Florida State's quartet of representatives, led by head coach Mike Norvell, were first up to the podium at Wednesday's ACC Kickoff.
But it wasn't until Norvell was wrapping up his day with local reporters that he offered a clear, confident statement on his program.
“The success is coming, I ultimately believe that,” Norvell said. “I believe it because of the players we’ve been able to recruit, the type of young men that I get to coach.”
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In addition to concluding the 2021 season with five wins in their last eight games, Norvell said the grueling offseason work his players have put in will prepare them for adversity the Saturdays to come.
“I love watching our team compete when they know it’s about to be hard -- that is the biggest difference,” Norvell said. “We go out to workouts and tell them, ‘this is going to be sixty minutes of just misery. And when they look back at you and smile and nod their head, 'here we go.' That’s the mindset.”
Though Norvell had high praise for both sides of the ball, he started with the defensive side.
“Going into last season, we knew we had a lot of young talent,” Norvell said. “We had a lot of youth, especially at linebacker and the back end. Seeing them grow, we watched it unfold. From the second half of Louisville on, it was a different defense…They communicated better, the attention to details. The understanding of coverages and fits and all those things that take time. And you see guys really emerge.”
Norvell continued on individual defensive standouts he’s seen at all three levels of the defense like redshirt juniors linebacker Kalen DeLoach and defensive back Akeem Dent.
“Kalen DeLoach in his role and what he’s done. I am so excited about what this season looks like for him,” Norvell said. “You saw Akeem Dent, who had been a corner, and safety and corner and all of those things in the first couple of years of his career. Well, we made a move and we stayed with that and you saw the confidence grow within him.”
Two more defensive back Norvell spotlighted were sophomores Omarion Cooper and Kevin Knowles. He added praise for ’Noles veteran defensive ends Dennis Briggs, Derrick McLendon, Jared Verse and Leonard Warner
“You take that, coupled with talent and growth and development, that’s what has us very excited about this year,” Norvell said. “A guy like Leonard Warner providing the example of what it needs to look like. When you have that with talent, now you've got a chance. So I’m looking forward to where we are going to go defensively.”
The optimism wasn’t reserved solely for an experienced defense, but also for the offensive line and the numbers FSU has up front. On multiple occasions Wednesday, Norvell laughed about how much deeper the situation is with the five up front.
“I am looking forward to seeing our offensive line compete during fall camp, and who emerges as those five. But in all reality, it’s going to be eight. Do we have eight, do we have nine, do we have ten?” Norvell said. “That’s where I am sitting and looking at the roster and I’m watching workouts and I feel very, very confident that we will be pushing double digits of guys that can go out there and help us win.
“Not just play games, help us win games.”
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