Florida State’s 34-player 2026 recruiting class was more quantity than quality. While there were high-end commits, in a group that ranked No. 17 nationally, only one, cornerback Chuck Kennon, finished as a top-100 player by 247Sports Composite.
Four-star linebacker Izayia Williams barely missed that benchmark at No. 137, and that was despite missing his entire senior year with an injury. Through his first weeks of fall camp at Florida State, he’s stood out, along with four-star wide receiver Jasen Lopez, as the top true freshman.
However, injuries may once again be obstructing his path. Following a strong showing in the first of three Florida State fall camp scrimmages this month, Williams was sidelined with a minor injury. Then, when Scrimmage 2 came around on Sunday night at Doak Campbell Stadium, he wasn’t ready to get back onto the field.
According to Norvell’s post-scrimmage comments, “Williams was out tonight.” However, the Seminoles are “Expecting him to get back into action in the next week or so.”
Florida State’s LB competition could heat up when Izayia Williams and Mikai Gbayor both get healthy
Florida State needs plenty of linebackers to run defensive coordinator Tony White’s 3-3-5 scheme. That’s why, despite bringing back Blake Nichelson, Omar Graham Jr., and Caleb LaVallee from last year’s team, Norvell and general manager John Garrett added Chris Jones Jr. and Mikai Gbayor from the transfer portal as off-ball linebackers and Rylan Kennedy as a JACK linebacker, which is more of an edge player in White’s scheme.
Now, Williams has forced his way into that mix. Both he and Gbayor, a UNC transfer who entered fall camp recovering from an injury, are expected to get back onto the field as full participants in the next week or so. That will increase the intensity and scrutiny on the battle for snaps at the second level of White’s defense.
Last season as a Tar Heel, Gbayor recorded 39 total tackles in 252 defensive snaps. He played all 12 games for Bill Belichick, operating primarily as an off-ball linebacker. Though Nichelson played 420 snaps for the Seminoles and recorded 43 tackles in 2025, the expectation was that Norvell and Garrett brought Gbayor in to start next to Jones, who was a tackling machine at Southern Miss.
However, with Gbayor out, Nichelson, Graham, LaVallee, and Williams have all gotten increased opportunities in fall camp. At least anecdotally, judging from Norvell’s comments, Williams has popped the most among that group. It’s still a question, though, of whether White and Norvell would trust a true freshman linebacker who hasn’t played a meaningful snap since his junior year of high school.
If they were going to, he probably needed a full, uninterrupted fall camp to get up to speed on the mental side of the game. Then again, if Gbayor is his primary competitor, the fifth-year is also playing in a new defense and has missed even more time this month.
It’s unclear what all this will mean. There are still a few weeks to sort it out and maybe even a regular-season matchup against New Mexico State in Week 0 before a final determination must be made. But for those hoping Williams would burst onto the scene and grab the job, this absence has put a dent in his chances.
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