FSU in EA Sports College Football 25 in case you missed it 247 Sports got exclusive Early Access to EA Sports college football and our experts played the game and have all the hints so if you haven't cracked it open yet head over to 247sports.com for more on how to play with FSU now the real life seals Recapping 2023 Season still trying to recover from the catastrophe of going undefeated in 2023 yet being snubbed out of the final four in the college football playoff the nolles went 13-0 including three wins against ranked teams and an ACC championship title against Louisville so with that we bring in our FSU ex Brendan sonone Brendan I don't know about you but all the FSU fans in my life have not gotten over the snub from last season so how is the team moving on from that drama yes same here I just got a text from a buddy a little while ago who said he watched all the 2023 condensed games today which is an interesting practice to do on a July afternoon and uh and it still hurt for him so yes uh it's still a thing around Florida State around Tallahassee uh imagine that'll kind of linger for quite some time now in regards to uh the football program it's interesting it's this Balancing Act a dynamic that's gonna be kind of fascinating to follow because Mike norell whole like tenor of his program is built on being genuine and real and authentic that's part of his pitching uh his sales pitches to recruits when he calls someone a real one like that's the highest compliment he can give a player and when the snub happened like he was pretty he was pretty clear that that is a thing that can stick with players for a while that it was okay to be angry with it because that's a real response to be disappointed to be you know genuinely hurt by what happened in the opportunity that you did not have that you felt like you had earned but that being said you have to move forward as well you can't dwell on it and that's the balancing act that Mike noal and Florida State program kind of have to strike this season you had ACC media days Josh fer said he was angry still at what had happened Darius Washington said though it wasn't about proving people wrong it was about proving themselves right and validating what they knew they they did last year FSU returns about 70 to 75 players from last year's team yes they lose Jordan Travis they lose Jared verse they lot of a lot of like focal main pieces of that team but the guys on that roster don't forget what happened just can't dwell on it I think Grace what'll help FSU is they have a nice influx of incoming talent in the transfer portal about 10 or so players will be starters or or major contributors for them from the portal and guys like djong gal Malik Benson royell Williams all coming from pretty good programs that had success last season and kind of bring in some you know a little bit of a a fresh perspective if you will to kind of help you move things along a little bit okay so sounds like a healthy processing is going on uh looking at the Expectations for QB DJ Uiagalelei field though biggest position they have to replace is Jordan Travis and the coaching staff looked at other quarterbacks but there's a reason why they went with dju in the transfer portal so what do they expect to get out of him in his Fifth Season the thing I find interesting about DJ wangal is like the public perception of him nationally I think is really baked into the what he was expected to be as a number one overall recruit as a five-star Prospect when he went to Clemson and then what he did as a true freshman in the 2020 game against Notre Dame as a true freshman and then the drop off in 2021 where he was you put in as a starter behind or in place of Trevor Lawrence and it just didn't go well the 2022 season for him wasn't inefficient by any means was actually pretty solid at Clemson and he end up going to Oregon State and was really solid there last year too it was probably one of the top like 20 25 most efficient quarterbacks last year in a variety of metrics and and the film kind of matches that too so you have two really solid Seasons he doesn't really turn the ball over a ton I think you know what you're getting in DJ walai of your Florida state that was part of the appeal of of recruiting him when they started to look at the idea of going into the transfer portal for a quarterback to replace Jordan Travis really the only two names we ever heard for them were either cam Ward or djay Cam Ward wanted to kind of go through a process of seeing what happened with the NFL draft and FSU want to move along pretty quickly and have a quarterback in place for Spring ball and even during the the January recruiting cycle so with that mind like djay brings a lot of stability because of what he's done in two well three years as a startup the last two being pretty solid ones he's won at a pretty high level he's done well in two different very different types of schemes and that gives FSU a lot of confidence and what he'll be able to do in Tallahassee the main things he'll be able to do I think is push the ball down field he still has a giant arm he's able to get the ball downfield vertically FSU surrounded him with a lot of speed and he could run the ball effectively too uh this isn't some you know Fleet of foot you know lightning fast running quarterback but he's 250 pounds he's a bit of a tank how the source tell me when they first brought him in we won't ever really not convert on fourth and one if we want to go with the quarterback sneak and the stats kind of bear that out over his career so you have some elements to his game to build on you've support you've added a Supporting Cast to to kind of help supplement what he does well and I think FSU is optimistic about what he brings again the key word for me with