‘Noles News: Football kicks off Junior Day, basketball falls at home

Seminole Athletics had some ups and downs rounding out the second week of January. Football hosted their first Junior Day of the off-season, which brought in numerous top-tier recruits to the Moore Center; men's and women’s basketball couldn’t put one in the win column, tennis secured a victory over UGA, and cheerleading took home a National Championship.

Football/Recruiting

Two players from the ‘22 team played in the Hula Bowl over the weekend. Offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons and defensive tackle Robert Cooper suited up on Saturday with another chance to showcase their abilities in an all-star game.

Gibbons was honored with the Joe Roth Award, and legendary Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden alongside Nole great Ron Simmons were both inducted into the Hula Bowl Hall of Fame.

• Bowden, Gibbons, Simmons receive Hula Bowl honors

FSU held its first junior day of the off-season hosting blue-chip recruits from all across the country. Composite 4-stars RB Jordan Lyle, S Brandon Jacob, WR Koby Howard, CB Josh Philostin, and DL D’Antre Robinson were a few names in attendance.

For a full breakdown of the weekend and everything else recruiting-related, head on over to the FSU Football: OFFICIAL Tribe ‘23 Recruiting and Transfer Portal Thread #23 to get in the know.

• FSU wide receiver enters transfer portal
• Player tracker: Who is returning, leaving FSU in 2023

Basketball

The momentum men’s basketball had was slowed down against the No. 13 Virginia Cavaliers, losing at home 58-67 in Tallahassee.

From Tomahawk Nation’s Max Escarpio:

It’s tough to play against a team shooting 52% from three, which is exactly what UVA was doing. With 7:32 left in the game, Virginia poured in 11 of their 21 three-point attempts. It was an average game from both parties, but FSU’s kryptonite (defending the three) was highlighted yet again.

Virginia held a 65-51 lead with just under four minutes remaining. They were outperformed in the effort category, as well as the fact that UVA had the sheer skill to defeat the Noles handily. Despite a three ball from Corhen late in the game, the Noles were too far behind.

The Noles are headed to South Bend to face off against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on January 17 as underdogs on the road at 7:00 p.m.

• Florida State falls to No. 13 Virginia at home

Women’s hoops fell to Louisville at home 82-75, unable to hold off a late charge in the fourth quarter, and will now stare down the Virginia Cavaliers on January 19.

• FSU women’s basketball drops one to Louisville

From Tomahawk Nation’s Prince Akeem Joffer:

The two big keys to this game were that FSU allowed Louisville to shoot 54.2% for the game and the Seminoles only shot 20 free throws for the game. The referees let them play all game. That style of officiating disadvantages Florida State as the Noles rely on free throws for a significant portion of their offense.

All Sports

FSU Cheerleading won a National Championship, with the Golden Girls following close behind in jazz competition, finishing third during their three-day contest in Orlando this past weekend.

Men’s Tennis took down No. 7 UGA 5-2 on Sunday in their home opener, moving to 3-0 on the season.

All-SEC defender Claire Rain decided to take her talents and don the garnet and gold, joining former Tennesee Volunteer Taylor Huff for 2023.

From her bio at UTsports.com:

Started all 19 matches for the Vols.

Her 1,560 minutes played were second-most on the squad, and she logged 864 of a possible 900 minutes through Tennessee’s 10 regular-season SEC matches.

Stonewalled multiple Tiger scoring opportunities during the second half of Tennessee’s 1-0 victory at Auburn (10/20/22).

Produced several impressive individual defensive efforts to thwart multiple offensive threats by Florida (9/16/22) during the full 90 minutes she was on the pitch in Tennessee’s 2-1 SEC-opening road win over the Gators.

Served a beautiful ball to Taylor Huff in the 52nd minute of Tennessee’s home contest vs. #5 Duke (8/25/22), which Huff headed in to give Rain her first assist of the season.

Former Seminole Asante Samuel Jr. set a playoff record for most interceptions in a half, and Trevor Lawrence found his new favorite receiver on the Chargers' defense.

Terance Mann did Terance Mann things.