Charlotte, N.C. – A lot has changed around the Florida State football program since its last trip to ACC Kickoff last July.
This time last year, the Seminoles were coming off a 13-1 season and their first ACC Championship since 2015. They were picked to repeat as ACC Champs. Instead, they finished dead last in the ACC, plummeting back down to Earth in brutal fashion.
Twelve months later, FSU returns to Charlotte this week with its tail between its legs.
Here are a few FSU storylines to follow this week in Charlotte as the event begins Tuesday and FSU takes the stage on Wednesday.
Answering for 2-10
FSU head coach Mike Norvell has to be completely over talking about FSU’s 2024 season.
Much of his offseason has been spent examining and discussing at length with local and national media members all that went wrong, which led to such a disastrous program collapse after he did such an impressive job rebuilding the Seminoles.
And yet, it’s likely he’ll field many of the same questions on Wednesday. People who haven’t had the chance to talk to the FSU head coach yet will surely have questions galore for him in Charlotte about all that went wrong and led to this offseason of sweeping change.
What insights does he share about the changes he made to his staff and his roster and culture-building approach? Will he be willing to go there and talk about such things at length or will he instead point forward and make it clear he wants to focus on his 2025 team?
It will make for a fascinating day of interviews with the head coach.
Castellanos gets the spotlight
New FSU quarterback Tommy Castellanos hasn’t shied away from the spotlight in his first offseason with the Seminoles.
The Boston College transfer was the talk of college football in June when he made some bold claims about FSU’s season-opening matchup vs. Alabama in an interview with On3 Sports.
“I’m excited, man,” Castellanos said to On3. “People, I don’t know if they know, but you go back and watch every first game that I played in, we always start fast. I dreamed of moments like this. I dreamed of playing against Alabama. They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.”
Castellanos has since explained his comments a bit in a YouTube video taken at a football event, explaining that if you watch his interviews, that’s not normally how he talks and his words were to try and build confidence in his teammates coming off FSU’s 2-10 2024 season.
Still, Castellanos will have to answer for his comments on Wednesday, either expressing more confidence in his team or maybe walking back his bold words with a more nuanced answer about his confidence in how much FSU can improve this season.
Alabama already had its initial chance to rebuke Castellanos’ comments last week at SEC Media Days. Alabama defensive lineman Tim Keenan III, asked about his comments, said “disrespect will be addressed.”
Now, Castellanos and his FSU teammates will have their turn to talk about the much anticipated season opener on Aug. 30 this week in Charlotte.
Other FSU player representative choices
ACC Kickoff seems to have again raised its number of requested player representatives for each team this year from three, as it was the past four years, to four per team this year.
On a team with so much uncertainty, that made for some interesting choices of which Seminoles would join Castellanos in Charlotte to represent the team.
Defensive tackle Darrell Jackson Jr. was an obvious second choice. He’s back in 2025 after starting all 12 games last fall, announcing his return after originally saying he would declare for the NFL Draft. He’s expected to be a major part of the defensive line, and new DL coach Terrance Knighton has said that he believes Jackson could be the first defensive tackle off the board in the 2026 NFL Draft.
The other two choices, though, were probably much tougher. FSU had a number of first-year transfers that are expected to play significant roles, which they could have brought, such as USC receiver transfer Duce Robinson or Nebraska DL transfer James Williams.
Instead, FSU is bringing a pair of veteran, second-year transfers in defensive back Earl Little Jr. and offensive lineman Richie Leonard IV. Neither played especially significant roles in 2024. Leonard played in four games before suffering a season-ending injury, while Little struggled some at nickel cornerback before having more success at safety after a midseason position change.
That makes these two choices quite interesting. Are these players who have been natural leaders within the program this offseason? Are they expected to play critical roles in 2025?
If the answer to both those questions is yes, it explains why these two somewhat unlikely representatives were chosen.
Where is FSU picked to finish in the ACC?
It’s safe to say FSU won’t be picked to finish first in the ACC this year like it was in 2024. But it’s equally unlikely that FSU will be picked to finish last in the ACC, where it finished last season.
The reality of FSU’s 2025 season will likely be somewhere in the middle. So will the projection of where ACC media members believe the Seminoles will land in the ACC standings.
It feels like a big mystery exactly where FSU will finish in the projected ACC order of finish in 2025. The Seminoles certainly look to be more talented than just about all of the mid to bottom-tier ACC teams, but the same could be said last season and it didn’t play out that way on the field whatsoever.
Personally, I’m not sure I can argue with any ranking of FSU in the ACC, unless you have them in the top three or bottom three.
Thanks for reading the Osceola. Subscribe here The Osceola will be in Charlotte this week, providing in-person coverage on Tuesday of ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips’ address and of FSU’s day at ACC Kickoff on Wednesday.
