After a terrible season for both parties, Thomas Castellanos heads to Florida State, where the team and the player will look to rebound. The Seminoles have next to no time to gel as they'll host a loaded Alabama Football team during the first week of the season, which is a daunting task for any program, let alone one coming off of a 2-10 season.
This offseason, Thomas Castellanos talked about the challenge of facing the Crimson Tide and scoffed at the sentiment, taking a massive shot at Kalen DeBoer and Alabama.
"I dreamed of playing against Alabama, they don't have Nick Saban to save them. I just don't see them stopping me."Thomas Castellanos
The comments instantly went viral as it was incredibly bold to take a shot at Kalen DeBoer for not being Nick Saban while also giving Alabama all the bulletin board material they could ask for. The comments especially seemed out of line as Castellanos was benched last season while the Seminoles were a disaster.
While Thomas Castellanos appeared to be bold earlier in the offseason, he appears to be backtracking his comments. At a workout posted to YouTube, Thomas Castellanos talked to Alabama Wide Receiver Isaiah Horton about his comments, where he clearly changes his tune.
"If you ever watch any interview, I don’t ever talk like that. But like, them boys are coming off 2-10 — I just wanted to instill some confidence."Thomas Castellanos
While Castellanos says he was trying to instill confidence in his teammates, saying that part out loud makes it seem as if the team is lacking confidence ahead of their matchup with Alabama. It wouldn't have drawn a ton of attention if Castellanos had made the comment about beating Alabama, as he should believe he can. However, putting down Kalen DeBoer is where the most heat comes from.
Whether or not Castellanos meant to attack Alabama, his comments will be repeated in Tuscaloosa in the lead-up to the game, and he'll have to answer for them Week One.