Florida State football: Mike Norvell officially living up to the hype

Florida State football fans have been waiting years to hear this: the Seminoles are back.

Mike Norvell took over the program in 2020 after a very successful run at Memphis which saw him go 38-15 over four seasons. He was expected to help turn the Seminoles back into perennial contenders, but that just didn’t happen right away.

In year one, Norvell went just 3-6 and it’s hard to put too much stock in that because, well, COVID-19 affected everyone and new coaches got the short end of the stick.

In year two, he went just 5-7 and fans were starting to wonder if he was cut out for the job. He also lost five-star commit Travis Hunter after the season on signing day to Deion Sanders and Jackson State. There were fans coming out with pitchforks and torches on Twitter, calling for his job. He was just 8-13 in his first two seasons and lost his most prized recruit to an FCS program.

Florida State fans felt like they were in the middle of a nightmare.

But things turned around quickly.

Florida State football has rebounded in a big way

After that slow start to the Norvell era, he was still able to sign the No. 19 recruiting class in the country for 2022, and then his Seminoles went 10-3 with a Cheez-It Bowl win, finishing the season ranked in the top 10.

Now, heading into 2023, the Seminoles return one of the best quarterbacks in the country and they have one of the best receiving corps, too.

They’re likely to be ranked in the top 10 to start the season.

And recruiting hasn’t slowed down one bit. Norvell’s 2023 class finished No. 16 in the country and after landing five-star cornerback Charles Lester III on Friday night, the Seminoles jumped up to No. 7 overall in the 2024 class.

Norvell is building an excellent roster and his recruiting classes continue to get better. It just feels like the program has all the momentum right now and the head coach who received a ton of hype before the 2020 season only to have it crash down on him for two years is now living up to those immense expectations.

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