Noles News: FSU returns nation-leading 87% of production for 2023 season

Feb 8, 2023 - 11:00 AM

Recruiting

With Signing Day officially in the book, attention has been fully turned towards the 2024 recruiting class — you can catch up on all the latest Florida State football recruiting news and pick the brains of our recruiting staff in the latest edition of our recruiting thread.

Class of 2024 commitments

QUARTERBACK: 4 star Luke Kromenhoek (GA)

RUNNING BACK: 5 star Kam Davis (GA)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Camdon Frier (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Tawaski “TJ” Abrams (FL)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Keishawn Mashburn (FL)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Jamorie Flagg (FL)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 4 star Jordan Pride (FL)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 4 star CJ Heard (GA)

KICKER: Jake Weinberg (FL)

Football

ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrote about which teams are bringing back what production in 2023 — and the Seminoles are leading the pack:

Brace yourself, friends: We’re going to be talking about the Noles quite a bit in 2023. After winning their last six games of 2022 to finish with double-digit wins for the first time in six years, Mike Norvell and Florida State have entered the offseason with the most returning production in all of the FBS.

At the moment, FSU returns 87% of last year’s production — 80% on offense (11th overall) and 94% on defense (second). The Seminoles lead the way in this year’s rankings, while other teams with exciting 2022 stories have plenty to be encouraged about as well.

Optimism is rampant in Tallahassee, and it’s not hard to see why. After a midseason funk left the Noles 4-3, they ignited down the stretch, and now they return virtually everyone responsible for that ignition, from quarterback Jordan Travis to running back Trey Benson, receiver Johnny Wilson, 3½ offensive line starters and almost every primary defender (including star edge rusher Jared Verse).

It also appears Norvell aced the transfer portal for the second year in a row, bringing in reinforcements on both lines (most notably Western Michigan defensive tackle Braden Fiske and UTEP offensive tackle Jeremiah Byers) and adding Virginia cornerback Fentrell Cypress II, among others.

This piece probably won’t help tamp down any growing hype, nor will Mark Schlabach’s Way-Too-Early rankings, in which he placed the Seminoles fourth. But they aren’t going to project in the SP+ top five because they finished only 27th last year.

They were 38th when their rebound started, and while they drastically overachieved projections in the weeks that followed, (A) SP+ caught up over the final two weeks, posting pretty accurate projections for the wins over Florida and Oklahoma, and (B) Florida (34th) and Oklahoma (20th) were the only two teams Florida State beat in its winning streak that finished in the SP+ top 60. FSU beat each team by one score, which suggests that a year-end ranking in the 20s makes sense.

Still, the Noles are back in the national consciousness, they should absolutely be projected in the SP+ top 15 or so, and their 2023 schedule doesn’t feature an obvious, likely loss. They are going to be a story.

On the latest episode of Behind the Mic, Jeff Culhane dove a bit more into those numbers alongside other FSU content:

Basketball

Another week, another honor for Florida State women’s basketball guard Ta’Niya Latson, who was selected to the Naismith Women’s Player of the Year Midseason Team.

From FSU Sports Info:

Latson continues to lead the ACC in scoring at 22.5 points per game, and also leads the conference with 191 made field goals, 172 free throw attempts and 149 made free throws. She became the fastest Seminole ever to 500 points scored in a season, completing the threshold in just 21 games played.

The dominant freshman has already set an FSU single-season record with six 30-point games this year against Kent State (34), Florida (32), Texas Southern (34), Georgia Tech (32), Clemson (31) and NC State (31). She also leads the Seminoles with 44 steals and is second with 20 blocked shots.

Florida State men’s hoops is set to face off against the Syracuse Orange tonight at home — the Seminoles are currently a two-point underdog according to DraftKings.

Baseball

FSU baseball released an updated broadcast schedule on Tuesday for the 2023 season:

Feb. 19 vs. James Madison – 12:00 p.m.Feb. 24-26 at TCU – all games on Big 12 Now

March 18 vs. Boston College – 8:00 p.m. on ACC Network

March 21 vs. Florida – 7:00 p.m. on ACC Network

March 28 vs. Florida in Jacksonville – 7:00 p.m. on ACC Network

April 1 at Miami – 7:00 p.m. on ACC Network

April 2 at Miami – 2:00 p.m. on ESPNU

April 6 vs. Clemson – 8:00 p.m. on ACC Network

April 15 at NC State – 7:00 p.m. on ACC Network

April 21 vs. Virginia Tech – 8:00 p.m. on ACC Network

April 29 at Notre Dame – 4:00 p.m. on ACC Network

April 30 at Notre Dame – 3:00 p.m. on ESPN2

May 18 at Louisville – 7:00 p.m. on ACC Network

All games not listed will be shown on either ACC Network Extra or ESPN+.

Softball

All Sports

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