Mike Norvell is back in charge of the offense at FSU and while he and the now-retired Gus Malzahn shared a lot of philosophies on scheme and offensive style, their preferred style of personnel at quarterback is different.
And that could open the door for a fascinating competition during the between transfer portal acquisition Ashton Daniels and in-house recruit Kevin Sperry. Plus, where might junior college signee Malachi Marshall fit in.
Mike Norvell's return should allow for an open QB battle
We know what Gus Malzahn wants out of the quarterback position. He had amazing success with Cam Newton while he was an OC at Auburn in 2010 and has tried to re-create that ever since. Gus likes an athletic quarterback that can be an integral part of the running game, and he's leaned heavily into that over the past decade with KJ Jefferson, John Rhys Plumlee and Tommy Castellanos, among others. Ashton Daniels fit that mold — solid threat as a runner, mediocre-at-best passer and perfectly fine for Malzahn's rather remedial passing scheme.
But Norvell's quarterbacks have been completely different. He had more statuesque drop-back passers at Memphis like Riley Ferguson and Brady White. Norvell recruited Tate Rodemaker, who probably moves slower than I do, and brought in McKenzie Milton, who almost lost one of his legs. Nearly all the QBs that Norvell had recruited (Luke Kromenhoek, Brock Glenn, AJ Duffy, Chubby Purdy) were guys that had functional athleticism, but weren't going to win any track races.
Finding the right piece of the puzzle
Norvell has had the most success with Jordan Travis, but he started James Blackman, Rodemaker, Milton and Purdy before Travis nailed down the job midway through the 2021 season. He wants a QB that can throw a little bit because he's already got running backs that can handle the running. Most of Travis' memorable runs came on scrambles when the play went off schedule.
Daniels is not a good passer, and he's going to have to show Norvell he can improve in that area this spring because running a QB counter 20 times a game likely won't be in the game plan. Kevin Sperry isn't very impressive physically, and I wonder if he's what we would consider an FSU-caliber player, but he does fit more of what Norvell wants from a quarterback.
And then there's Marshall. He appears to be more twitchy and dynamic as a dual-threat than either Daniels or Sperry, but he's never played at this level and won't arrive until the summer. If Daniels or Sperry can't separate themselves before then, the competition could continue until the Week Zero opener against New Mexico State.