How good will the offense be with Thomas Castellanos as the quarterback is the one million dollar question for FSU fans. FSU had the worst offense in the county last year, but some fans are optimistic that Castellanos, coupled with Gus Malzahn, will be a perfect match.
Castellanos has been an interesting player the past two years. We saw him rush for over 1,100 yards but had little success passing, while throwing 14 interceptions in 2023.
Castellanos saw some improvement in the passing game, improving his accuracy and cutting down his interceptions. However, his rushing totals took a massive hit while playing for Bill O’Brien, who is notorious for his dislike of mobile quarterbacks.
What can we expect from Castellanos with Gus Malzahn? It’s fair to say Malzahn has a better understanding of how to maximize his strengths. Castellanos has familiarity with the offense since he played in the offense in his freshman season at UCF. However, what’s the floor if he doesn’t come close to maximizing his potential?
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I’m thinking we’ll see Castellanos attempt between 300-330 pass attempts. I think at the very least, he’ll complete 190 attempts for 7.5 yards per attempt. He’ll probably attempt around 24-26 passes per game on average for about 180 passing yards per game. I think we’ll see him rush 8-10 times per game on average for about 120 attempts and about 500 yards rushing for the season.
Keep in mind that these numbers put him performing near the floor(or a middle ground of what he did at Boston College the past two years).
Boston College averaged about 26 points per game on average over the past two seasons. That’s not great, but that’s still 11 points more than what FSU averaged last season.
If the FSU defense is improved, that still probably good enough to win 6-7 games this year. I expect Castellanos to play better than these baseline numbers with more talent around him and a better offensive coordinator.