Recruiting
- QUARTERBACK: 4 star Jaden O’Neal (OK)
- WIDE RECEIVER: 3 star Jonah “JP” Winston (AL)
- WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Efrem White (FL)
- WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Brandon Bennett (FL)
- WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Devin Carter (GA)
- WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Jasen Lopez (FL)
- TIGHT END: 4 star Xaiver Tiller (GA)
- OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star Da’Ron Parks (FL)
- OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Mike Ionata (FL)
- OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Jakobe Green (FL)
- OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Luke Francis (London, UK)
- DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star Earnest Rankins (GA)
- DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Tico Crittendon (GA)
- DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Wihtlley Cadeau (GA)
- DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Judah Daniels (FL)
- LINEBACKER: 4 star Izayia Williams (FL)
- LINEBACKER: 3 star Karon Maycock (FL)
- LINEBACKER: 3 star Noah LaVallee (GA)
- DEFENSIVE BACK: 5 star Chauncey Kennon (FL)
- DEFENSIVE BACK: 4 star Darryl Bell III (FL)
- DEFENSIVE BACK: 4 star Tedarius Hughes (FL)
- DEFENSIVE BACK: 4 star Jay Timmons (PA)
- DEFENSIVE BACK: 3 star Sean Johnson (MD)
- ATHLETE: 4 star Darryon Williams (FL)
Football
FSU fell ten spots in the AP Top 25 after suffering its first loss of the season, dropping to No. 18 (No. 19 in the Coaches) ahead of this week’s matchup vs. Miami:
FanDuel currently lists the Seminoles
as 5.5-point underdogs to the No. 2 Hurricanes, with the over/under set at 54.5.
Jordan Silversmith offered his thoughts on FSU’s loss, centered around the idea that growing pains finally came into play for a Florida State team working in new schemes on each side of the ball:
Curt Weiler says the loss was a reality check for FSU, who still has plenty ahead of it with September coming to a close:
Bill Connelly’s SP+ analytics showed just how slim the margins were in FSU’s loss to Virginia, with the Cavaliers having just a 35.1% postgame win expectancy — FSU’s win over Alabama, for example, had one of 95.4%:
SP+ also projects this week’s game to be a 30-27 Miami win:
All Sports
FSU volleyball (7-4, 1-1) took down Clemson in its ACC opener on Friday before falling in three sets (19-25, 19-25, 23-25) to Georgia Tech on Sunday:
FSU has now won 20 consecutive matches against the Tigers dating back to 2010.
Both teams got off to a good start offensively in set one, but the Noles made some key plays down the stretch to take the opening set 25-20. Neither team had a lead larger than two until the Noles got a kill from Iane Henke and an attack error to go up 18-15. The Tigers clawed back to get within one at 20-19, but the Noles ended the set on a 5-1 run to close out the set. The Noles hit .385, but tallied three blocks compared to Clemson’s zero to separate themselves.
The Noles were dominant in the second set as they cruised to a 25-13 victory as the offense continued to roll with a .429 hitting percentage. Henke began to heat up as she recorded five kills in the set to lead the Noles.
The Tigers gained some momentum in the third set and were able to shut down the Noles’ offense to take the third set 25-21.
The Tigers looked to have kept the momentum from the third set into set four as it jumped out to an 8-4 lead, but the Noles stormed back and used a 7-0 run to take a commanding 14-9 lead. The Noles never looked back as the Tigers never got within four as FSU secured the win with a 25-20 victory.
The dynamic duo of Henke and Kyleene Filimaua was phenomenal once again as Henke put down 20 kills which is a career-best for the senior in the Garnet and Gold. Filimaua added 17 kills on 37 attempts for a .432 hitting percentage. The Noles also got a career match from Lexie Mason who had a career-high eight kills for the Seminoles. Middle blockers Nenu Kpea and Delaney Ewing each had eight kills to go with eight combined blocks. Lily Nicholson added a season-best 29 assists and 15 digs for the Noles.
Against Georgia Tech, Iane Henke once again led the Noles as she had a career-high 21 kills on 46 attempts for FSU. Henke had 20 kills on Friday night against Clemson and is the first Seminole since Audrey Koenig in 2023 to have back-to-back 20+ kill matches.
Both teams got off to a good start offensively in set one, but the Yellow Jackets were able to stifle the Seminoles in the last half of the set as the Noles fell 25-19.
The Yellow Jackets once again controlled the last half of the set in set two to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Noles had their best set in the third as they were the first to 15 thanks to an ace from Caylan Russ. The Noles led 21-19 and looked to be in control, but the Yellow Jackets stormed back to take six out of the next eight points to take the match.
The Noles will be back in action next Friday at Wake Forest at 6:30 p.m.
Florida State men’s tennis concluded the first two competitions of the fall season on Sunday, wrapping up play at the Bedford Cup and ITA All-American Championship:
The Seminoles sent Corey Craig,Gabriele Brancetelli, Luis Felipe Miguel (Goiania, Brazil) (Goiania, Brazil), and Erik Schiessl to the ITA All-American Championship on September 20-28 in Tulsa. At the same time, Azariah Rusher, Justin Lyons, Mohammad Alkotop, and Oren Ezerzer competed at home for the Bedford cup on September 26-28.
