Florida State football has a long offseason ahead of them. Head football coach Mike Norvell knows that last year was not the standard here at this proud program. The Seminoles are used to winning championships.
This is a program that Bobby Bowden built from nothing.
Nonetheless, this is a huge sixth season for Norvell's tenure at Florida State. Going 2-10 in 2024 was not ideal, everyone was frustrated. Sometimes in a sense of adversity, you have to turn the page and forget that it ever happened.
There were many aspects that you can pinpoint as to why the Seminoles struggled so badly in 2024. However, Norvell decided to counteract the issue with adding new coaches to the staff as well as adding pieces to the roster via the recruiting ranks and transfer portal.
The fan base thought that the Seminoles were getting stability within the team as they went 3-6, 5-7, 10-3, and then 13-1 just to fall to 2-10 the next year.
Norvell spoke to the Seminole Boosters in a video conference on Tuesday night where he discussed a variety of topics. One aspect that I thought was interesting was that he stated that the Seminoles wanted to get back to an aggressive style of play, which features running the football and being able to stop the run on defense.
This is something that Florida State could not do in 2024 as they were one of the worst rushing offenses in the country. New offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn has always had his offenses running the football where the Knights ranked top ten in the country in rushing yards per game.
As for the defense, new defensive coordinator Tony White is implementing a 3-3-5 defensive scheme. However, it should be noted that he runs multiple looks other than just the 3-3-5. During his time with the Nebraska Cornhuskers, he was very impressive in stopping the run where he did not allow a rushing touchdown at home all season in 2024.
It is very encouraging to see Norvell wanting to get back to a physical brand of football.