Mike Norvell explains how AJ Duffy's response to 'rocky' start exemplifies QB progress

Florida State head coach Mike Norvell wasn’t impressed with true freshman quarterback AJ Duffy‘s performance during a fall camp scrimmage, though Duffy won him over by the end of the practice. While he’s yet to play a down for the Seminoles as of now, Norvell is excited for what he can become.

“I’d say the first couple of plays were not the best. He had an early pick, a decision that you’d like him to probably continue on with a progression, but what I loved about today – and it is one of those things that we challenged him – he’s had so much growth throughout spring ball and fall camp, even though he didn’t start well today, he responded,” Norvell said. “He was able to make a couple of big throws. He hit the deep pass to Deuce [Spann]. I mean, you couldn’t have placed the ball any better than what he did down the field. You saw him kind of calm down as the scrimmage went on.”

Duffy comes to Florida State as a four-star recruit, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He comes to Tallahassee as 11th rated quarterback in the 2022 class and the 24th overall player out of the state of Florida. He chose the Seminoles over Michigan State and Miami, among others. 

Duffy has been extremely coachable since arriving on campus, and Norvell is excited to see what the four-star product will make of himself during his tenure as a Seminole.

“He’s the first to know the things that he has to improve on and the things that he’s got to do to be able to transition from what was a rocky start, to what ended up being, I think, a very productive scrimmage for him. It was good to see,” Norvell said.

Elsewhere in the quarterback room, the Seminoles return Jordan Travis, who led the team in passing last season. In addition to Duffy and Travis, Florida State also has redshirt sophomores Gino English and Tate Rodemaker in the quarterback room.

Travis likely has the inside track to become Florida State’s starter again next season. But if Duffy continues to impress Norvell, he could play a role in Florida State’s quarterback room.