Noles News: PFF predicts Jordan Travis as 2023 Heisman Trophy winner

Recruiting

Florida State Seminoles football 2024 commitments

QUARTERBACK: 4 star Luke Kromenhoek (GA)

RUNNING BACK: 4 star Kam Davis (GA)

RUNNING BACK: 4 star Micahi Danzy (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Camdon Frier (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Lawayne McCoy (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star BJ Gibson (GA)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Elijah Moore (MD)

TIGHT END: 5 star Landen Thomas (GA)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star Jonathan Daniels (FL)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Tye Hylton (FL)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star Manasse Itete (CA)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Jayden Todd (GA)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star DD Holmes (DC)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Jamorie Flagg (FL)

LINEBACKER: 3 star Jayden Parrish (FL)

LINEBACKER: 3 star Timir Hickman-Collins (SC)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 5 star KJ Bolden (GA)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 5 star Charles Lester III (FL)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 4 star Ricky Knight III (FL)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 3 star CJ Heard (GA)

KICKER: 3 star Jake Weinberg (FL)

Football

PFF is all aboard the Jordan Travis hype train, with the site predicting the Florida State quarterback to claim this year’s Heisman Trophy as well as the Davey O’Brien Award for the nation’s best quarterback:

There likely won’t be a better story in college football than Florida State this season. The Seminoles endured four straight losing campaigns from 2018 to 2021, and before that, the program hadn’t had a sub-.500 year since 1976.

With one of the most loaded rosters in college football returning, I’m predicting Travis to lead Florida State back to the College Football Playoff.

According to DraftKings, Travis has the fourth-highest odds to win the 2023 Heisman Trophy (+1400), behind USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams (+550), LSU Tigers quarterback Jayden Daniels (+1100), and Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers (+1300).

Some other Florida State Seminoles predicted to bring home major awards:

• Defensive end Jared Verse: Ted Hendricks Award (best defensive end), Bednarik Award and Bronk Nagurski Trophy (best defensive player)

Travis won’t be the only Seminole going home with some hardware. Verse is one of the biggest surprise returners in college football, as he likely would’ve been a top-20 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft had he declared.

That’s because he ranked second among Power Five edge defenders last year with a 22.4% pass-rush win rate while his 10 tackles for loss or no gain were tied for sixth. Most impressively, that was his first season at the FBS level after transferring in from Albany.

• Mike Norvell: Home Depot Award (best coach)

Florida State is poised to take the leap into the College Football Playoff this year after posting losing records in four of the past five seasons.

On his team, Norvell has my pick to win the Heisman (Jordan Travis), my pick to be college football’s best defender (Jared Verse), the top running back in the 2024 NFL Draft (Trey Benson), a top-five receiving corps, a top-10 offensive line, a top-five defensive line and a top-10 secondary.

If the Seminoles can live up to the hype and reestablish themselves as a legitimate national championship contender, Norvell should run away with this honor.

ESPN put together its best and worst cases for each top 25 team — here’s what they had to say about Florida State:

Best case: Florida State is at a point now where it is in position to compete for championships, so it is not hard to envision a high ceiling in 2023 as a College Football Playoff appearance. The Seminoles will have an opportunity to prove themselves in the regular season (two SEC nonconference games, including the opener against LSU) and potentially in the ACC championship game. Getting there without divisions certainly made the path easier given the way Clemson had previously dominated the Atlantic Division over the past seven seasons. The Seminoles will have one of the best, most dynamic offenses in the country with virtually all its production back — including quarterback Jordan Travis, running back Trey Benson and receiver Johnny Wilson — plus a potential top-15 NFL pick in defensive end Jared Verse. The mindset, mentality and confidence has changed in this group. They are aiming for a championship.

Worst case: Florida State just might be ahead of schedule under coach Mike Norvell, entering his fourth year in the program, considering where it was when he inherited it. Until Florida State goes back to dominating its ACC opponents, there may still be some doubts about whether it can run through its schedule without a hiccup along the way. Florida State gets LSU and Clemson in September, has tough road games against Wake Forest (the Deacs have won three straight in the series) and Pitt (in November, not fun for Florida teams!) plus rivals Miami (expected to be better) and Florida (the Seminoles barely held on last year). Given the talent returning, it is hard to envision the team winning fewer than nine games.

Speaking of ESPN, in Bill Connelly’s updated SP+ rankings, Florida State comes in at No. 12 with the No. 23 offense and No. 13 defense, with average predicted wins at 8.9 (5.9 ACC).

And rounding out the ESPN trifecta — Andrea Adelson took an inside look at some of ACC realignment chaos, including how some conference members are feeling in the wake of FSU’s airing of financial grievances:

There is significant resistance among other ACC members, for obvious reasons. Few schools are willing to take less television money based on ratings and marketability. Florida State has touted its viewership metrics — an average of 3.09 million viewers for regular-season games in 2014-21 to top the league — much to the chagrin of other schools.

Wake Forest, for example, has taken the time over the past month to push back. In the latest edition of the Wake Forest athletic director John Currie’s newsletter, he notes that since August 2019, Wake Forest has been the fastest-growing brand in the Power 5, with a 115% growth in its fan base during that span.

Schools have privately questioned the brand and marketability data Florida State has touted, including its assertion that if conference revenues were removed, the Seminoles would rank No. 3 in the SEC and Big Ten in revenue generated.

The push to add schools to the ACC has added new faces in, checks notes, Condoleezza Rice and George W. Bush?

From Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger:

Rice, the former U.S. secretary of state, is a Stanford professor who serves as director of the school’s Hoover Institute, a public policy think tank and research institute. Bush’s wife, Laura, attended SMU and his presidential library is located on the school’s campus.

