Noles News: Vegas has Clemson as slight ACC favorite over FSU

Recruiting

You can catch up on all the latest Florida State football recruiting news and pick the brains of our recruiting staff in the latest edition of our recruiting thread.

Florida State 2024 recruiting class

QUARTERBACK: 4 star Luke Kromenhoek (GA)

RUNNING BACK: 4 star Kam Davis (GA)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Camdon Frier (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Tawaski “TJ” Abrams (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)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star DD Holmes (DC)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Jamorie Flagg (FL)

LINEBACKER: 3 star Jayden Parrish (FL)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 4 star Ricky Knight III

DEFENSIVE BACK: 3 star CJ Heard (GA)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 3 star Rydarrius “Red” Morgan (AL)

KICKER: 3 star Jake Weinberg (FL)

Football

Originally favorite the favorite to win the conference, FSU now has the second-highest odds to take home the ACC Championship with DraftKings slotting the Seminoles (+150) slightly behind Clemson (+145).

FSU remains a 2.5-point underdog to the Tigers, with that line having held steady since opening.

247Sports has a different opinion — the network ran a poll of its writers, choosing its own All-ACC selections and preseason conference favorite.

Florida State received the following nods:

• ACC Player of the Year: Jordan Travis
• ACC Defensive Player of the Year: Jared Verse
• ACC Coach of the Year: Mike Norvell
• ACC Game of the Year: FSU vs. Clemson

And as far as predicted ACC results:

1. Florida State Seminoles, 298 (12 first-place votes)
2. Clemson Tigers, 296 (10)
3. North Carolina Tar Heels, 242
4. Miami Hurricanes, 219
5. NC State Wolfpack, 186
6. Duke Blue Devils, 181
7. Louisville Cardinals, 179
8. Pittsburgh Panthers, 177
9. Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 134
10. Syracuse Orange, 95
11. Virginia Tech Hokies, 92
12. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, 73
13. Boston College Eagles, 63
14. Virginia Cavaliers, 42

This is the year Florida State breaks through and wins the ACC Championship, according to 247Sports’ panel. The vote was close. Clemson garnered 10 picks and Florida State eeked out the win with 12 votes, making this our second-tightest decision behind 247Sports’ Big Ten panel.

A victory by Florida State could signal a changing of the guard. Clemson’s decade-long run of titles was built on developing high school recruits. Florida State is trying win with a mix of home-developed talent and a healthy dose of transfers. Dabo Swinney has mostly avoided the portal because of the program’s success (and retention), but with the Tigers slipping and the Seminoles gaining ground over the last two seasons, the opening seems to be there for Norvell to capitalize on the backs of transfers like Verse and Keon Coleman.

Our position-by-position Mount Rushmore series inducted another quartet yesterday, with the latest class being the top four Florida State offensive tackles in program history as chosen by you, our dear Tomahawk Nation readers — Walter Jones, Alex Barron, Pat Tomberlin and Walter Jones.

Previous results

Quarterbacks: Charlie Ward, Chris Weinke, Jameis Winston, Jordan Travis

Running Backs: Warrick Dunn, Dalvin Cook, Greg Allen, Amp Lee

Wide Receivers: Peter Warrick, Fred Biletnikoff, Rashad Greene, Ron Sellers

Tight Ends: Nick O’Leary, Pat Carter, Lonnie Johnson, Melvin Pearsall

Basketball

Rising sophomore guard Ta’Niya Latson as been selected as one of 25 semifinalists for the 93rd AAU James E. Sullivan Award, given to the top collegiate or Olympic-level athlete in the United States:

In addition to athletic excellence, the AAU Sullivan Award aims to recognize the qualities of leadership, citizenship, character, and sportsmanship on and off the field.

The native of Miami, Fla., produced one of the most remarkable freshman seasons in women’s college basketball history last year. Latson established the ACC’s single-season freshman scoring record with 659 total points and became the first freshman ever to lead the league in scoring with 21.3 points per game.

Latson’s seven 30-point games in 2022-23 set an FSU single-season record, as she recorded half of the ACC’s 14 30-point games. At one point, she owned an incredible streak of 14 straight games with 20 or more points – the second-longest streak by a freshman in NCAA Men’s or Women’s Basketball and the longest since Trae Young (18 games).

The one-week voting period to determine the six finalists opens to the public beginning on July 12 at https://bit.ly/93rdSullivanSemiFinalists. Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, July 19. The public can vote once a day for their choice, up until the voting closes.

This year’s winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on Tuesday, September 19 at the historic New York Athletic Club (NYAC) – the birthplace of the AAU.

