Culture
There were red flags about a few upperclassmen on the team before the 2024 season. Players you'd think would be leaders after what they'd been through and who they played with in the 2022-23 seasons.
The 2024 team was not player-led, and the erosion in culture from the two previous years was evident.
The fear was that cancer, for lack of a better term, would infiltrate the young guys on the team or influence them to leave.
As mentioned, the implication from some subscription sites was several young guys may enter the transfer portal. What's interesting is Mike Norvell had a strong message for those players when the media asked him about it.
I wrote late in the season that players who stayed or left would tell us a lot about the program.
The only young player who's left was Luke Kromenhoek, and based on why he left and where he went, it's likely addition by subtraction.
So far, FSU has kept every other talented guy from the 2023-24 recruiting classes I said they'd need to keep.
The winter transfer portal closes in a couple of days, and I think they would have already entered if that were the plan. They could enter after spring camp, but if that happens, that tells me they likely don't have a future with the program for whatever reason. Maybe they don't fit the scheme of the new coaches, or not a fan of how they do things.
Either way, the guys not entering the portal after a 2-10 season say they still believe in the vision Mike Norvell's selling.