There are plenty of reasons Mike Norvell is excited about the start of Florida State preseason football practice Saturday morning.

An influx of talent, especially from the transfer portal, could and should make his team much more competitive in 2021. A full offseason in the strength and conditioning program should make all of his players bigger, faster and stronger. There's also no more plastic face shields!

All of these are reasons enough to be excited.

But maybe more than anything, it's what his coaching staff looks like in 2021.

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"This is the first time as a head coach that I've had all 10 assistants back in consecutive years," Norvell said. "It's something that helps me with what to expect. These guys, they have a great understanding of the philosophical beliefs of the why. And we're still continuing to push ourselves to get better.

"But the communication aspect of it, the overall understanding of the flow of how we're going to operate, it's been really good. Because we have a much better sense of who our team is now coming into fall camp than what we did a year ago."

*ALSO SEE: Updates and notes from Friday's Norvell press conference

And conversely, the players have a much better sense of who is coaching them.

During his 30-minute press conference on Friday, Norvell mentioned senior center Baveon Johnson as one of the veterans who has really stood out to him during the offseason and summer workouts.

Johnson is a sixth-year offensive lineman for the Seminoles. Which means he is on his third head coach, fourth offensive coordinator and fourth offensive line coach in his college career.

The last time Johnson had the same offensive line coach in back-to-back seasons was 2016 and 2017 with Rick Trickett. Since then, it's been a revolving door in that position room. Until now.

Many of the returning players on the FSU roster are in the exact same spot. For the first time in their careers, they have the same position coach, same coordinator and same head coach in consecutive seasons.

Receivers coach Ron Dugans said he can't overstate how important that is.

Dugans was a star wideout in the late 1990s for the Seminoles, so he knows first-hand what a consistent, stable coaching staff looks like. He had the same offensive coordinator (Mark Richt), the same position coach (Jeff Bowden) and the same head coach (Bobby Bowden) his entire career.

"For the players, it's a chance to get to see the same faces," Dugans said. "It's guys that they trust, guys that they believe in. I think it's very important to those guys. I think it has a lot to do with some of the confidence that they have. You know, because you instill the confidence to let these guys know that you have confidence in them.

"And the next year with somebody else, they've got to start all over again. So (keeping a coaching staff) does a lot for a young man, to see the same faces, to see coaches gel and bond with each other. And see coaches bond with everybody's kids. Not just the receivers, not just the running backs. ... We gel and talk with everybody on the football team. That's very important for the kids to see, and that's very important for us."

*ALSO SEE: FSU Football rewards Atkins, other assistants with raises, extensions

The assistants all returning for Year 2 should be a big benefit for Norvell's program.

So should the fact that it's been a normal(ish) offseason for his squad. None of the players had to return home to quarantine for months at a time, none had to go and shop for their own food and do their own workouts with whatever heavy objects they could find.

They've been in the weight room all offseason.

They've been meeting with each other, going over film, talking to position coaches, getting more and more comfortable with schemes and assignments.

The Seminoles are still a young football team. They've still got plenty to prove.

But as defensive coordinator Adam Fuller sees it, this year should be worlds better than what they went through a season ago, when everything was so unknown.

"If there's consistency in the coaching and there's consistency in the person you're coaching, things will happen quicker," he said. "I've gained a better understanding of who we have here. I think they've gained a better understanding of who we are as a defensive and full staff.

"And us putting the guys in the right spot, and then them reacting in ways that we're coaching them to do it, it's all part of it."

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