No. 8 Craig took the round of 64 battle of the main singles draw into a tiebreaker against Alexander Frusina, 6-7, 7-6 (7), before dropping two straight sets to Vignesh Gogineni of Yale University, 2-6, 3-6.
Schiessl dropped his first match of the tournament in the singles qualifying round of 64 with a two-set loss to Roger Ferra Pascual of TCU (2-6, 1-6). Schiessl won the qualifiers round of 32 of the consolation round against Preston Stearns of Ohio State (6-4, 3-6, 6-2).
Brancetelli fell to Julian Alonso Vivanco of TCU in two sets (3-6, 2-6), before picking up his first win in three sets to Alex Finkelstein of SMU (3-6, 6-3, 6-2).
On Friday, Rusher, Lyons, Alkotop and Ezerzer highlighted the first day of the Bedford Cup, with all four finishing 3-0 in singles play. Lyons kicked off the tournament for FSU with a straight-set win over Stefan Correa of Florida Gulf Coast (6-4, 6-2).
Rusher also earned a dominant straight-set victory of FGCU’s Christopher Smith (6-0, 6-0) and later partnered with Alkotop for a doubles win over Stavros Hadjivarnava and Harry Micahlowski from FGCU, 8-3.
In the afternoon, Ezerzer rallied for a straight-set singles victory before teaming up with Lyons for 8-4 doubles win against Rafael Segado Esteve and Mehdi Sadaoui of Miami.
Lyons capped off a strong day with another singles win, outlasting UCF’s Luca Hotze in a tiebreaker: 6-7, 6-2, (10-6).
On Saturday, Alkotop, Rusher and Ezerzer extended their win streaks in the quarterfinals, once again going 3-0. Rusher and Mohammed then punched their ticket to the doubles final with a pair of wins over UCF’s Kai–Luca Ampaw and Nicolas Oliveria, 8-1, 8-6.
Sunday’s competition saw Alkotop and Rusher with a perfect 4-0 on the weekend in doubles after defeating Jonathan Baron/Tanner Povey of FGCU (8-6).
Florida State swimming and diving recorded 32 event victories in 44 total events in the season-opening FSU Invite:
The women scored 360 points to defeat Rice (255) and West Virginia (205.5), while the men totaled 365 points to finish ahead of Purdue (239), West Virginia (186.5) and Tampa (167.5).
“This was a really great day,” FSU head coach Neal Studd said. “We came out and got the job done and had some really fast swims across the board. I feel like we’re ahead of where we need to be, which is really exciting. The last two years this meet has been canceled because of hurricanes, so it’s really great to get it in, and I think everybody had a great time and competed well.”
FSU won 16 of 22 events again on Saturday morning, with a pair of 1-2-3 finishes and another two 1-2 showings. Sophomore Michel Arkhangelsky won four total events, two individual and two relays, while fellow second-year Maryn McDade added two individual victories along with a relay win.
After notching 16 wins on Friday night, Florida State carried that momentum into the second day by sweeping the first event, the 100 medley relay. The women’s team behind sophomore Alice Velden, freshman Martina Fanunza, McDade and senior Kiara Caamano finished with a time of 45.52, followed by the men’s team of seniors Max Wilson and Marcos Egri-Martin, Arkhangelsky and senior Sam Bork in 37.74.
McDade notched her first individual victory in the 50 butterfly in 23.98 before Arkhangelsky posted his first individual win in 20.77. Bork (20.85) was second as the Seminoles went 1-2 in the event. Both McDade and Arkangelsky returned later in the day to sweep the 100 freestyle, in 50.03 and 42.75, respectively.
After winning two individual events on Friday night in her collegiate debut, Fanunza collected her third individual victory of the weekend in the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.99 to lead a 1-2-3 FSU finish alongside fellow freshmen Avery Vassil (1:04.07) and Caroline Agee (1:04.18).
Senior Sophie Freeman recorded her first individual win of the season in the 200 butterfly in 2:00.62, while sophomore Logan Robinson secured his third win of the weekend in the 200 butterfly to complete another Seminole sweep in 1:43.83.
On the springboard, sophomore Evelyn Hall earned the win on 1-meter with 252.00 points, while the men had a 1-2-3 finish on 3-meter. Sophomore Hayden Schroeder led the way with 288.75 points, followed by junior Jack Bessire (282.95) and freshman Jack Sparks (277.25).
Velden (24.52) and senior Sarah Evans (25.42) went 1-2 in the women’s 50 backstroke and Wilson (22.05) won the men’s race. Agee added a victory in the 200 IM (2:02.79) for her first collegiate victory.
The Seminoles closed the meet with sweeps in the 200 freestyle relay. The women’s team of McDade, Evans, Caamano, and junior Maysa Ratiu took first in 1:31.68, and the men joined them in victory in 1:17.63 with Bork, junior Gustav Olsson, Wilson, and Arkhangelsky.
FSU will head to Atlanta, Georgia next to compete in the Georgia Tech’s Dual Meet Tournament on October 17-18.
