Noles News: FSU hoops sweeps Notre Dame

Recruiting

Four-star 2024 receiver Tawaski Abrams, from Dunbar High in Fort Myers, has included Florida State in his top eight:

FSU video department dropping a little bit of heat via hype videos for some recent recruiting visitors:

2026 quarterback Brady Smigiel out of California has received a Florida State offer:

Stay updated with everything recruiting and transfer portal related with Tomahawk Nation’s FSU recruiting and transfer portal thread.

Class of 2023 signees

QUARTERBACK: 3 star Brock Glenn (TN)

RUNNING BACK: 4 star Samuel Singleton Jr. (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 5 star Hykeem Williams (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 3 star Darren “Goldie” Lawrence (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Vandrevius Jacobs (FL)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star Lucas Simmons (FL)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Andre Otto (FL)

DEFENSIVE END: 4 star Lamont “Boots” Green, Jr. (FL)

DEFENSIVE END: 3 star JUCO Jaden Jones (AL)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star Keith Sampson, Jr. (NC)

LINEBACKER: 4 star Blake Nichelson (CA)

LINEBACKER: 3 star DeMarco Ward (GA)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 4 star Conrad Hussey (FL)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 3 star Quindarrius Jones (MS)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 3 star Edwin Joseph (FL)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 3 star Ja’Bril Rawls (FL)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 3 star Kenton “KJ” Kirkland (FL)

Transfer portal commitments

TIGHT END: Jaheim Bell (South Carolina)

TIGHT END: Kyle Morlock (Shorter University)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: Casey Roddick (Colorado)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: Jeremiah Byers (UTEP)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: Keiondre Jones (Auburn)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: Darrell Jackson (Miami, FL)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: Braden Fiske (Western Michigan)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: Gilber Edmond (South Carolina Gamecocks)

DEFENSIVE BACK: Fentrell Cypress (Virginia)

KICKER: Tyler Keltner (ETSU) - Preferred walk-on

Football

With the dust settled on the 2022 season and attention turned fully towards 2023, we wanted to take some time to gauge how fans felt about last year — and the results are in.

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell released his list of the top 100 college football games of the 2022 season and Florida State made the list four times for its matchups vs. the LSU Tigers, No. 25), Florida Gators (No. 26), Oklahoma Sooners (No. 27) and Clemson Tigers (No. 41).

Like Pitt and others, FSU deployed its most memorable work at the start and end of the season. Mike Norvell’s Seminoles led Brian Kelly’s Tigers 24-10 with five minutes left before two Jayden Daniels-to-Jaray Jenkins touchdowns, one on the final play of regulation, brought the Tigers back. Kelly played for the PAT and overtime ... and it backfired when FSU blocked its second kick of the game to win.

After a series of ups and downs — four wins, three losses, four more wins — the Noles finished the year in style. Against rival Florida, they watched a 38-24 lead disappear in three minutes, took it back, then held on for dear life until a late fourth-down stop gave them the win. A month later in the Cheez-It Bowl, a young and fiery Oklahoma team led 14-3 early and 25-18 late, but the Noles scored 17 points in the final 11:05 and won when Ryan Fitzgerald’s 32-yard field goal went through the uprights with 55 seconds left.

Keep tabs on all the latest Florida State NIL signings here, courtesy of Tomahawk Nation reader bugzbunny.

Former FSU receiver Malik McClain is reportedly heading to play for the Penn State Nittany Lions, per Nittany Sports Now — he shared a farewell post to Florida State fans today:

You can see all of the player movement for the Seminoles, both departing and returning, through our Florida State player tracker.

Basketball

Florida State men’s basketball beat Notre Dame 84-71 on the road on Tuesday, sweeping the Fighting Irish and moving to 7-1 vs. them since the 2018-19 season. Matthew Cleveland logged his eighth-straight double-double, the first to do so since Reggie Royals during the 1970-71 season.

From Tomahawk Nation’s Max Escarpio:

The Noles started off steaming hot against the Fighting Irish, grabbing a 10-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game. It was by far their best start to a game this season, having a sense of urgency to share the ball on offense and carrying the necessary aggressiveness on defense to give them early opportunities.

