CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Ashton Daniels has been in quarterback competitions. He won one at Stanford. He lost one at Auburn, only to get a chance later in 2025. He’s learned from them.
And learned to be confident in himself. That helped prepare him for his opportunity this spring at Florida State, and he was rewarded with coach Mike Norvell’s late but low-key decision: A QB1 graphic that was put out on social media in late April.
“When coach released that, it made me emotional,” Daniels said. “That’s something that I’ve been working my whole life for. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. But it’s all God’s plan. His plan was for me to be here and to lead Florida State and just be a part of this program. Being the starting quarterback here is just such an honor. It’s something that I’ll never take for granted.”
Daniels arrived at FSU as an embattled quarterback after struggles at Stanford and Auburn. He battled Kevin Sperry throughout the spring and Norvell held his last press conference on April 15 without announcing a starting quarterback. At the time, it was viewed as a curiosity that neither Daniels nor Sperry had separated from the other and was a definitive No. 1 option — especially in the first year where the spring transfer portal had been eliminated.
He arrived via the transfer portal with baggage. He’s a quarterback with nearly 5,000 passing yards yet you won’t find him among the top transfers in the ACC, let alone college football.
Daniels led the ACC with 12 interceptions in his 11 games at Stanford in 2024. But he was far more effective in four games at Auburn, where he nearly pulled off an upset at ranked Vanderbilt and delivered some moments in a loss to CFP-bound Alabama.
“As we talk about experiences, Ashton has a great deal of experience throughout his college career,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said. “He's been put in a lot of different situations that he's had to work through. You see somebody that's just continued to grow.”
When asked on Wednesday at ACC Kickoff where he has made improvements this offseason, fans would like to hear Daniels say valuing the football and reducing turnovers. Or improving on his accuracy (60.2 in his career on 721 passes).
But for Daniels, it’s internal.
“Just my confidence. When I’m confident and when I’m in a flow state, I think I can go out there and do whatever I need to help this team win,” Daniels said. “And I think that at times the past couple of years I’ve lost confidence. Whether that be a situation, whether that be a game, whether that be a stretch of games, I’ve lost confidence in some things. The last four games at Auburn last year helped me build that up.”
Daniels has built the confidence through time on the practice field and in the film room with teammates. He also discussed the features in the football operations building that offer “anything you need to take care of your body,” from cold tubs to steam rooms. There are also the learning opportunities like the virtual reality room and walk through room.
It no doubt helps that Daniels has a wide receiver group loaded with talent, including 1,000-yard receiver Duce Robinson and deep threat Micahi Danzy. While developing chemistry in the offseason is a critical starting point, Robinson has seen who Daniels is as a football player and person.
“He is everything you would want a quarterback to be in my opinion,” Robinson said. “He’s a guy that makes plays on the field. He’s a dual threat guy. He has an incredible arm, as fast as anyone on the team. He can run. But then the way he carries himself, the way he presents himself. He is a professional in every sense of the word.
“He cares about the logo on his chest. He cares about Florida State. He cares about the guys surrounding him. He wants each and every one of us to be the best versions of ourselves.”
Ashton Daniels and Duce Robinson
Daniels reminded that his transfer was later in 2025, so he missed Auburn’s spring practices. This spring at FSU was completely different, even if he was among the 50 new players.
“Trying to build that chemistry, trying to mesh because I think that’s really what it’s going to come down to when things get hard this season,” Daniels said. “We have all of the talent in the world but if we can’t play together, if we don’t have that chemistry, things aren’t going to go good. But we do have that chemistry right now and we’re building it every single day.”
Daniels went as far as saying the chemistry is “like no other team I’ve been on.” That’s something when you consider Daniels won state titles at Buford (Ga.) High and then competed at Stanford and in the SEC last year with Auburn.
“You got guys on your team that will die for their brothers,” Daniels said. “I think that's so important.”
Norvell puts an emphasis on the person as much or more than the athlete. He did his homework on Daniels, including putting in calls to the staffs at Stanford and Auburn.
“As I did my research, getting to know him, the coaches I worked with, the people around him, so many incredible qualities of the young man, the talent, the ability,” Norvell said. “When he joined the program in January, the words then become secondary because you see it in his actions, just the passion that he has for who he gets to work with. He's not somebody that comes in having to wave the towel and give a speech. But when he talks, people listen just because of all the things they see from him.”
Daniels participated in the ACC Kickoff interviews in 2024 when he was at Stanford. So he knew what was coming on Wednesday. But the spotlight is different between the media covering Stanford and the attention FSU receives from local and national media.
There were the obvious questions about the criticism of Daniels’ deficiencies. He’s seen the tweets and posts on Instagram. Daniels has turned it into a positive.
“I think what really separates people is who is able to block that out and then turn it and use it as fuel,” Daniels said. “And I think that we’ve done a great job of using that as fuel. We know that people are overlooking us. We know that we’re being counted out right now. That just drives us every single day. We know how good we are and we know how good we can be.”
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