Noles News: FSU monitoring Hurricane Idalia, athletics still to “continue as scheduled”

With Hurricane Idalia bearing down on the state and on a trajectory towards Tallahassee, Florida State University has announced the cancellation of classes for the remainder of the week — but, pending the aftermath of the storm, currently scheduled FSU games and athletic events this week will “continue as scheduled unless circumstances require a change:”

Florida State’s indoor volleyball team will host SMU at 6:00 p.m. Friday and Auburn on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in Tully Gym with Auburn playing SMU Saturday at 1:00 p.m. in Tully.

FSU’s soccer game against South Florida at home on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. also remains on the schedule.

The Seminole men’s and women’s cross country teams are already on site for the season-opening Firetower Challenge in Boone, N.C. and that event is also expected to take place.

The FSU vs. LSU football game at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Fla. on Sunday also remains unchanged.

Any change in the status of any competitions will be announced as soon as it has been determined.

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

Florida State officially kicked off game week practice on Tuesday, getting in a solid day of work as it potentially is set to miss at least Wednesday practice due to Hurricane Idalia — though yesterday before the storm intensified, head coach Mike Norvell said that he still anticipated the team will meet:

“We’re tracking that hourly, if we need to adapt and adjust then we will, but right now, tomorrow is going to be a lighter day, kind of a big mental day for us and we’ll see what it looks like when we get to that point.

PFF’s Max Chadwick sat down with Trey Benson and Johnny Wilson, speaking about the duo’s journey to Florida State and the success that’s followed:

Florida State running back Trey Benson and wide receiver Johnny Wilson are both top-10 players at their respective positions and each is among the top 35 prospects on PFF’s 2024 NFL Draft big board. Before they reached superstar status, though, the two went through some of the most difficult periods of their lives.

Benson tore his ACL, MCL, lateral meniscus, medial meniscus and gracilis tendon (hamstring). Following a lengthy recovery, he played just 14 snaps in 2021 before deciding to enter the transfer portal.

He was joined there by Johnny Wilson, who was having issues of his own. Despite being a four-star recruit, Wilson had tallied just 12 catches for 148 yards across his first two seasons at Arizona State.

Benson set the single-season PFF record for forced missed tackle rate in 2022. His 79 forced missed tackles trailed only Bijan Robinson and Chase Brown among Power Five running backs, who each received over 100 more carries than Benson.

As for Wilson, he went from an underutilized receiver at Arizona State to one of college football’s most relied-on weapons at Florida State. In 2022, the redshirt sophomore led all Power Five receivers in yards per route run.

PFF also broke down its preseason 2024 NFL Draft big board of top 50 prospects, on which the following Florida State players were included:

• No. 6: Defensive end Jared Verse

Verse would’ve been a top-10 pick if he had decided to enter the 2023 NFL Draft.

Verse didn’t have a single FBS offer coming out of high school. He committed to Albany and worked to become an FCS All-American before transferring to Florida State in 2022. Last season, he showed the college football world he was not only ready to play with top-level competition but dominate it.

He’s a very powerful player with an explosive first step, violent movements and a good understanding of pass-rush plans, as evidenced by his 23.4% pass-rush win rate. Despite only one year of FBS ball, his pass-rush acumen is well beyond his years of experience. He has the power, speed and violence combination every team covets off the edge.

• No. 19: Wide receiver Keon Coleman

Normal 6-foot-4, 215-pound receivers don’t move the way Keon Coleman does. He was a two-sport athlete in high school, playing both football and basketball, and he was so good at both that he even played for Tom Izzo’s men’s basketball team at Michigan State for one season while also contributing at wide receiver on the football team.

His body is well filled out, and that gives him a lot of strength at the catch point. Go pop on the Michigan tape from 2022, and you’ll see a player who simply would not be denied the football when it was in his vicinity, no matter how many defenders were near him or even on him.

He’s an “X” receiver type who came down with 12 contested catches and recorded a 60% contested catch percentage last season. Now at Florida State, he’ll have quarterback Jordan Tavis throwing him the football, which could lead to his most productive season yet.

• No. 29: Wide receiver Johnny Wilson

Anyone in the scouting realm, no matter their level of experience, has, at one time, fallen for a big, strong, contested-catch receiver who didn’t pan out in the pros. I certainly can raise my hand on that (J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Kelvin Harmon are two who come to mind). But Wilson has me believing again.

Wilson isn’t just big. He’s really big. 6-foot-6 and 237 pounds, to be exact. Both of those numbers are in the 98th percentile for the position. But he appears to have some finesse in his game to go along with his dominant size. His physical advantage will obviously be his bread and butter, but taking into account weight-adjusted expectation, he actually gets off the line of scrimmage and seems to break on his routes better than most who would carry the “big WR” label. He’s a true “X” receiver who also has reps of strong blocking.

• No. 35: Running back Trey Benson

Benson’s 2022 season was fantastic. After transferring from Oregon, he became the Seminoles’ starter and had a dynamic season. He finished the year with a 91.3 rushing grade and an impressive 0.51 missed tackles forced per attempt. The latter figure is the highest average that PFF has recorded in the past 10 years.

He’s a back who has the vision, patience and footwork to consistently find open space, and then the playmaking mentality to make guys miss when he gets there. With adequate long speed, as well, Benson presents an alluring skill set and RB1 potential.

Soccer

Ahead of its home opener vs. USF, Florida State soccer mantains its No. 2 ranking in the United State Soccer Coaches Poll:

Baseball

All Sports

Former Florida State tennis player Aziz Dougaz played in the US Open qualifying round Wednesday against Edoardo Lavagno:

After multiple rain delays, Dougaz emerged with a 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, three-set-victory over Lavagno and advanced to play No. 25 Nicolas Moreno De Alboran.

“Aziz has worked really hard the last couple of years to put himself in position to play in Grand Slams and we were excited to see his win and to see him continuing on in the tournament,” head coach Dwayne Hultquist said.

Dougaz recently competed in the qualifying round of Wimbledon earlier this summer and reached a new career high in ATP points with 238.

“We are really pleased with all of our ex-players doing so well right now, with multiple Florida State men’s tennis alumni reaching career highs and winning tournaments this summer,” head coach Dwayne Hultquist said.

Dougaz is one of a few Seminoles making noise this summer with Alex Knaff, Lucas Poullain, Ben Lock and Guy Iradukunda all achieving career highs or winning tournaments this summer.