Florida State football is looking to erase the memory of a disastrous 2024 season — one that began with championship hopes and ended in a 2–10 collapse.
After going 13–1 the year prior and controversially being left out of the College Football Playoff, the Seminoles hit rock bottom. Head coach Mike Norvell is now under pressure to deliver a turnaround that could very well determine the future of his tenure in Tallahassee.
To help reset the program, Norvell made sweeping offseason changes. He brought in former Auburn and UCF head coach Gus Malzahn to lead the offense and turned to the transfer portal to find his new quarterback: Boston College transfer Thomas Castellanos. The move marked a full offensive reboot after Florida State finished 130th in scoring offense last year, averaging just 15.4 points per game.
Castellanos isn’t lacking confidence. With Alabama set to visit Doak Campbell Stadium for the Seminoles’ season opener, the new signal-caller is already setting the tone.
“They don’t have Nick Saban to save them,” Castellanos told On3’s Pete Nakos. “I just don’t see them stopping me.”
It’s a bold statement from a quarterback whose last season came on a 6–6 Boston College team — but that bravado might be exactly what Florida State needs. Kalen DeBoer enters his second year as Alabama’s head coach after a 9–4 debut that fell well short of the program’s standard.
Castellanos isn’t just playing with swagger — he’s playing with purpose.
“I’m not just playing for Florida State. I’m playing for coaches who are fathers and who have homes and families here,” Castellanos said. “I’m trying to save jobs and win.”
The stakes are high for both him and Norvell. The quarterback is expected to start Week 1 despite being ranked just 23rd in the transfer portal by 247Sports. Norvell, however, is backing him fully.
“Our expectations are for him to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country,” Norvell told Warchant.
Florida State’s win total is set at 7.5, per FanDuel, but experts like CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson suggest the Seminoles could struggle to reach even that mark given their difficult schedule. The pressure on Castellanos is real — and now, thanks to his own words, so is the spotlight.