Noles News: FSU set for first of two days of practice in Jacksonville

Recruiting

Three-star defensive back Rydarrius “Red” Morgan, who committed to FSU last month to kick off the Seminoles’ hot streak on the trail, flipped to the Alabama Crimson Tide yesterday.

Florida State now has the No. 5 recruiting class in the country according to both the 247Sports Composite Rankings and the On3 Industry Rankings (behind the Georgia Bulldogs, Ohio State Buckeyes, Florida Gators and the Alabama Crimson Tide),

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

Back down in Duval for Florida State, who will be spending the next two days practicing on the University of North Florida’s campus. For the last two years under head coach Mike Norvell, Florida State has hit the road down I10 to Jacksonville, an effort on the coaching staff’s part to not just add a switch-up to the monotony of August days but also give the team its first feel of the year for maintaining the standard outside of the confines of Tallahassee.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly’s advanced metrics back up FSU’s chance at taking a major step forward in 2023, with his SP+ system projecting a 16 spot jump in its rankings — from 26th to 10th:

2021: 5-7 record, 71st in SP+ (-0.1 adjusted PPG)

2022: 10-3, 26th (+12.7)

2023 projection: 9.3 average wins, 10th in SP+ (+21.6)

The Seminoles head into 2023 ranked third in returning production with both proven star power and a new batch of fun transfers.

It feels like the defense has a few more question marks heading into the fall — namely, whether experience and the addition of Cypress can fix a secondary that needs to make a few more disruptive plays, and whether returning star Fabian Lovett (injured for most of 2022) and a couple of big defensive tackle transfers (Western Michigan’s Braden Fiske) can shore up what was at times a poor run defense. But Norvell has proven to be one of the nation’s best at getting what he needs from the portal, and the newcomers will likely make a positive difference.

In expansion news — while ACC officials continue to meet and discuss possible expansion moves (specifically involving the Cal Golden Bears, Stanford Cardinal and SMU Mustangs), those talks have encountered “roadblocks,” according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel:

Sources confirmed one school that has been pushing for the addition of Cal and Stanford is Notre Dame, which is a member in the ACC in all sports except football. Notre Dame does get a vote on expansion, and it has a long history with Stanford. The fit from an Olympics sports perspective is attractive, too. But multiple athletics directors have questioned why anyone in the league would listen to Notre Dame because the Irish remain so steadfast in remaining independent.

One source indicated expansion could help bolster the security of the league long-term. “It’s a numbers game,” the source said. “Number of league members.” Given the way some ACC schools have studied the media grant of rights, it could be reasoned that adding members could help bolster the league if there were any defections — even though their additions would not be a huge financial win.

By Wednesday evening, however, it became clear there were not enough presidents willing to say yes to even take a vote.

The potential of programs leaving has the more entrenched schools within the league pondering what the next iteration of the ACC could look like, making unanimity nearly impossible to reach within the room.

Make that 13 FSU placements on preseason award watch lists so far, with running back Trey Benson earning a spot on the Doak Walker Watch List — his third nod so far:

Benson’s average of 6.46 yards per rush led the ACC and ranked 13th nationally, and he was second in the ACC and ninth in the country with 14 runs of at least 20 yards. The Greenville, Mississippi, native broke PFF College’s single-season record by forcing 0.51 missed tackles per rush to better the previous record of 0.48. Benson’s nine rushing touchdowns ranked sixth in the conference, and his 10 total touchdowns were 10th. In FSU’s 44-14 win over Boston College, Benson totaled a career-high 177 all-purpose yards and became the first player in program history to score two offensive touchdowns and a kickoff return touchdown in the same game. His kickoff return touchdown was the first opening kickoff return for a touchdown in Doak Campbell Stadium history.

Baseball

All Sports

A fantastic feature from FSU Sports Info on Florida State indoor volleyball freshman outside hitter Kyleene Filimaua:

Toward the end of her sophomore year at North Creek High School in 2021, Filimaua tore her ACL as she was getting ready to enter an important club season that summer at a time when the world was slowly starting to open up due to COVID-19. The Pandemic prevented her from having a sophomore volleyball season, and to make matters worse, her untimely injury projected some sort of road to recovery that was unknown.

“It was tough,” Filimaua said of her injury. “Watching your team from the sidelines and knowing that you cannot contribute anything to them physically is difficult. While I wanted to be the biggest cheerleader and hype man for the team, it was still difficult for me not to play with them on the court.”

Filimaua has a chance to help the Seminoles quite a bit in her first season, being a six-rotation player who is versatile enough to handle attacks from the back row or play physically up front.

Once she rounded into full health after a successful rehab, her winning mentality took on an even more leveled-up approach.

”After recovering, my goal has become to compete at the highest level possible, and I am determined to do so,” she said. “My goal is to win at any cost. I am committed to working harder to gain that small edge.”

Suvranu De, dean of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, is leading a five-year, $1.3 million cooperative research agreement with the U.S. Army that will use ultrasound and artificial intelligence to investigate the characteristics and healing trajectory of burn wounds, leading to faster diagnosis and improved recovery:

The researchers will use artificial intelligence to analyze the data collected with ultrasound. Analysis with deep learning technology can improve accuracy rates for burn thickness to more than 95%, De said.

He will also develop standards for high-fidelity simulators for burn wound management, allowing the military to use potential future innovations from private companies in ready-to-use applications.