FSU head coach Mike Norvell talks DJ Lundy, Jared Verse, finishing ACC play after Tuesday’s practice

Florida State head coach Mike Norvell met with the media on Tuesday to review their morning practice and take questions. FSU will be heading to Syracuse this weekend to face the Syracuse Orange for their final conference matchup. The Noles are coming off a 45-3 blowout win over the Miami Hurricanes last weekend, which was the largest margin of points scored on the road in series history, and a victory on Saturday will be the first time the Noles finish ACC play with a winning record since 2016 (10-3, 5-3 ACC.)

Norvell said he thought today was a good practice while they were implementing the scheme for this weekend's game.

“I thought today was a good Tuesday practice, a good start of the week; there were a lot of variations of what we’re working through, you know, just the different looks of Syracuse getting our scouts and everybody lined out, especially defensively just to try to present as close to simulating what we might see with a little bit different scheme. I thought our guys had a good attitude and mindset with the work.”

Linebacker DJ Lundy scored a touchdown last Saturday playing the fullback position. Norvell said that he loves the FB position and elaborated on what Lundy brings.

“I don't like that position, I love that position. It’s one of the purest positions in football. When you play fullback, you’ve got to have it all.” he said. “It’s a toughness, mentality, skillset, the agility to be able to work and make people miss as you’re tracking guys and blocking. It’s funny because everywhere I’ve been, I’ve always had a defensive player that’s been our fullback.” adding that “It’s explosive power. There are certain guys you wanna see where weight is necessary, but I mean, if you’ve got explosive power, you’re gonna do some great things...When we got into the recruiting process, I saw that for him, and he’s a great one.”

Defensive back Greedy Vance transferred in from Louisville in the off-season and came away with his second career interception against Miami. Norvell commented on his improvement.

“He’s really doing a good job, and I think that increase in his confidence and what he has to do and just the work that he’s putting in, he’s got a great future. He’s made some impactful plays; it was great getting that second interception of the year.”

Norvell was asked about what stood out with star defensive end Jared Verse and what he first saw from him on film when he was scouting Syracuse last season.

“It wasn’t something that I ultimately studied last year, but I remember the flash. I saw one of the plays that stood out to me was Tucker broke out on a long run, and Jared, you saw him open up and run, and it was impressive to see a big guy who ran and pursued the ball the way he did” he said, “It was somebody who jumped off on film. As you watch different opponents and somebody, you’re not looking somebody, and they show up, it’s impressive.” adding that, “Evaluation is the key to success, in my opinion.”

This weekend’s game against Syracuse will be the last conference game on the schedule, and Norvell said he wants his team to finish strong.

“I mean, for us, it’s about our constant growth, but I mean, this is our last ACC opponent, and we want to finish our ACC schedule the right way, and we’ve had some really good moments. We’ve had some setbacks, but this is the last one we get, and we want to leave our mark this year on what we were able to do in conference; we’ve played a challenging conference schedule, and this is definitely a challenging task ahead.”

Mike Norvell goes over the challenges of life as a college athlete, evaluating players, and more in his full interview below.