As Mike Norvell enters what is expected to be a make-or-break season leading the Florida State football program, he’s outwardly projected an air of confidence about his team.
He’s talked highly of the returning players, the new additions and lessons learned from last two years’ struggles that will ensure things go better this fall.
His actions, though, tell another story. It’s not that long ago that Norvell’s program was as open in terms of media access as any in college football. Writers who covered
Florida State were allowed to watch the majority of the spring and preseason practices in their entirety and watched three full practices a week for the first five seasons of Norvell’s tenure.
That went away ahead of the 2025 season, with FSU now among the least accessible programs in terms of practice viewing access.
That, in itself, was a questionable decision. After all, we were there throughout Norvell’s initial build, including the 13-0 season, and were there three times a week for the 2-10 2024 season.
So the intimation that media access had anything to do with results on the field is not based on any real evidence.
Now, Norvell is taking the idea of letting out as little information as possible to an even more extreme level this season, announcing Monday that FSU will not release any depth charts in 2026.
While some college football programs have begun not releasing depth charts until the first game in an attempt to hide as many details as possible, it’s certainly not anything close to the norm for teams to outright refuse to release depth charts.
Talking Monday about his decision, Norvell indicated it’s being made due to the players rather than due to outside perceptions.
“Right now, guys know where they are. Every player wants more. That’s what it should be,” he said. “You should want to be the starter. You should want to be the guy that plays the most plays. … But also, on the flip side of it, if we come out with a depth chart today that says, well, this is what it looks like. Throughout the course of the week, there’s ups, downs, whatever that might be. Somebody puts themselves in position, well, the best players are going to play.
“Just, go have a great week. Whatever personnel groupings, if you’re a starter in, then you’re a starter. If you’re not, then continue to work and get better and put yourself in that position.”
Considering the players certainly have a rough idea of the pecking order on the depth chart from being involved in preseason camp — even if it’s no longer being shared publicly — it’s hard to take this as the real reason.
It’s not nearly as big a deal as the other two, but FSU also elected to make Inside Seminole Football a studio show this season, removing the in-person audience, and Monday’s first edition of the season had an audio delay.
Meanwhile, second-year men’s basketball coach Luke Loucks has taken over Norvell’s former crown of the media-friendly coach in Tallahassee, with practice availability basically whenever a media member wants to go and transparent messaging.
Norvell returned the Seminoles to their former glory, albeit for just a brief spell, on the basis of transparency and that it was not a necessary competitive advantage to conform to the restricted access pretty much all of the rest of college football coaches utilized. He proved that thought process correct during a 19-game win streak spanning the 2022 and ‘23 seasons.
But now, as the walls continue to close in more and more, that tune has changed. It’s hard not to feel like Norvell now believes he needs every smidge of competitive advantage he can manage by limiting intel.
Norvell’s words are saying one thing. But his actions are saying quite another.
