13 days: FSU uses transfers to strengthen lineup
When not threatening to leave the ACC, FSU has taken advantage of transfers to restock its football team.
Of the team’s 22 starters, a projected 16 will be students who transferred into coach Mike Norvell’s program. What that says about the program’s past and current recruiting is to be determined.
That group of transfers includes All-ACC defensive end Jared Verse (Albany), cornerback Fentrell Cypress II (Virginia), tight end Jaheim Bell (South Carolina), wide receiver Keon Coleman (Michigan State) and defensive lineman Braden Fiske (Western Michigan).
The Seminoles will kick off their season against LSU in Orlando, Florida, on Sept. 3. The Tigers are favored by less than a field goal.
FSU just completed a three-day camp away from campus in Jacksonville, Florida. Remember, the Seminoles leaders are the ones who are saying the team isn’t getting enough revenue, but chooses to spend what it has on off-site programs that include every player on the team, coaching staff and support staff.
Anyway, Norvell said it’s to help his team accomplish things later in the season.
“Everybody in the country right now is talking about wanting to achieve great things,” he said. “You got to work for great things. … This team has trained and this team cares about each other. We’ve got great players, we’ve got a wonderful staff, but they believe in each other and they’ve built trust.”
Behind the scenes, Norvell has navigated the changing landscape of college football as well as anyone. Simply put, he crushed the transfer portal — 16 of the team’s 22 projected starters for this season came from other schools.
Making the group even more special: most of them returned to school in hopes of winning it all. They enter this season with a six-game win streak, the fifth longest in Division I, but currently are underdogs against the Tigers in at least one sportsbook.
“We just knew we had unfinished business,” Travis said. “We all came back. We have goals and expectations for this football team.”