DJ oay stability that's true on the other side FSU Defense of the ball this defense ranks top 20 last year in opponent scoring allow but that unit lost five players to the NFL Draft so how do they effectively replace some of that star power yeah not going to be easy you know Jared versus don't grow on trees hit and Bren FIS are now teammates for the Los Angeles Rams both were top 50 draft picks then you lose two starters in the secondary Bernardo green Jeran Jones who were second and third round picks I believe and then a handful of other starters and contributors as well all ACC linebacker kayin Delo tayden bethon was drafted like there's there's a lot to replace there not going to be easy it's goingon to be an interesting blend of some homegrown Talent right you have Josh farmer who I mentioned earlier at defensive tackle he was an all ACC caliber defensive tackle despite playing most of last year at least half of it with a hand injury that really limited him Pat Payton's getting all ACC Buzz at defensive end it's a really good group of defensive ends in the ACC this year so we'll see if he ends up being like a preseason all ACC guy but he's being considered as like a top 50 NFL draft pick going into this year so you have some really good pieces on the defensive line that you return DJ Lund's a very solid line backer Shaheen Brown was an allconference safety and then fentrell Cyprus and iser Thomas are really good cornerbacks they both put together pretty good Springs really solid uh preseason camp so far just two days in for Florida State and both those guys will probably be playing on Sunday so that's kind of your nucleus of what you bring back and then you have to supplement it again probably with the transfer portal fsu's done that as well as anyone in the country over the last few years Marvin Jones Jr is a defensive end transfer from Georgia his dad was a legacy at Florida State he was a former five-star recruit you they weren't entirely sure if he was going to be more of a situational guy when he first came in or if he could push to be a starter he was awesome in the spring so the expectations for him are really high and for him and Pat Payton to be a good one-two punch and then behind those two they have CA loha who was an all Pack 12 second team member so that's the kind of depth I think they they think they have uh Daryl Jackson was not able to play most of the last season due to an NCAA ruling on transfers which has since been changed that seems to happen a lot to Florida State and Daryl Jackson they think really highly of as just this massive 6 foot6 330 pound defensive tackle was actually high school teammates with Josh farmer so those two get to reunite maybe cause Havoc for the seminal so blend of transfer portals some new additions along with guys you've been developing and have kind of integrated into like more substantial roles over the last few years they're really confident what they have on defense this year despite of what they lost last season obviously the path to the playoff Odds To Win ACC, Make CFP a lot easier this year with the expanded 12 team field and despite the turnover on the roster Florida state is still the favorite to win the ACC but what do you think constitutes a successful season for Mike norell in 2024 I think Vegas has Florida State last I checked at nine and a half wins and that feels like right to me I don't know of this team you're going into last year I thought it was going to be probably a 10 11 win team they exceeded expectations in the regular season to win 12 games and then obviously the ACC Championship Game you knew so much of what you had uh Jordan Travis and and a lot of the other returning pieces it was a like commodity like proven commodity based uh offense and even the defense too was was had a lot of knowns and some guys ended up elevating and stepping up and ascending this year a lot more unknowns there's more variables to me makes me a little uneasy to say that this is going to be a a likely double digit win team but with that being said it's a really talented team it is they've assembled a really good group again through development and then transfer portal supplementation it's been really good for for FSU that formula and the Baseline of like high school talent they're recruiting is starting to get better as well so with all that being said like this is a group that FSU feels like is legitimately faster and bigger and stronger than it was last year only think that's coach speak like they have GPS testing and and whatnot to to back that up it's just a matter like is it as experienced is all going to be as cohesive as it was last year that's the variable Grace like I'm not entirely confident in saying uh that I I think you're definitely a double- digit win season but if you're able to push that range get to nine or 10 wins if you're able to beat Florida and beat Miami and Mike noral has done that at a really high level I think he's five and one in the last three seasons against the rivals uh both those coaches are kind of on the ropes a little bit like if you're able to do that and be in the conversation for a playoff spot with to me this kind of feels like a like a Reload slash rebuild kind of in between year um I think that'd be a really good step in showing that this is a very stable program that Mike no has built I would consider that excessive you can get to nine and 10 wins with with wins over Rivals okay an intriguing season ahead for the nolles and Brendan sonone with LIKE & SUBSCRIBE the latest from Tallahasse thanks so much for joining us for more of Brendan work Brendan's work and the rest of our nolles team check out noles247.com they got you covered with everything FSU football and recruiting that's noles247.com [Music] a [Music]