Florida State’s Mike Norvell, like most every other coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference and across college football, has spent the spring dealing with changes.
He hopes it can lead to another league title and a spot in the College Football Playoff this fall as the bracket for the national championship event expands from four teams to 12.
“All in all, it’s just been a really good spring that we’ve been able to put together,” Norvell said after the team’s showcase last weekend at Doak Campbell Stadium.
The biggest new addition for the Seminoles is at quarterback as D.J. Uiagalelei takes over for Jordan Travis, who finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting last year in his fifth and final college season. Travis was unable to finish the season after a serious leg injury during a nonconference game in mid-November, but he helped propel Florida State toward its first ACC title in nine years.
The Seminoles beat Louisville 16-6 in the league title game in early December to improve to 13-0, but they were left out of the last four-team edition of the CFP, which debuted in the 2014 season. Instead, Big Ten champion Michigan and Pac-12 title winner Washington — both undefeated at the time — were joined by two one-loss conference champs, with Texas (Big 12) and Alabama (Southeastern Conference) getting the invitations over the Seminoles.
Florida State, with its roster seriously depleted by injuries and opt-outs, then lost 63-3 to SEC runner-up Georgia in the Orange Bowl.
Now the Seminoles, who were part of the first CFP field a decade ago but haven’t made it since, have added a former conference rival behind center — and one who had a small taste of the playoff experience with Clemson. Uiagalelei, who played for Oregon State last season, was a freshman backing up future No. 1 NFL draft pick Trevor Lawrence in 2020, when the Tigers made their sixth and most recent CFP trip.
Uiagalelei, who twice defeated Florida State as Clemson’s starter in the 2021-22 seasons, said he joined the Seminoles because expectations are high in Tallahassee after last season’s success.
“That’s what you want,” Uiagalelei said. “You want to be able to be able to be able to play at a place where the expectations are high and it’s ACC championship, national championship or bust.”
AP photo by Josie Lepe / Former Clemson and Oregon State quarterback DJ Uiagalelei transferred to Florida State after last season and went through spring practices with the Seminoles.Florida State won its first two national championships under Bobby Bowden for the 1993 and 1999 seasons, with the program’s third coming under Jimbo Fisher in 2013. The Seminoles went from college football independent to ACC member in 1992 and won the league title their first nine seasons in the conference. They also won the first ACC title game in 2005 and — after losing the matchup in 2008 and 2010 — were league champs three years in a row from 2012-14, but last year marked their first appearance in the game since then.
Norvell, who had a highly successful four-year run at Memphis before taking over at Florida State in 2020, enters his fifth season with the Seminoles trying to follow up a season that led to ACC and national coach of the year recognition.
Uiagalelei helped Oregon State go 8-4, passing for 2,638 yards with 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions while adding six rushing scores. Norvell said Uiagalelei made strides during spring practices.
“I really love coaching the young man,” Norvell said. “The talent, the ability, the playmaking skills that he has, the willingness to learn, work, what he’s pouring into his teammates … He’s had a very good spring.”
The Seminoles aren’t the only ACC program navigating change this offseason. Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Wake Forest will all have quarterbacks getting their first extensive action with their current teams, while three league members had new head coaches this spring in Boston College’s Bill O’Brien, Duke’s Manny Diaz and Syracuse’s Fran Brown.
And the ACC’s ranks will grow from 14 football programs to 17 by summer’s end, with SMU of the American Athletic Conference joining officially on July 1 and California and Stanford of the Pac-12 doing so on Aug. 2. It will mean additional travel for college football coaches, who don’t generally like change but are having to learn to deal with plenty of it these days.