Florida State practice notebook: December 8

“You get late in the season, it’s been a long journey with so many changes and things we’ve had to adapt and adjust to...but I think our guys are continuing to grow. The mindset and approach of how they went into last week was pleasing to me. I think we’re getting better.”

Florida State Seminoles football sits in the odd position of still playing regular season games two weeks into December, when usually only conference title games are on the docket. Not only are they playing the latest in the calendar year game ever at Doak Campbell Stadium this week against the Duke Blue Devils, they still have a road matchup set next week against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

So far, Florida State’s coaches have said the response just hasn’t been what they expected — it’s been a pleasant surprise.

“Nothing’s built in a day, you can’t put it in the microwave — kids are gonna learn and grow and grow every single day and we’re gonna push and push and push,” offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham said.”

“I think the biggest growth that I’ve seen this last week is the mindset — our guys sprinted it on the field. I know it sounds like a little deal and it’s the expectation of who we are, but we didn’t have to send them back, they just did it the first time. We didn’t have to yell sprint on the field, they just did [and] little things like that, that’s how you build culture and that’s how you build a winning program.”

We’ll be speaking with head coach Mike Norvell as well as several other members of the team today. You can follow along both in the comment section and on our Twitter, and in the meantime, drop any questions you have in the comments and we’ll try to get to them.