This year’s group of semi-finalists, each nominated by their respective school or national governing body, includes:

— Amit Elor, Wrestling, USA Wrestling

— Anastasija Zolotic, Taekwondo, USA Taekwondo

— Angel Reese, Basketball, LSU Tigers

— Aria Fischer, Water Polo, USA Water Polo / Stanford Cardinal

— Brock Bowers, Football, Georgia Bulldogs

— Caitlin Clark, Basketball, Iowa Hawkeyes

— Caleb Williams, Football, USC Trojans

— Devon Witherspoon, Football, Illinois Fighting Illini

— Dylan Crews, Baseball, USA Baseball / LSU Tigers

— Gordon Sargent, Golf, Vanderbilt Commodores

— Jessie Diggins, Cross-Country Skiing, U.S. Ski and Snowboard

— Jordan Chiles, Gymnastics, USA Gymnastics / UCLA Bruins

— Jordan Crooks, Swimming, Tennessee Volunteers

— Jordan Stolz, Speed Skating, U.S. Speed Skating

— Kate Douglass, Swimming, USA Swimming / Virginia Cavaliers

— Logan Eggleston, Volleyball, Texas Longhorns

— Madison Chock and Evan Bates, Figure Skating, U.S. Figure Skating

— Maya Brady, Softball, UCLA Bruins

— Mykolas Alekna, Track and Field, Cal Golden Bears

— Rose Zhang, Golf, Stanford Cardinal

— Sakura Kokumai, Karate, USA Karate

— Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Track and Field, USA Track and Field

— Ta’Niya Latson, Basketball, Florida State Seminoles

— Zach Edey, Basketball, Purdue Boilermakers

Baseball

Noles247’s Brett Nevitt reporting some major news on Wednesday, with 6-foot-3, 175-pound JUCO commit pitcher Gavin Adams choosing to continue his career in Tallahassee after not signing with the Washington Nationals. Adams was the 315th overall pick, chosen in round 11.

You can keep up with all the latest off-season movements and shakings in our Florida State baseball off-season news thread.

Former Florida State baseball head coach Mike Martin has been named the recipient of the 2024 ABCA/Wilson Lefty Gomez Award, “resented to an individual who has contributed significantly to the game of baseball locally, nationally and internationally:”

The Lefty Gomez Award is presented by Wilson Sporting Goods and will be awarded during the Hall of Fame Banquet at the ABCA Convention on Friday, Jan. 5, 2024, in Dallas, Texas.

Martin’s legendary coaching career began in 1980 when he became the head baseball coach at Florida State after having served as an assistant for the Seminoles for five seasons. Over the next 40 years, his teams would make 17 College World Series appearances while qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in each of his 40 seasons.

Inducted into the ABCA Hall of Fame in 2007, Martin called it a career following the 2019 season, retiring as the NCAA’s all-time winningest coach in any sport with a record 2,029 career victories. The 13-time conference Coach of the Year led the Seminoles to 11 Metro Conference titles and nine ACC titles, while producing eight National Players of the Year and four Golden Spikes Award winners.

Off the field, Martin’s student-athletes were selected to the academic team of distinction 72 times since its 2006 inception, while leading the ACC six times in 13 years. Three of Martin’s players earned ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors on five occasions, while his teams were twice honored with the ACC Sportsmanship Award.

In addition to his work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and in the Tallahassee community, the 47-year Lifetime ABCA Member has been a featured clinician at several ABCA Conventions.

In 2019, Martin was honored with induction into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame, and in 2020, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association named its National Coach of the Year Award in his honor.

Soccer

Florida State soccer has announced its 2023 schedule, its second campaign under head coach Brian Pesnky:

After an exhibition matchup at UCF on August 11, the Seminoles will be challenged early with two road matches against Texas A&M (Aug. 17) and TCU (Aug. 20). The Seminoles will return for their home opener against USF at 2 p.m. on Sept. 3. After a quick trip to Jacksonville to face North Florida, the Seminoles will host rival Florida on Sept. 10 at 3:30 p.m. The Seminoles begin ACC play with three consecutive road matches at Clemson, Syracuse and North Carolina. The Seminoles will host Miami for their ACC home opener on Sept. 29,

And here’s a little bit extra with your daily Noles News, free of charge (don’t get used to it though, mooches) — some analysis by the one and only Prince Akeem Joeffer:

First impression is that the home slate isn’t too exciting. No UNC, Duke or UVA.ND would normally be enticing but they lost so many players that I think they will take a big step back.

The Pitt game is the only one that FSU has any real shot at losing at home and even that is a bit of a stretch barring injuries.

The away schedule is much more interesting as FSU goes to UNC, Duke, TCU and Clemson (not as good as FSU but could be tricky on the road).All of those teams were in the RPI top 25 last year.

Overall, barring injuries this schedule sets up solid for the Noles.

My prediction is that they lose once in the ACC (most likely in Chapel Hill) and win the rest of the ACC games.

The TCU game will be tricky in the non-con but I have the Seminoles getting at least a draw from that game.

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