Mike Norvell raves about buy-in from offensive players

After leading a remarkable run at Memphis that culminated in a 12-1 season in 2019, Mike Norvell headed to FSU. Things started a bit slowly, but the nine-win campaign he engineered in 2022 matched the win total from the entire Willie Taggart tenure — and showed the buy-in from offensive players that had Seminoles fans so excited about his hire in the first place.

But Norvell has deflected credit at just about every turn, and he was quick to heap it on offensive coordinator Alex Atkins this week.

“He’s done a great job and it’s impressive to see the buy-in and the growth and development of our players,” Norvell said. “They’ve done a wonderful job in that being a part of our DNA.”

Florida State’s success this season hasn’t been an accident.

The Seminoles have done a terrific job developing veteran quarterback Jordan Travis, who has keyed an offense that just seems to make timely play after timely play. Few plays exemplified that more than a key Travis run on third-and-10 in the middle of the second quarter against Florida, when he evaded three tacklers for would-be sacks and rushed down to the goal-line, setting up a tying score.

The belief is readily apparent, not just from Travis, but from the entire group.

“It goes more in just the offensive line, obviously that’s where it starts,” Norvell said. “The running backs, their mentality, the tight ends, receivers, everybody plays a part in that. Quarterback, whenever we carry different checks or there’s things like that in the game.”

Buy-in from offensive players has FSU flourishing

How good has FSU’s offense been?

The Seminoles are a top-20 outfit nationally in scoring offense, total offense, rushing offense and passing efficiency.

The scary part is the best results have come down the stretch, as the ‘Noles rode a five-game winning streak into the end of the regular season while averaging 43.6 points per game.

“I’m really proud of our guys and what they’ve done and the mindset they’ve brought to being able to establish in each of those games,” Norvell said. “And we’ve got to continue to build upon that.”

Three wins in Norvell’s first season. Five a year ago in his second. Nine and counting in his third.

That’s the kind of continued program-building that leaves plenty of room for optimism — and working sales pitches — going into a key stretch of the calendar as the transfer portal heats up and the early signing period approaches.