9/30/2022 football Edit

Breaking the Rock: The origins, process of FSU's post-win tradition

FSU wide receiver Johnny Wilson breaks the rock after the Seminoles' 35-31 win at Louisville on Sept. 16, 2022. (FSU sports information)

Curt Weiler • TheOsceola

Senior Writer

It’s hard to think of a much more emphatic way to celebrate a win than slamming a sledgehammer into a piece of concrete with the opponent’s logo on it.

It makes for quite an exclamation point for the Florida State football team.

But early in Mike Norvell’s FSU tenure, the Seminoles didn’t get to participate in the tradition very frequently. In his first 13 games in Tallahassee, FSU was 3-10 under Norvell, leaving quite a few rocks unbroken.

That tune has changed dramatically in the 12 games since. The No. 23 Seminoles (4-0, 2-0 in ACC) are 9-3 since last year’s 0-4 start entering Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. home game vs. No. 22 Wake Forest (3-1, 0-1) on ABC.

As FSU has been breaking more rocks in the locker room recently with its winning ways, it seemed like the right time to explore the tradition, its origin, its process and its symbolism.

It began with an email to an FSU spokesperson, but as it turns out, it didn’t need to go nearly that far.

“It's kind of funny, we'll have high school programs reach out all the time like, ‘Hey, who makes those for you? What's that cost to get done?,’” FSU’s director of strength and conditioning Josh Storms told the Osceola. “I just laugh like, ‘Man, those are five dollars at Lowe’s for some landscape pavers and some spray paint.’ ”

The origin

Storms has seen rocks broken after wins for over a decade now.

The first time he experienced it was in 2012 when he was at Arizona State. He had been there since 2005, but that was the year that Shawn Griswold took over as ASU football’s head of strength and conditioning and Norvell arrived as ASU’s new offensive coordinator under Todd Graham.

They were part of a pair of 10-win seasons and then Norvell took Storms with him to Memphis ahead of the 2016 season to be the Tigers’ director of athletic performance.

“At Memphis, we continued that tradition, but I put a little bit of a different spin on it as to some of the meaning behind it and a few symbolic things that we do with it,” Storms said. “I felt that bonded the guys to the tradition a little bit more and engrained it as a part of the culture. I use it as an example of some of the qualities that our team is about, demonstrated by members of this team.”

Norvell and his staff picked up right where previous Memphis head coach Justin Fuente left off, breaking the rock 38 times in 53 games before Norvell was hired as FSU’s new head coach on Dec. 8, 2019. Storms followed him to Tallahassee, with his hire being announced a few weeks later on Dec. 28.

The process

For Storms and his staff, the process of creating the rocks begins months before any of them are broken.

In May, when the players are busy with the end of their academic semester, he and his staff members begin the process of making the rocks.

For as good as the rocks look – clean golden logos embossed onto pieces on concrete – they are quite simple to make. Just concrete pavers ($4.38 each at Lowe’s), stencils of FSU’s upcoming opponents from logos found on the internet and about 50 dollars worth of gold spray paint.

Over those few weeks in May, FSU’s S&C staff make all of the rocks for the upcoming season.

“It’s a bit of arts and crafts time for the staff, getting those all painted, getting them looking sharp for the season,” Storms jokes.

When the players begin their summer workouts, all 12 of the postgame rocks with the opponents’ logos on them are on display in FSU’s weight room, a constant reminder of what is ahead come that fall.

The first of two rocks broken during the lead-up to the season occurs at the end of FSU’s intensive summer workout program. Fifth-year defensive tackle Robert Cooper did the honors this past July.

The second time FSU breaks a rock before the season begins is after the Seminoles’ final preseason practice before they turn the page to the first game week of the season. Starting quarterback Jordan Travis was selected to break that rock ahead of the 2022 season.

“We'll choose a guy then that had a great camp and has shown leadership and shown he’s a true Seminole. It’s always a hard decision because you have so many guys that are worthy of that. It’s always difficult picking who that one guy is,” Storms said. “That’s why a lot of times, we’ll try to find a guy who will also have a good message, who will be able to speak from his heart to his teammates. Those have been some really good moments over the years, putting guys in that situation.”

