CHARLOTTE – Florida State is "desperate," but that doesn't mean what you think for the program.
For the players, it's become a buzzword – a description they took turns repeating at the ACC Kickoff on Wednesday. It's become an everyday message from coach Mike Norvell – who watched Florida State bottom out with a 2-10 season in 2024 one year after Florida State won the ACC with a 13-1 record. It is one of the wildest swings ever.
"Desperate to win, desperate to eat, just desperate to succeed, that's all he harps on," Seminoles cornerback Earl Little Jr. said. "We hit on that every day. You come here to be desperate and to succeed."
So, in a sense, desperation can be an attribute. What is the shelf-life on that?
This season. The Seminoles have two new coordinators, a transfer quarterback and a tell-all opener against Alabama on Aug. 30. How desperate should Norvell be after agreeing to a restructured contract in January?
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Mike Norvell fired up at ACC Kickoff
Loud. Norvell's voice drilled through the microphone at the podium, and his cadence never slowed down. He waved his hands sporadically and spoke at a words-per-minute rate not seen in Tallahassee since Jimbo Fisher. It reached a peak at one point.
"I want them to be pissed off to go be their best every single day," Norvell said. "It's not about last year. It's not about anything that they've done up to this point in their career. It's about this season – with each day and every step that's in front of us."
Tommy Castellanos – a transfer quarterback from Boston College – smiled. Were the Florida State players surprised with this?
"It's an everyday thing," Castellanos said. “With Coach Norvell, what you see on that podium, that's him every single day. His energy and his intensity and what he says is not all talk."
Locker-room speeches make less impact on reporters, but Norvell was more subdued and calculated in his breakout interview a few minutes later.
"We have to be better in every part of who we are and these are the steps we're taking to get there," Norvell said.
Norvell was less focused on an autopsy of last year's 2-10 disaster – which started with a 24-21 loss to Georgia Tech in the opener in Dublin, Ireland, and never stopped in what amounted to a season-long hangover after the infamous playoff snub.
Too much transfer portal usage? Not able to fill a gap left by 10 NFL Draft picks in 2024? Is this just part of the deal now in college football, and Florida State is not immune?
"You've seen more swings in this with all the different elements that can spark changes to teams, to rosters, to all the things that are there. It still is not the year," Norvell said. "It's a year-to-year focus on each team, and the things they can accomplish. You saw great examples of that."
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Castellanos made headlines for a back-and-forth with Alabama receiver Isaiah Horton during a workout on July 16 and later in an interview with On3.com.
"I dreamed of moments like this," Castellanos said. "I dreamed of playing against Alabama. They don't have Nick Saban to save them. I just don't see them stopping me."
Castellanos did not exactly walk back that classic bulletin-board material. The Boston College transfer has something to prove, too, after losing the job to Grayson James last season. Yet there are flashes of brilliance – which he showed with 2,2,248 passing yards and 1,113 rushing yards the previous season – that suggest he fits as the next dual-threat quarterback under Gus Malzahn. That offensive theory has been proven in the past.
"In his successful years he's always had a dual-threat guy who has been able to do both at a high level," Castellanos. "With me in that offense, it goes as far as I go as far as we go. Run that fast-paced offense to my caliber (of play). I think it's going to be more comfortable for me and more real."
So, what did Castellanos say about Alabama with a chance for clarification? It was not intended as disrespect, but he stands on what he said. Norvell even shook his head in confirmation. Castellanos said former and current Florida State players were texting him afterward. What did they have to say?
"This is the old Florida State," Castellanos said. “This is how grimy and tough we were. We wasn't scared of nobody. We were already talking smack and always putting fear in people's hearts. I just want to re-install what Florida State used to be and bring that standing and confidence and making people fear us."
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Which Florida school do people fear now? Miami won 10 games last season. Florida hasn’t won 10 games since 2019. In the College Football Playoff era, Florida State, Florida and Miami combined for one appearance – and that was the Seminoles in 2014. Mario Cristobal, Billy Napier and Norvell take turns on the hot seat, and we all know whose turn it is.
There seems to be no fear in this try-all year for the Seminoles to change that, which also includes the addition of defensive coordinator Tony White, who spent the last two seasons at Nebraska. Florida State installed a 3-3-5 defense, and defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr. – a 6-foot-5, 337-pound defensive lineman and potential first-round pick – is excited to show the results.
"I play in the scheme," Jackson said. "It (will) cause us to be disruptive. Make plays, show our versatility and just be us."
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It hinges on the offense, which ranked 131st in the FBS with 15.4 points per game last season. Norvell is trying to avoid the hot seat. Malzahn – who coached at UCF last season – has another chance to be an offensive coordinator for the first time since a stint with Auburn from 2009-11 – one that produced a national championship with Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton in 2010.
Norvell said Malzahn has been instrumental in installing the changes on the field.
"With Coach Malzahn being a coach as long as he has, he understands that perspective. He understands the needs on both sides and what is necessary," Norvell said. "Two very unique approaches in what we do schematically, and how we do it."
Then there is Castellanos, the quarterback who was born in Little Haiti in Miami and now returns closer to home. White leading a new-look defense. All this makes Florida State one of the most difficult teams to read in the ACC.
"We're all desperate," Castellanos said. "Like Coach said, we didn't have success. We've had some things that happened in our past and our careers, and this is the only shot we got. Everything is going to be put into this season."
So, what was behind the animation overload on the podium? Norvell is not an act. That is who he is. Now, the task is to get Florida State back to who they should be. We’re about to find out how "desperate" translates.
"It's exciting to me," Norvell said. "And I'm not afraid to show my excitement and share my passion and let them know, words can be said, but it's the action that truly holds the most importance."