It is not unusual for influential members of a university to embark on such lobbying efforts. But their campaign is another interesting wrinkle in the wave of college realignment washing across the country, the most impactful version in modern history — a monsoon that’s washed away a power conference and put in motion a cascade of other changes.

The door to expansion remains cracked open and discussions have continued into this week. However, another vote isn’t scheduled and a decision isn’t imminent.

Another week, another quartet of Seminole greats elected by the Tomahawk Nation community to the Mount Rushmore of their position.

This time around, Terrell Buckley, Deion Sanders, Corey Sawyer and Bobby Butler were the top vote-getters for the best all-time FSU cornerback.

Here are the rest of the results so far:

Quarterbacks: Charlie Ward, Chris Weinke, Jameis Winston, Jordan Travis

Running Backs: Warrick Dunn, Dalvin Cook, Greg Allen, Amp Lee

Wide Receivers: Peter Warrick, Fred Biletnikoff, Rashad Greene, Ron Sellers

Tight Ends: Nick O’Leary, Pat Carter, Lonnie Johnson, Melvin Pearsall

Offensive Tackles: Walter Jones, Alex Barron, Pat Tomberlin, Cam Erving

Interior Offensive Linemen: Rodney Hudson, Jamie Dukes, Bryan Stork, Clay Shiver

Defensive Ends: Peter Boulware, Andre Wadsworth, Reinard Wilson, Derrick Alexander

Defensive Tackles: Ron Simmons, Darnell Dockett, Corey Simon, Timmy Jernigan

Linebackers: Derrick Brooks, Marvin Jones, Sam Cowart, Paul McGowan

Basketball

FSU men’s basketball released its 2023 non-conference schedule on Wednesday, featuring eleven matchups all in the state of Florida:

The Seminoles open their season with two consecutive home games against Kennesaw State (Nov. 10) and Central Michigan (Nov. 13), play Georgia (Nov. 29), then close the month of December with four straight non-ACC home games against SMU (Dec. 16), North Florida (Dec. 19), Winthrop (Dec. 22) and Lipscomb (Dec. 30).

The Seminoles travel to play at Florida in Gainesville (Nov. 17), in the fourth annual Sunshine Slam in Daytona Beach (Nov. 20 and 21) and in the AutoNation Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise against USF (Dec. 9). Florida State faces UNLV (Nov. 20) and either Colorado or Richmond (Nov. 21) in the Sunshine Slam at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.

Soccer

Florida State soccer is set to start its 2023 campaign tonight against the Texas A&M Aggies — like nobody else can, our Prince Akeem Joeffer broke down this year’s Seminoles squad and what to expect from Brian Pesnky’s second year in Tallahassee:

Florida State soccer has developed into one of the very best brands in the sport. The record speaks for itself. FSU has made the NCAA Tournament 23 straight years. In 20 of those years the Noles have made the Sweet 16. In 17 of those years FSU has appeared in the Elite 8 and in 13 of those years they have made the College Cup (Final Four). The Seminoles were national runners-up in 2007, 2013 and (spring) 2021. The Noles were national champions in 2014 and 2018 and (fall) 2021.

The last time FSU was not in the top 15 of the coaches poll was 2011.

FSU landed an NCAA-high five players on TopDrawer Soccer’s four Preseason Best XI teams — Jody Brown and Lauren Flynn were named First Team Best XI as the Seminoles were the only team to post multiple players on the First Team. Cristina Roque was named to the Second Team Best XI, and newcomer Taylor Huff was named to the Third Team Best XI. Freshman Jordynn Dudley was also named to the Freshman Best XI Team:

After a breakout season in 2022, Brown returns for her senior season as one of the top scorers for the Seminoles. In 2022, Brown posted a career-high eight goals and 10 assists for the Seminoles. When the competition got tough, Brown played some of her best soccer as six out of her eight goals were against teams ranked inside the top 15 while posting multi-goal games against No. 14 Clemson and No. 12 Duke. Brown had a busy summer overseas as she played in her second World Cup for the Jamaican National Team and helped them to their first-ever Round of 16.

For the second consecutive year, Flynn made an appearance on the Preseason First Team Best XI Team. Flynn started all 22 games for the Seminoles in 2022 and posted the second-most minutes on the team as the starting center back. Flynn helped FSU record shutouts in 11 out of the 23 games last year while holding opponents to 0.87 goals per game. Flynn also recorded her second career goal against Florida Gulf Coast in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The reigning ACC Goalkeeper of the Year is back for her senior season after another stellar year in 2022. Roque posted a 12-2-3 record in 2022 while recording a career-high 60 saves and allowing just 15 goals for a 0.87 goals against average. Roque was named a First Team Al-ACC honoree following the 2022 season and also was named to the Preseason All-ACC Team last week.

The former First Team All-SEC honoree is one of the biggest additions for the Noles in 2023. Huff comes to Tallahassee after two seasons at Tennessee where she started 40 matches for the Lady Vols. In 2022, Huff totaled five goals and led the team with seven assists. Her 17 points were second on the team.

Dudley comes in as a highly touted recruit from Milton, Ga. Dudley was the 2022 and 2023 Region Player of the Year at Cambridge High School while also earning All-State honors in all four years of high school. Dudley also played in the U20 CONCACAF Championships for the United States in 2023.

Brown and Roque were also named to the Preseason All-ACC team, with FSU being picked to finish in the conference.

2023 ACC Women’s Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll

1. North Carolina (10) - 166
2. Florida State (2) - 146
3. Virginia (1) - 139
4. Notre Dame - 134
5. Duke (1) - 126
6. Clemson - 104
7. Pitt - 103
8. Wake Forest - 87
9. Virginia Tech - 81
10. NC State - 62
11. Louisville - 47
12. Syracuse - 35
13. Miami - 24
14. Boston College - 20

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