During the season, that week’s rock is displayed over the entire week leading up in FSU’s weight room. Then, it’s on display during FSU’s pregame meal each gameday, with every coach and player signing the rock when they go through the line to get food.

“That’s just a symbolic gesture of, ‘I'm putting my name on the line to do my job today, that I've committed, that I'm in,’ ” Storms said. “At that point, that rock with all the coaches’ names, players’ names on it, it's a good symbol of us being all together to accomplish a common goal.”

Storms picks a player the night before each game who will carry the sledgehammer, choosing someone who has demonstrated a quality that winning teams have that week. That player carries the hammer into the pregame meal, on the bus ride to the stadium, into the game through FSU’s Legacy Walk and onto the field.

Defensive tackle Fabien Lovett carried the hammer into the Duquesne game, running back Treshaun Ward carried it in for the LSU game, center Maurice Smith carried it in at Louisville and linebacker Tatum Bethune carried it in for last week’s home win over Boston College.

While Storms gets to pick who carries in the hammer, it’s Norvell who gets to choose the player who breaks the rock after wins, effectively filling the void of where other teams may give out game balls.

Safety Shyheim Brown got to do the honors after the win over LSU for his game-winning blocked extra point. Wide receiver Johnny Wilson did it after his big game in the win at Louisville. Most recently, Trey Benson slammed the hammer down after his three-touchdown showing in the win over BC.

“A lot of times what you'll hear is a buzz coming off the field after a win like, ‘So and so’s going to break it,’ or ‘I think this guy, that guy,’ ” Storms said. “There’s always the anticipation and excitement for who actually gets that moment to swing that hammer and break that rock.”

The symbolism

The sledgehammer the Seminoles use isn’t just any ordinary sledgehammer. It’s one that has been personalized for the FSU football program.

Engraved into the side is “Work,” one of Norvell’s main catchphrases around his program. The “O” in the word work has been replaced by FSU’s signature Seminole head logo. On top of the sledgehammer is a spear, another signifier of the FSU football program.

It’s a representation of both the weight of the FSU football program they are representing – one with a storied history despite a later start than most – as well as the future is looking to build.

“Our guys want that recognition to know that all the things that we talk about, those program characteristics, that they're being able to apply that and that it's action-based,” Norvell said of the tradition. “Their coaches see that on a daily basis, that consistency, and then what they're doing in the games. And then after the game, when guys put it on display and play at a very high level and they get the chance to have that moment, that symbolic gesture of we've accomplished what we came here to do. I think it's big.”

Storms doesn’t get the public credit a number of FSU players and coaches get for the progress the Seminoles have made under Norvell. He inherited a football team that didn’t look nearly up to the standard an FSU team should physically and has transformed them.

Having to operate his first offseason at FSU virtually due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic made things more challenging, but the strides FSU has made physically have really begun to show now in Norvell’s third season.

How FSU physically dominated Boston College a week ago is the biggest evidence so far of how far the Seminoles have come in this facet.

It’s fitting that this physical growth carries over into such a physical team celebration after wins in the locker room. And it’s clear Storms has relished getting to see that tradition he brought to Tallahassee become a part of the FSU football tradition.

“When we first introduced the hammer, it was like, ‘Ok, this is different. It's pretty cool.’ But when you see the hammer break a rock, it becomes symbolic,” Storms said. “And then where that becomes one year, two years, three years, hopefully 10 to 15 years down the road where that is a really, really big deal and when you take that hammer in your hands, you think of the great players and great teammates that came before you that had their hands on it and swung that hammer.

“It is to a certain degree something to aspire to do at some point in your career because that means you're viewed as a leader and you're viewed as a great teammate. You're viewed as a guy who did something that truly changed and impacted the game for us. Those are all things guys aspire to be. This is just a symbolic token of becoming that thing.”