels to help Florida surprise folks in 2026. Can Mike Norvell help resurrect another quarterback to help save his job again? We'll find out in a few months.
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