FSU football emphasizing leadership and mindset going into 2024

FSU football went for it all in 2023 and accomplished every team goal except winning a National Title because the opportunity to compete for one got axed by a committee full of guys with no integrity. It was terrible for FSU football fans but even more so for all the players who decided to come back for that opportunity. There was a ton of leadership on that team, featuring players who were at FSU when they hit rock bottom, but trusted the process to overcome adversity on the way to winning their first ACC Championship since 2014. Mike Norvell replacing that leadership will be one of the major challenges going into the 2024 season.

FSU brought in a talented group of prep players, with several early enrollees mixed with 14 transfer portal players. However, the portal players feature a solid mix of guys, with many with multiple years of college experience. Many pundits tried to discredit FSU's culture because several players opted-out of the Orange Bowl. However, questioning FSU's culture was short-sighted, as it was one of the strongest aspects of the team. I wrote about which guys could emerge as leaders this spring last week since FSU lost a lot of its veteran leadership, and Mike Norvell is using resources to work with the team to understand the importance of leadership, mindset, and culture.

Thoughts

FSU has some veteran players remaining who'll play a vital role on the field in 2024. However, every team is different as new roles get defined as players come and go. That's another benefit of staff continuity because they understand the standard and what it looks like and can help hold these new players accountable as the assimilate into the team. I think that will be a common theme from players when they speak with the media as spring practice gets underway in a few weeks.