Spear Review (Jan.15th): A big week for the Noles!

It’s been a busy week in Tallahassee filled with a little nervousness and a lot of excitement. In this week’s Spear review, we’ll look back at the biggest headlines around FSU football from the week that was.

Mike Norvell agrees to extension with FSU

Perhaps the biggest news from last week was Florida State locking up head coach Mike Norvell with a long-term extension. After the retirement of legendary Alabama head coach Nick Saban, rumors were swirling that Mike Norvell was high on the list of replacements.

Once Oregon HC Dan Lanning turned down the position, Nole fans everywhere began to sweat the fate of our beloved head coach. However, AD Michael Alford and the administration at FSU got a deal done to keep Norvell in Tallahassee for the foreseeable future. The extension is for 8 years at more than 10 million per year making him one of the highest-paid coaches in the game. The agreement also comes with further commitments from the university to the football program for recruiting budgets, etc. The full details of the contract extension have not been released yet.

Mike Norvell, who signed a previous extension last season had the following to say.

“We came to Tallahassee four years ago, and it was a life-changing experience. Knowing the great history, tradition and expectations has guided our staff on a daily basis. It has been an incredible journey these last four years, and I have fallen in love with this program, the university, and the people who I get to represent. I am so excited to continue our climb to push Florida State back to the top of college football.”

“We are committed to being our best on and off the field while helping develop our players to be their best in every area of their lives. I am incredibly thankful for the amazing commitment to our student-athletes and staff from President McCullough, AD Alford, and the Board of Trustees. #KeepCLIMBing and Go Noles!”

After inheriting a mess during the COVID year in 2020, Mike Norvell has rebuilt the program into the powerhouse we all expect FSU to be going 23-3 over the past two seasons and winning FSU’s first ACC title since 2014.

Although technically he never indicated that he would leave, this was a huge statement for FSU to show they are here to compete at the highest level. Fending off one of the premier programs in the country for their head coach was a big move. We couldn’t be more excited about Coach Norvell remaining at the helm as FSU looks to keep the success rolling into the future. 

The Battles End signs a host of Noles for 2024

One of the biggest areas that The Battles End (FSU football’s primary NIL collective) has made an impact is with player retention. The collective has been hard at work for 2024 announcing deals with 26 Seminoles at the time of publishing this article.

Those players include Lawrance Toafili, Shyheim Brown, Destyn Hill, Patrick Payton, Darius Washington, Maurice Smith, Robert Scott Jr., Keiondre Jones, Byron Turner Jr, Ryan Fitzgerald, Alex Mastromanno, Caziah Holmes, Darion Williamson, Jeremiah Byers, Kentron Poitier, Azareye Thomas, Omar Graham Jr., KJ Sampson, Quindarrius Jones, Ja’Bril Rawls, Fentrell Cypress, Marvin Jones Jr., Daniel Lyons, Charles Lester III, Landen Thomas, and Vandrevius Jacobs.

We can’t thank TBE enough for their hard work in talent retention and acquisition.

Big-time portal moves

Portal season may have gotten off to a slower start than most FSU fans anticipated, but the portal king is back and there has been a flurry of commitments in the past week. FSU is up to fourteen commits so far, and they have landed a lot of talented players. Twelve of the transfers are from Power 5 programs and ten are considered Blue-Chip players. In case you missed any, here’s a rundown of the Seminole’s third-ranked 2024 portal class as of January 15th.

For a more in-depth look at the 2024 transfer portal class, check out our latest podcast episode below, where we break down the entire class. 

Those are the need-to-know headlines around FSU football this week. Stay tuned for more updates as they become available. Thanks for reading and Go Noles!

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