Noles News: FSU to officially remain in ACC through at least 2024, ESPN puts 7 Seminoles on top 100 list

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

After a whole lot of hoopla, the August 15th date for Florida State to notify the ACC of a potential departure came and passed (not an extreme shocker, as the board of trustees would have needed to give 24 hours' notice before holding a meeting).

Now, that’s not to say it’s a death knell to the hopes of FSU escaping from the conference at some point — during Florida State’s board of trustees meeting late last month, the opinion offered by trustee Justin Roth was that while an August 15, 2023 deadline would be fantastic, it was more realistic for the university to take the next year to figure out its options, saying “I don’t think it’s unrealistic [for our goal to be], within the next 12 months, we have an exit plan and we execute it.”

So basically, after riding the adrenaline of the last week, don’t stress that there wasn’t immediate relief and prepare for a long 12 months of waiting for news to drop.

ESPN ranked its top 100 players of 2023, and Florida State placed on the list: quarterback Jordan Travis (No. 8), defensive end Jared Verse (No. 9), wide receiver Johnny Wilson (No. 61), defensive back Fentrell Cypress II (No. 65), running back Trey Benson (No. 69) and wide receiver Keon Coleman (No. 86).

Meanwhile, Bruce Feldman of The Athletic put together his annual “Freaks List,” with the following FSU players making the cut:

No. 26 Jared Verse:

At 6-3 1/2, 260 pounds, Verse power-cleans 360 pounds, squats 555 and benches 455, but he also has excellent burst, running 21.14 MPH in a game with a max acceleration of 5.85m/s with a max deceleration of -6.98m/s.

No. 28 Johnny Wilson:

At almost 6 feet 7, 239 pounds, he has 36-inch arms, 10 1/4 inch hands and a standing reach of 8-10. He also has a 35.5 inch vertical and a 10-5 broad jump. In games, he’s topped out at 21.23 MPH with a max acceleration of 5.26 m/s and has a max deceleration of -7.21 m/s.

Travis is among the 33 quarterbacks on this year’s Manning Award Watch List, while offensive lineman D’Mitri Emmanuel and Verse earned spots on the Lombard Award Watch List:

Travis, who also was named to watch lists for the Walter Camp Player of the Year, the Maxwell Award and the Davey O’Brien Award, enters the 2023 season as a Heisman Trophy candidate after a stellar 2022 campaign in which he led Florida State to its first 10-win season since 2016 and a Cheez-It Bowl victory over Oklahoma. Travis finished the 2022 season 226-of-353 passing for 3,214 yards with 24 touchdowns and only five interceptions while adding 417 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground as well as one receiving touchdown. He was PFF’s highest-graded FBS quarterback and the highest-graded offensive player in the ACC. He is the only player in program history with at least 20 touchdown passes and seven rushing touchdowns in a season, and his 32 touchdowns responsible for rank as the third-highest single-season total in program history. The West Palm Beach native became only the fourth player in FSU history – joining Heisman Trophy winners Jameis Winston, Chris Weinke and Charlie Ward – with at least 3,000 total yards and 30 total touchdowns in a season. His 3,631 yards of total offense ranked fifth on FSU’s single-season list, while his passing yards total was seventh, his passing touchdowns were tied for 10th and his completions were 14th.

Travis led the ACC and ranked third nationally with his average of 8.35 yards per play, ranked first in the conference and fifth in the country with an average of 9.10 yards per pass attempt, led the ACC and ranked eighth nationally with an average of 14.22 yards per completion and led the ACC and was 14th in the country with a pass efficiency rating of 160.1. His average of 247.2 passing yards per game, 24 total passing touchdowns and 64.0 completion percentage all ranked third in the ACC, while his 194 points responsible for and average of 279.3 yards of total offense per game were fourth in the conference.

Emmanuel helped protect quarterback Jordan Travis, who was PFF’s highest-graded quarterback nationally and the ACC’s highest-graded offensive player as Travis led ACC in yards per play, yards per pass attempt, yards per completion and pass efficiency rating. Emmanuel also paved the way for running back Trey Benson to lead the ACC with an average of 6.43 yards per rush and opened lanes as FSU topped 200 rushing yards in seven straight games, tying the school record. He also blocked as the Seminoles scored five rushing touchdowns against Florida, the highest single-game total by a Gators opponent since 1997.

Verse, who also was included on watch lists for the Chuck Bednarik Award, Walter Camp Player of the Year, Bronko Nagurski Trophy and Wuerffel Trophy and was voted to the Preseason All-ACC Team, was named a first-team All-American by The Athletic after recording 48 tackles, including 17.0 for loss with 9.0 sacks, three quarterback hurries, one fumble recovery and one blocked field goal in his first season with the Seminoles. He received the most All-ACC votes on defense while being named a first-team all-conference performer last season. The Dayton, Ohio, native was the only player in the ACC and one of two Power 5 defenders nationally with four games of 2.5 tackles for loss in 2022.

Verse led the ACC and ranked 17th in the country with his average of 0.75 sacks per game, and his average of 1.4 tackles for loss per game was second in the conference and 10th nationally. He played 12 games and had at least 0.5 tackle for loss in every game he finished, including a season-best 2.5 in four different games. In FSU’s 24-23 win over LSU, Verse registered 2.5 tackles for loss, including a career-high-tying 2.0 sacks, and one blocked field goal. He also recorded 2.5 tackles for loss, with 1.5 sacks, as part of a season-high seven tackles in FSU’s 35-32 Cheez-It Bowl win over Oklahoma.

Including Verse’s five watch list appearances and Emmanuel’s spot on the Lombardi Award Watch List, Florida State has accounted for 22 total watch list spots this season.

Running back Trey Benson is on three watch lists, appearing on the Maxwell Award Watch List, the Paul Hornung Award Watch List and the Doak Walker Award Watch List. Defensive back Fentrell Cypress II is on the Bronko Nagurski Watch List and the Jim Thorpe Award Watch List. Offensive lineman Jeremiah Byers is on the Outland Trophy Watch List, offensive lineman Maurice Smith is on the Rimington Trophy Watch List, tight end Jaheim Bell is on the watch list for the Jim Mackey Award, punter Alex Mastromanno was named to the Ray Guy Award Watch List, linebacker Tatum Bethune is on the Butkus Award Watch List and both Keon Coleman and Johnny Wilson are the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award.

Soccer

We’re just one day away from the start of the Florida State soccer season — FSU kicks off the year against Texas A&M on Thursday, one of four games set to be nationally televised in 2023:

The Seminoles will get national exposure right out of the gate as Thursday’s match at Texas A&M will be aired on SEC Network. FSU will make two appearances on ACC Network throughout the season. The Noles will first appear on ACC Network against their rival Florida on Sept. 10 at 3:30 p.m. at the Seminole Soccer Complex. The Seminoles will also appear on ACC Network against No. 3 Notre Dame on Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. in Tallahassee. The Seminoles will have one game on ESPNU when they travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face No. 2 North Carolina at noon on Sept. 24.

All Florida State home games as well as all the ACC road matchups can be seen on ACC Network Extra.

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