FSU quarterback Thomas Castellanos opened a can of worms recently when he spoke about facing the Alabama Crimson Tide in the first game of the 2025 season.
His response was more about the talent that would surround him after transferring to Florida State compared to what he had around him at Boston College. His comments seemed to spook some FSU fans, but I want my quarterback to have that sense of confidence.
The comments got the attention of Alabama head coach Kalen Deboer and a lot of eyes will be on that August 30th game in Tallahassee at 3:30 p.m. ET.
One Alabama website on our network doesn't believe Castellanos will pose a threat at all to the Alabama defense:
"Florida State's Thomas Castellanos also failed to play in enough games to be ranked for passing efficiency. Digging deeper into the stats for Castellanos, he played against seven FBS teams. In his seventh game against Syracuse, an injury caused an early third-quarter exit. In the other six games, his passing efficiency stats calculate to an impressive 150.56 rating. That would have placed him in the top 15 of FBS quarterbacks.
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A deeper dive shows that Castellanos' stats were against six teams with mediocre to poor pass defenses. The best of the six was Virginia Tech at No. 40, followed by Louisville at No. 53, Florida State at No. 61, Virginia at No. 67, Missouri at No. 83, and Michigan State at No. 84. Alabama Football was at No. 19 last season, with a secondary that needed time to come together. A more seasoned Alabama secondary should begin the season as one of the top eight in college football. With adequate pass pressure from the Crimson Tide, Castellanos should find it hard to lead the Noles to much passing production."
There are two things wrong with only looking at statistics. They don't account for Boston College coach Bill O'Brien taking the least effective approach, trying to make Castellanos a pocket passer, and not using his most effective weapon to keep teams honest.
FSU offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn will emphasize the run game, so don't expect Castellanos to drop back and throw it 35+ times.
Also, Castellanos does the most damage when he's scrambling on broken plays. He may not be the most efficient passer, but he can hurt defenses by keeping plays alive and forcing defenses to cover long periods of time.
I suspect Gus Malzahn will roll him out of the pocket and use the screen game as an extension of the running game. It's not Castellanos that worries me, but the FSU offensive line. If Castellanos doesn't have success, it'll likely be because the FSU offensive line can't block the Alabama defensive front. FSU added help from the transfer portal in the Winter Portal window, but most of those guys missed most of spring camp with injuries. The good news is? FSU will have had all offseason to gameplan for that Alabama defense.