Florida State Football: Don’t expect instant turnaround in 2020
By Nick Fiore
Mike Norvell is looking to bring Florida State football back to the top of the college ranks, but it might take a little bit of time.
Florida State has had one of the biggest fall-offs we’ve seen in a long time. Under Jimbo Fisher and Bobby Bowden, the Seminoles were perennial national title contenders and one of the top programs in the country.
Prior to Jimbo’s departure, the last time Florida State failed to win six games was in Bowden’s first season in 1976; Willie Taggart led the Seminoles to a 5-7 record in his first season in 2018. Under Taggart, the Seminoles went 9-12 and the program completely fell apart in all aspects.
Florida State has been one of the top recruiting programs in the country, from 2000-2018 the Seminoles had a top 15 ranked recruiting class every year. In Taggart’s two years, he failed to land a top 15 class. Player development also took a hit under the since-departed head coach.
In the 2019 and 2020 NFL drafts, the two classes that would’ve been affected most by Taggart, the Seminoles had a total of three players selected, Brian Burns, Demarcus Christmas and Cam Akers. That was the lowest two year average since 1974-75 when only two Seminoles were selected.
It’s fair to say the Taggart era was a complete disaster and something the program wants to forget.
Now looking at 2020 and beyond, Florida State had arguably the biggest coaching upgrade of the offseason with the hire of Mike Norvell who had a lot of success at Memphis and created a well-oiled offensive machine while there. In his four seasons at Memphis, the Tigers averaged 41.6 points per game.
Florida State has been one of the top programs in the country for over four decades and a two-year dumpster fire won’t destroy that legacy. It might take a little time, but if Norvell really is the guy, the Seminoles will be back to relevance sooner rather than later.