Noles News: Duke quarterback Riley Leonard has “chance” at returning for FSU game

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

No. 4 Florida State (6-0, 4-0 ACC) is set to take on the No. 16 Duke Blue Devils (5-1, 2-0 ACC) this Saturday in a primetime showdown inside Doak Campbell Stadium. The Blue Devils’ gunslinger hurt his ankle on the final play of the team’s loss to Notre Dame at the end of September, forcing him to miss last week’s win over the NC State Wolfpack.

Head coach Mike Elko was optimistic about his potential return during his weekly radio show:

“I’ve said this to everybody, we will not put him in position to put that ankle at risk, but I do think there is a chance we’re able to get him back healthy on Saturday and able to be playing at the level he’s capable of playing.”

According to DraftKings, Florida State is currently a 14.5 point favorite over Duke.

FSU hit the practice field on Wednesday once more as it preps for the ranked matchup, once again emphasizing situational success on hump day:

Mike Norvell starts his post-practice press conferences the same way, and if you were not paying attention, every day would sound amazing.

In reality, the inflection in his voice gives away how he truly feels and today, everyone could hear that he was satisfied with the result.

“I thought today was a good work day...guys responded well...good speed on speed as we try to push, grow, and develop; I was proud of the way our guys approached today.”

On a weekly routine situational Wednesday, both sides of the ball flashed their dominance. On the first drive of the day, Jordan Travis, with 58 seconds and the ball on his own 25, marched the offense down the field to set up a Ryan Fitzgerald 53-yard field goal, which he drilled.

The defense responded, forcing back-to-back incompletions during third down work as they continue to improve daily.

The News-Observer released a story surrounding its successful public records request that attempted to shed light on how NC State flipped from not being in favor of ACC expansion to being the deciding vote on allowing Cal, Stanford and SMU into the conference — one interesting part included a prominent college football power broker (Ben Sutton) claiming FSU was seriously considering going independent:

Allowing expansion, Sutton argued, would be “like buying insurance for the future members of the ACC. The ACC contract with ESPN requires 14 full members in the league. If Carolina and Virginia leave, by taking Cal and Stanford, you take no haircut. If FSU goes independent (they are seriously considering it), SMU could fill the gap.”

Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis was announced as one of 20 semifinalists for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award:

Travis holds FSU career records for touchdown responsibility, rushing touchdowns by a quarterback and rushing yards by a quarterback. The senior from West Palm Beach broke the touchdown responsibility record, previously held by 2000 Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke, with the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime at Clemson. Travis also ranks in the top-seven on FSU’s career lists for total offense, passing touchdowns, wins, passing yards, rushing touchdowns and completions.

He has started 22 consecutive games for the Seminoles, who are 18-4 in that stretch, and his streaks of 18 straight games with at least one touchdown pass and 13 consecutive games accounting for multiple touchdowns are both the longest for an FSU quarterback since 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston. This year, Travis is directing an offense that leads the ACC in scoring, red zone conversion percentage, fewest tackles for loss allowed and fewest turnovers while individually he stands in the top-five in fewest interceptions thrown, points responsibility, passing touchdowns, passing efficiency, passing yards per game, yards per pass attempt and completions per game.

Off the field, Travis is active in the Tallahassee and greater FSU communities, using both his time and NIL efforts to benefit others. His list of community service events includes school visits, football camps, Shop with a Player and disaster relief efforts. He also supports other FSU sports and students with his attendance and social media platform and frequently takes time to sign autographs and take photos with kids after games and at other events.

Soccer

No. 1 Florida State women’s soccer (11-0-1, 6-0-1) will take on No. 18 Pitt (12-2-1, 5-1-1) in Tallahassee tonight, wrapping up a three-game homestand:

Paint It Pink: Thursday will be FSU’s annual Paint It Pink match as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. FSU will be wearing pink jerseys, and each jersey will be auctioned off with all the proceeds going to the Tallahassee Memorial Health Care Walker Breast Center. Fans can bid on the jerseys at https://www.32auctions.com/2023SoccerPaintItPink. Fans can also purchase Paint It Pink shirts at https://seminoles.com/documents/2023/10/16/PaintItPinkOrderForm.pdf

Last Time Out: In their first game ranked No. 1, Florida State defended that ranking well as they rolled past No. 11 Notre Dame, 4-1, to take sole possession of first place in the ACC standings. FSU got two goals from Onyi Echegini and a goal from both Jody Brown and Leilanni Nesbeth. After surrendering a goal in the first half, the Seminole defense put the clamps on in the second half, allowing just one shot in the final 45 minutes.

