Noles News: Where will FSU be ranked in first AP Poll?

Recruiting

Florida State offered 2025 offensive tackle Owen Aliciene on Saturday. The 6-foot-7, 275 pound prospect out of Avon, Connecticut is considered a three-star player by the 247Sports Composite — but hasn’t received a rating from the site itself. He’s got an offer from the Boston College Eagles, SMU Mustangs, Pittsburgh Panthers, Penn State Nittany Lions, Duke Blue Devils, Louisville Cardinals, Vanderbilt Commodores, Kentucky Wildcats and UMass Minutemen:

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

Florida State held its first scrimmage of the fall on Sunday — head coach Mike Norvell pleased with the defense’s performance, also giving a shout out to Jaheim Bell while emphasizing that there’s still a need for the team to find the right level of consistent execution:

There were some things that were really good and some things that obviously we’ll have to clean up, but [tonight] kind of gives a good baseline of where we are at this moment.

The thing that we’re looking for is consistency — [we’ve got a] lot of talented players, newcomers, guys that are pushing for spots and opportunities but we’ve got to see the consistency in the execution.

The question has been posed quite a bit by a variety of parties since Florida State first publicly announced its frustrations with the ACC — how did FSU even get into a situation it now despises so much?

Our Jon Loesche broke down all of it, from why it was smart for Florida State to join the ACC over the SEC in the first place (for bigger reasons that Bobby Bowden quipping about carving an easier path to titles) to why prior officials and administrators endorsed the Grant of Rights in the first place — and the second place.

Some conference realignment to come out ahead of the weekend was that Florida State. Clemson Tigers, North Carolina and NC State had formed a four-strong anti-Stanford and Cal block as the ACC considered adding the duo of soon-to-be Pac-4 members. The news was first reported by Sports Illustrated’s Richard Johnson and Pat Forde, who wrote:

The two members of the disintegrating Pac-12 need 12 of the 15 members of the ACC to support their move. Four schools stood opposed when the issue was discussed Wednesday night, sources say: Florida State, Clemson, North Carolina and North Carolina State. Lacking the requisite numbers, sources say it is unlikely that the potential expansion of the league will be put to a formal vote.

Sources described ACC members Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech and Louisville as among the most vocal in advocating for the Cardinal and Golden Bears to join the league. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has been leading the discussion, presenting financial and scheduling scenarios to the league members.

The first AP Poll of the 2023 season is set to release today at 12 p.m. — where will the Seminoles be ranked?

In last week’s initial USA Today Coaches Poll, FSU earned a No. 8 ranking, a two-spot jump from the Seminoles’ final ranking in 2022 (No. 10 Coaches, No. 11 AP).

For reference, here’s the full Coaches Poll:

2023 Top 25: USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll

No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs

No. 2 Michigan Wolverines

No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide

No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes

No. 5 LSU Tigers

No. 6 USC Trojans

No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions

No. 8 Florida State Seminoles

No. 9 Clemson Tigers

No. 10 Tennessee Volunteers

No. 11 Washington Huskies

No. 12 Texas Longhorns

No. 13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish

No. 14 Utah Utes

No. 15 Oregon Ducks

No. 16 TCU Horned Frogs

No. 17 Kansas State Wildcats

No. 18 Oregon State Beavers

No. 19 Oklahoma Sooners

No. 20 North Carolina Tar Heels

No. 21 Wisconsin Badgers

No. 22 Ole Miss Rebels

No. 23 Tulane Green Wave

No. 24 Texas Tech Red Raiders

No. 25 Texas A&M Aggies

ESPN collected thoughts on this year’s projected top FBS quarterbacks — here’s what was said about Florida State’s Jordan Travis:

Coaches are somewhat split on Travis, while acknowledging his improvement and potential for even bigger things as a senior.

“He’s much better than he was two years ago,” an ACC coach said.

A defensive coordinator who faced Travis was less impressed, saying, “He’s not as good as all the hype he’s getting. I don’t think he’s even close to being the best quarterback in this league.”

Another ACC defensive coordinator mentioned Travis when talking about Duke’s Riley Leonard:

“That quarterback gives them a chance, he’s good. I don’t know what’s around him,” an ACC defensive coordinator said. “If I’m the head coach and they said, ‘Take a quarterback and it can be the kid at Florida State or Duke,’ I’m taking that kid at Duke every day.”

Soccer

Florida State soccer kicks off the season this week against Texas A&M:

All Sports

Florida State golfer Charlotte Heath earned the Smyth Salver Award as the highest finishing amateur player at the AIG Women’s Open Championship, played at the Walton Heath Golf Club. Past winners include Michelle Wie (2005), Anna Nordquist (2008), Leona McGuire (2016) and Rose Zhang (2022):

The Seminoles’ rising senior and All-American finished her first professional tournament with scores of 73-72-74-76 for a four round total of 295. She completed play in a tie for 61st place in the standings, and as one of two amateur players in the field who advanced to the weekend of play in the four-round championship.

Heath, who ranks second in Florida State history with a career stoke average of 71.06, is the first English winner of the Smyth Salver Award since 2017.

“I have learned so much this week,” said Heath, who will earn her degree in Economics from Florida State in May. ”The pros play so smart and take risk out of play. I think sometimes as an amateur you don’t really think about that because if you come fourth or 10th it really doesn’t matter that much, whereas if you’re playing for money, there’s a big difference in that.

“I think that’s something to definitely follow going forwards. I’m going to Q-School, Stage 1, in two weeks’ time, and then after that, just back to the college season.”

Following Stage 1 of Q-School, Heath and her Florida State teammates begin play in their three-match fall season at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate at the Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, Minn.