At the first timeout of the second half, Florida State had a 15-point lead, getting right back into their offensive streak. Cleveland secured his eighth-straight double-double after a three from a Caleb Mills dish out. The Noles were back up by 20 points with just under 14 minutes remaining in the second half.

Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton elected to call a timeout with 7:30 remaining to give the Noles a breath of air and slow them down as they held a strong lead. They may have come out too dreary after Notre Dame scored seven straight points to cut the deficit down to 67-55. The Fighting Irish were in the midst of a 13-1 run, making the Noles a bit antsy late in the game.

The Seminoles were lost having to face the eagerness of a Notre Dame team that needed a conference win as desperately as themselves. With 3:36 left in the game, Florida State led 67-57, with a 9-0 from the Fighting Irish.

Despite the Fighting Irish’s hack-a-Warley late in the game, the Noles escaped with the win on the road.

Softball

All Sports

The No. 16 Florida State men’s tennis team swept this week’s ACC weekly honors, with Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc named Performer of the Week and Cornut-Chauvinc and Barnaby Smith tabbed as the Doubles Pair of the Week.

From FSU Sports Info:

Cornut-Chauvinc, who is ranked No. 12 nationally in singles play, defeated the No. 1 collegiate singles player in America with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Ethan Quinn. Cornut-Chauvinc, a junior from Lyon, France, is off to a 3-0 start this season with all three wins coming over ranked opponents.

Cornut-Chauvinc and Smith manned the No. 1 doubles position and earned a 7-6 (3) win over Quinn and Trent Bryde, the 19th-ranked doubles duo in the country, to clinch the doubles point for FSU. After the Seminoles and Bulldogs split matches at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, all attention turned to the crucial match at No. 1. Cornut-Chauvinc and Smith outlasted their opponent to give FSU a 1-0 lead on the way to the eventual team victory.

Florida State is back in action Saturday as it hosts FAU at 1 p.m. Admission to matches held at the Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center is free.

FSU men’s track and field athletes also earned ACC honors this week, with Ismael Kone (track) and Jeremiah Davis (field) each named ACC Men’s Performers of the Week on Tuesday afternoon.

From FSU Sports Info:

In his first race wearing the garnet and gold, Kone made his name known by breaking the school and tying the ACC record in the 60m dash with a sizzling time of 6.51. Kone also tied for the 13th-fastest performance in NCAA history.

On the runway, Davis began right where he left off in 2022 as the NCAA outdoor runner-up flew for a season-opening mark of 8.17m. This mark was a personal best for Davis and put him No. 3 on FSU’s all-time list. Davis also had a great start to his triple jump season with a mark of 16.04m which is No. 6 on FSU’s all-time list.

Both athletes currently hold the world leads in their respective events.

Florida State has hired its first-ever Chief Marketing officer — Susannah Wesley-Ahlschwede, an n FSU alumna who, per FSU, has “spent her career building brands and reputations for some of the world’s largest global companies including American Airlines, Ford Motor Company, Shell, Porsche, Nissan and Takeda.”

From Florida State:

In this newly created position, Wesley-Ahlschwede will collaborate with academic and administrative leaders to provide overall vision and strategic leadership to all university marketing. She will help to realize FSU’s goals by leveraging the university’s many strengths to create, implement and maintain a clear, coordinated and unique brand strategy that targets internal and external stakeholders and elevates Florida State to new heights in national and international distinction.

FSU has broken ground on a new health care campus located in Panama City Beach — from FSU:

Development plans include an 80,000-square-foot medical office building scheduled to be complete in 2024. This building will ultimately house TMH Physician Partners – Primary Care, Tallahassee Memorial Urgent Care Center, an ambulatory surgery center, as well as cardiology and orthopedic services.

Plans include a 100-bed hospital with an emergency center and other inpatient services, including surgery, cardiology procedures and imaging, to be complete by the end of 2027.

This will also include opportunities for FSU researchers focused on aging and digital health, as well as residency programs and clinical rotations for FSU medical students.