This time of year is always extraordinarily busy for college football coaches.
But when your team is preparing for a conference championship game this weekend, like Mike Norvell is this year for the first time in his Florida State tenure, that takes the hectic nature of this week to an even more severe level.
"Extremely challenging," Norvell said earlier this week when asked how tough it is balancing preparations for FSU's ACC Championship Game matchup vs. Louisville (Saturday at 8 p.m. on ABC) with preparing for recruiting to ramp up in the near future on multiple fronts.
While FSU has been practicing this week with a game on Saturday and a College Football Playoff spot on the line, all teams that are not playing this week are not practicing. This allows those teams to begin having exit interviews with all players on the roster, reflecting back on the season and looking ahead to what is next for each member of the team's roster.
The reason many programs are doing that now is because the recruiting calendar opens up starting this weekend. A contact period begins on Friday and carries from Dec. 1 through Dec. 16. Over that time, coaches can host recruits on campus and visit them at their houses, a final dash before the early signing period on Dec. 20-22.
Additionally, the transfer portal opens in full force next Monday. While FSU won't be pursuing as sizable a transfer class as it has the last few seasons, the Seminoles will definitely be looking to address a few positions with portal additions.
"With the early signing date, every minute matters," Norvell said. "We try to be as efficient and organized as possible, make sure that we're getting a good balance when it comes to evaluations of players that might be available or constant communication with the guys that we're recruiting, preparing a game plan this week for a championship game, it's a lot."
Obviously, this position Norvell and the Seminoles are now in is one he'll hope to maintain with a good amount of consistency going forward. The next week may just be a preview of what the next month has in hand for the Seminoles, who will look to wrap up a top-five recruiting class and bolster the roster with a few transfer additions while also preparing for a College Football Playoff game should the Seminoles beat Louisville this weekend.
Norvell seems ready for the challenge.
"I'm grateful to be in that position and for the opportunity," Norvell said. "But we've got to be very organized. We take a lot of pride in trying to be efficient with that."
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