The regular season is right around the corner, with Florida State set to host New Mexico State on Aug. 29. While Ashton Daniels owns the QB1 role, the battle for QB2 is heating up.
Kevin Sperry entered fall camp with the edge to be the backup quarterback, but things have changed on that front. Head coach Mike Norvell spoke to the media on Monday and revealed that Malachi Marshall has made things interesting.
"It's an absolute competition and push. We gave him [Marshall] an opportunity two weeks ago where he was live, and he got to go show himself in that type of situation. We actually came back and gave Kevin a couple series there on Saturday, during that tackle portion where he was live," Norvell said.
And the fact that Norvell is saying this seems more positive for Marshall and negative for Sperry's sake.
Mike Norvell isn't cooling down Florida State's intriguing QB2 battle
Sperry was recruited to Florida State by Norvell after being a four-star coming out of high school. Despite having familiarity with the school and system that Norvell likes to run, Sperry wasn't able to solidify his spot in the lineup.
He redshirted last year for the Seminoles, yet he still found his way to play in three games. In those outings, he went 12-of-17 for 194 yards and two touchdowns. Regardless, that wasn't nearly enough to earn the QB2 job without a fight.
Meanwhile, Marshall transferred over from Iowa Western Community College. He had a late start to his Florida State career, enrolling at the university in May. That forced him to miss out on some valuable reps in practice. And that was called out by Norvell.
"When you miss the spring, it's all those reps. You have a quarterback that you want to anticipate, you want to trust what you see, but then it's going to actually happen. I think that's one area where he's grown in these last couple of weeks."
While that has hurt Marshall, he has still flashed in the opportunities that he's been given. Norvell stated that Marshall impressed, but there is still work to do for both sides.
The transfer made his mark at Iowa Western Community College, where he helped them finish with a 12-1 record. They won the NJCAA Division I National Championship, and Marshall was the best player on that team.
In 13 games, he had 2,750 passing yards for 33 touchdowns and eight interceptions. That helped him earn NJCAA Division I Offensive Player of the Year. He certainly flashed that he can be a quality starting quarterback, but he needs to play more.
Quarterback is not a position where you can skip out on reps. And since Marshall started late in that aspect, he has a lot of catching up to do. Norvell made that clear, but the fact that it's still a competition shows how much the staff likes him.
With a little less than two weeks left until the start of the season, this battle will be one to watch, and no not be decided by Week 0. Both guys have a chance to snag the QB2 role, but there's no leader in the clubhouse. It'll be interesting to see how things unfold.
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