Florida State’s offense answered the defense’s dominant showing from a week ago, with the Seminoles wrapping up their final full-contact practice of the spring Saturday in what head coach Mike Norvell called the best offensive performance of the spring.
“Really a great response from a week ago, where the defense really took control of scrimmage,” he said during a Zoom with reporters. “There were big plays vertically, I thought the run game was able to get established. I thought running backs ran hard,
fighting for yards, O-line played well together.”
The offense highlighted the day with two drives of more than 90 yards in backed-up situations. Wide receiver Devin Carter had a big vertical play to help spark one of those drives, while Norvell said the staff intentionally limited wide receiver Duce Robinson’s workload to get others extended looks.
Wide receiver EJ White, returning from roughly two weeks of limited participation with a leg injury, turned in what Norvell described as a strong first full day back. The group’s overall performance drew praise from Norvell, who noted the importance of consistency rather than isolated plays: “to see them put together consistently putting plays together versus different looks — that’s what you want.”
The Seminoles ran 19 consecutive reps at the goal line in a dedicated drill, with the offense edging the defense 10-8. Running back Ousmane Kromah had a pair of tough runs, and Norvell praised the physicality on both sides.
“It was a good drill, both sides had their moments,” he said. “There were a couple plays where you felt penetration from the defensive line, shooting a gap, playing aggressive. And then there’s certain times where it’s a scrum, it’s just a fight — a lot of bodies, everybody pushing, fighting for leverage, angles.”
“There were a handful of passes in those situations that I thought the quarterbacks, receivers — everybody did a good job maximizing the space when we did throw the football down there. It was definitely a very physical drill.“
On defense, safety Jordan Crutchfield had an interception and edge rusher Jalen Anderson recorded a sack in a two-minute situation. Linebacker Karon Maycock also drew praise from Norvell.
The quarterback competition between Ashton Daniels and Kevin Sperry remained open heading into Monday and Wednesday’s final two spring practices. Norvell said a resolution that extended into the summer would not hinder preparation, citing the staff’s familiarity with both players after a full spring.
“You always have a plan for what guys have shown that they are most confident in, what they execute best,” Norvell said. “When it comes to our offense, I feel confident that we’ve got the people in place, the schemes in place — we can be very, very successful.”
Norvell said both quarterbacks managed the offense well Saturday, extending plays and showing command of newly installed concepts the staff added during the week.
“Both those guys had really good plays today, and showed good control. They managed the offense well, were able to extend some plays, and then made pretty good decisions for the most part,” he said. “We did install a few things here this week that, after going through spring and saying, ‘all right, I think these couple of concepts, or different elements can help each of these guys in certain ways,’ and they showed that to be true. I liked what I saw from them, and just their control and command of the offense.”
The Seminoles have just two practices remaining, ones that Norvell emphasized will be crucial in setting the standard ahead of the summer.
“We’ll go Monday, Wednesday this next week, cleaning up some of the mistakes that came out today, and just continuing to show where guys are gonna begin when we get back here this fall,” he said.
“The majority of our football team is here, so every day that we come out here and we go to work, I mean, we need to see ascension. We need to see if guys want to be in that front line — well, you’ve got to go earn the frontline reps through your action, and everybody can talk about it, everybody can say what they’re expecting to do, but if it’s not showing up, then obviously you’ll be out of luck when it comes to that. I’m pleased with what I’ve seen for this spring up to this point, but still some work we’re gonna finish up here this next week.“
The full interview can be seen below.
