At the midpoint of Florida State’s spring practices, a new-look offensive line has taken shape and held up to the competition against the defensive front.

“They've got the size, the athletic ability,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said. “To see, in pass pro, we've got a couple dynamic movers on the defensive side. When they're utilizing the technique and fundamentals, they can really do some good things.

“I see it in the run game, trying to get push. Going against our defense, a lot of variations. There's some times that you just got to really trust your technique and react to what you see.”

FSU turned to offensive line coach Herb Hand to again dig into the transfer portal and find linemen with experience who could work together and build a cohesive group. Norvell and Hand targeted a few with SEC experience (Xavier Chaplin and Bradyn Joiner) as well as Group of 6 standouts (Nate Pabst and Paul Bowling) to go with an under-the-radar FCS transfer (Chimdia Nwaiwu).

The five linemen have a combined 117 starts, with Pabst (38) and Chaplin (37) each having three seasons of starting experience. While Pabst and Bowling didn’t play in a Power 4 conference, both have faced high-level defenses in non-conference games.

“We have a lot of new faces but a lot of them are guys that have played a lot, too,” said Pabst, who was a second-team All-MAC lineman in 2025. “I think we all come together and share what we know, share what we've learned throughout the years and apply that to what we've been doing on the field. And apply that to our install, our offense and what we're seeing from the defense.

“I think it's good to get all of those different viewpoints from football all together in one room, and we can all talk about it and learn from it.”

Those shared experiences could make each a better person and lineman. It’s easy to see that these five are in the mix for starting jobs along with returning linemen in center Chavez Thompson and guard Andre’ Otto. While there has been a healthy amount of cross training, Norvell noted that Thompson has settled in at center and Otto mostly at guard.

But many of the veterans have started at multiple spots. That includes Joiner (center and guard), Bowling (center and guard) and Pabst (guard and tackle). How the pieces fit just yet isn’t as much of a concern in the spring for Norvell and Hand.

“Probably the best quality of that group is they're all pretty smart,” Norvell said. “… When you see guys that have done that and have a high level of intelligence, they can carry that over pretty well.”

Freshmen who’ve stood out

With 24 freshmen among the 50 new faces this spring, the coaching staff has been able to take a long look at the early enrollees and see how quickly they have learned the offensive and defensive schemes. One name that has popped up repeatedly is Devin Carter, while Jasen Lopez’s name has also come up frequently since basketball season ended and he turned the focus to football.

“From what you see, in a short period of time, they definitely belong in what we're asking them to do, what that looks like,” Norvell said.

While practices have been closed this spring, a few media members who stuck around for the full FSU Pro Day got an early look at Lopez. Quarterback Tommy Castellanos threw passes to Squirrel White, Markeston Douglas, Roydell Williams and Caziah Holmes. But Lopez was also invited to run routes and showed he’s a smooth runner with consistent hands.

“That's a guy that the first week he wasn't here,” Norvell said. “And the second week he was acclimating (from basketball), so he was in just a helmet. He wasn't getting all the team reps. His first padded practice was the scrimmage. Today was the second. ... He's made his mistakes but you don't feel the pullback. He's just out there, playing football, getting better. He's working back at punt returner, doing different things.”

Coming up

FSU will have Wednesday off before returning to the practice field on Thursday. The Seminoles will hold a second scrimmage on Saturday morning to wrap up week 3.

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