Florida State head football coach Mike Norvell conducted his Vision of Excellence video call for Seminole Boosters. This is a good way to give the fan base a sense of excitement. There wasn't much excitement in 2024 where the Seminoles finished with a 2-10 record.
Florida State football fans were frustrated, given the program is used to being in contention for conference championships and national championships. Norvell understood that this was not the standard of the program. As a result, he decided to hire new coaches and get new pieces to the roster via the recruiting ranks and transfer portal.
One of the more polarizing transfer portal pieces was former Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos. Norvell was very familiar with recruiting Castellanos as the Seminoles were recruiting him as a running back in the Class of 2022.
Unfortunately, Castellanos chose to sign with the UCF Knights since they were recruiting him as a quarterback. As a result, new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn is aware of him since he was the head football coach of the Knights during the time period.
He then transferred to Boston College where he became the starter of the Eagles. He gave Florida State fits every time he has played the Seminoles. Castellanos completed 20 of his 33 passes for 305 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception as well as 95 rushing yards and one touchdown in a nail-biting loss in 2023.
Then Castellanos got his revenge in 2024 as he traveled to Tallahassee to defeat Florida State where he completed 10 of his 16 passes for 106 yards and two touchdowns then had 73 rushing yards and one touchdown.
Norvell admittedly stated that Castellanos gave him a couple of gray hairs while he was at Boston College. I can only imagine that he is probably glad to see him on the same sideline. Florida State fans need Castellanos to give Kalen DeBoer, Mario Cristobal, Dabo Swinney, and Billy Napier gray hairs in 2025.