Battle of the Best: Thursday night will be a battle of two of the best offenses in the ACC and will feature several of the top scorers in the conference. The top five leading goal scorers in the ACC come from either Florida State and Pitt. FSU and Pitt are also the top two scoring teams in the conference.

Hello No. 1: For the 43rd week in school history, the Florida State soccer team is ranked No. 1 following the new United Soccer Coaches Poll on Tuesday. FSU is 46-9-5 all-time when ranked No. 1 and is 20-1-2 when they have been ranked No. 1 since the start of the 2021 season. FSU has never lost at home when they are ranked No. 1 posting a perfect 28-0-0 record.

A Star in the Making: Freshman forward Jordynn Dudley has put together one of the best freshman seasons in the country. Dudley has scored eight goals while adding five assists. Dudley had back-to-back two-goal matches against No. 1 North Carolina and Miami. Dudley is the only freshman to have three multi-goal games this season. Dudley is tied for fourth among freshmen for total goals scored this season and is tied for second in the ACC in total goals but is tied for first in the ACC in goals per game.

Making the Most of the Opportunity: Freshman forward Peyton Nourse had only played 28 minutes prior to Sunday’s match against Boston College due to a knee injury. Nourse logged a career-high 37 minutes against the Eagles and scored her first two goals just 90 seconds apart from each other in the second half. Nourse was ranked the top player out of the state of Colorado and was the Rush DA Player of the Year.

Spreading the Wealth: Florida State is the best team in the country in terms of spreading the ball around. FSU is ranked first in the country with 3.58 assists per game.

High Scoring Offense: FSU has one of the best offenses in the country and for a program that is rich in history, this team has the making of becoming one of the best offenses in school history. FSU has scored 24 goals so far in ACC play and is on pace to break the school record of 30 goals in ACC play that was set in 2021.

Suffocating Defense: FSU has once again been one of the top defensive teams in the country. In its last four matches, the Seminoles have allowed just one goal. Against Miami, the Seminoles did not allow a single shot. This was the first time the Seminoles have held an opponent to 0 shots since Sept. 8, 2019, against Samford. It was the eighth time the Seminoles have held an opponent to 0 shots and just the third time and first time since 2014 that FSU has held an ACC opponent to 0 shots.

Finishing Strong: The Seminoles have dominated teams in the final 25 minutes of the match. In the last 25 minutes of their games this season, FSU is outscoring opponents 17-3 with two of those goals being surrendered against No. 1 North Carolina.

Dominating the Second Half: The Seminoles have been unstoppable in the final 45 minutes of their first six matches. In the second half this season, FSU is outscoring their opponents 27-3 compared to just a 11-7 advantage in the first half. Under Head Coach Brian Pensky, the Seminoles have outscored their opponents 68-13 in the second half.

Home Sweet Home: Florida State is 196-16-11 (.902) at home since 2005. The Noles are 126-8-8 (.913) in their last 141 matches played at home, dating back to 2011. FSU has 44 wins over ranked opponents during that time.

Echegini Named ACC Offensive Player of the Week: In a matchup with both teams looking to take sole possession of first place in the ACC, Echegini rose to the occasion with two goals for the top-ranked Seminoles. Echegini got the scoring just eight minutes into the game as she received a pass from Jordynn Dudley, and Echegini maneuvered traffic to find the back of the net to give FSU a 1-0 lead. After the Fighting Irish scored a goal of their own, Echegini took matters into her own hands right before halftime as she took a shot from just outside of the box that deflected off the goalie and found the back of the net. This was Echegini’s second brace of the season.

Basketball

Baseball

All Sports

The Florida State swimming and diving teams have a busy week ahead, traveling to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech and then returning home to host the squad’s annual Paint it Pink meet:

Thursday’s ACC contest will feature 16 events that include the 100s and 200s of each stroke in addition to the 50, 500, 1000 free and 200 IM. The 200 medley relay will start the meet and the 400 free relay will close it out. The men’s meet will also be a top 25 matchup.

Men’s and women’s 1-meter and 3-meter diving will run simultaneously to swimming.

On Friday, the meet will follow a similar format, however the 200 free relay will be the last event of the day.

The Seminoles have faced Georgia Tech in six consecutive seasons. FSU holds a 40-3 record in the men’s all-time series and the women are 17-2.

The meet will stream on the ACC Network Extra and live timing will be available.

The women will face Florida Southern, West Florida, and North Florida, while the men will only face the Mocs. Both teams are undefeated when facing these three opponents.

Live timing will be available through the meet mobile app.