The Florida State football team held its first scrimmage of the preseason Saturday night.

While it was originally planned to be held inside Doak Campbell Stadium, it was forced to be moved into the Indoor Practice Facility due to inclement weather in the area.

Despite this change, it was an encouraging scrimmage for Norvell, who saw a fast start by the defense and a stronger finish from the offense.

Here are five pertinent quotes from Norvell's post-scrimmage Zoom availability and five more from FSU defensive coordinator Adam Fuller

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"AJ, I'd say the first first couple of plays were not the best. There was an early pick. It was a decision that you'd like him to probably continue on with the progression. But what I loved about today, one of the things that we challenged him, he's had so much growth throughout spring ball and fall camp and even though he didn't start well today, he responded. He was able to make a couple big throws, he hit the deep pass to Deuce (Spann), you couldn't have placed the ball any better than what he did down the field. You saw him kind of calm down as the scrimmage went on and that's what I wanted to see. He's the first to know the things that he has to improve and the things that he's got to do to be able to transition from what was a rocky start to what ended up being I think a very productive scrimmage for him. It was good to see. I thought Tate (Rodemaker) continues to get better. He located the ball, was able to do some really good things. I thought Jordan (Travis) was able to move the ball. made some really nice throws. I like that group. I like the direction that they're going and as much as anything else, just their response when maybe something doesn't go right around them, just how they're able to move to the next play and keep the offense rolling."

It really was (a group effort). I think each of them had their moments and they all had plays where they made people miss, ran for tough yards, continued to churn their legs and create a little bit of the extra yardage at times when there was not space. I like that group. I like the toughness and mentality that they have. They were able to create some things on their own and then when they got a seam, they would make some things happen as well. It was, all in all, a pretty good day for them. Rodney (Hill) as a young freshman hit a couple of explosive plays. Trey Benson is continuing to get better. Treshaun Ward had a really good night as well as (Lawrance Toafili). C.J. Campbell was unavailable tonight so it really was those guys. We're continuing to mix it up. I know you guys saw Ja'Khi Douglas is a guy that can do a lot of different things so we got him some work in the backfield and that showed up as well.

When you have size, speed, strength, all those are good combinations that help put you in a good position to be successful. To see him capitalize on that, making the tough catches down the field, being able to when he got the ball in his hands on a short or intermediate play, to see that explosiveness. It's encouraging. We continue to challenge him. Deuce is such a great young man and he wants to be great. And even through the lessons that he's learned, he is so new to the position, but you're seeing the application. To have a day like today where he really rose up. I was proud of him.

Talking about the guys upfront, I mean it was kind of a mixed bag in a lot of senses. Moving guys around, trying to look at different combinations. It was some uncomfortable moments for especially probably some of the newcomers, or some of the guys that are the younger guys on the o-line. But, you know, I think all that work is there to benefit them.

We actually did more live returns that we've done. It was something that coach (John Papuchis) and I, we talked about in the offseason. Our return game has not been where we want it to be. We know that we needed that spark. Our guys, they work really hard in the fundamental, we make a lot of investment in that, but try to give guys that are trying to establish that role, give them the opportunity to show it. I definitely thought there were some great things. I mentioned Deuce earlier, he had a big return that looked good. I thought the 10 other guys were out there busting their tails, trying to create seams. I thought Mycah (Pittman) had a couple of good returns. We got Sam McCall back there. We're looking at a lot of different guys. It's not just what we're doing today, we have drills and things that we do throughout the course of normal practices to see those reactionary movements and what guys do with the ball in their hands, decision that they make, but we're continuing to push that. I like the work we got tonight.

He flashed today. His physicality on these days of scrimmages definitely show up. He’s a really good player. He’s mature, smart, has really good acceleration, has a good command of things. I love when he asks questions because he’s very simple in his asking. He’ll ask very direct questions. You give him one word and you give him something that he can assimilate it to and he’s got it. It’s fun for a coach.

That was a great play. It was on a sideline. That looked like a veteran play. The interceptions that Sam makes, they look like real plays. He high-points balls, he has great body control when he goes up. And probably as good as a play, it's not as impactful but he made one tackle on our sideline on a ball that bounced, and I mean it was chest to chest. He ran his feet. It was really good to see him have some real positive plays today.

J-Dub, he's playing as good of football as he's played since he's been here. He's healthy. He's taking the coaching, you're seeing technique show up. And that's a position now where speed gets on your quick and if you don't rely on your technique and believe in your technique you end up being in a reactionary position. J-Dub has really done a good job. We’ve repped him some at nickel. I think giving him more of a role has helped him get better at his focus and I think him being healthy is a big thing too.

I think Jarrett Jackson flashed today. He really showed up. He's been pushing through and I think he's got a really high ceiling I think. Having Fabien (Lovett) and Coop (Robert Cooper) ahead of him, it helps drive him. He shouldn’t take a back seat to anybody. Malcolm Ray has continued to make strides. He had a lot of impact with us last year and he's carried that momentum. Josh Farmer is somebody that we redshirted last year because he had some development, had some injuries he had to get over. But he's got all the tools and he's got the right mindset. Odell is doing a really good job with him. Then we've got the young guys in Daniel (Lyons) and Bishop (Thomas) that continue to grow. Daniel is making some real good strides and Bishop, a little bit more up and down, but he definitely has some flash plays where you're glad he's here. But those positions are made to develop, you need those reps. You need that constant push and find ways that just making plays isn't really what it's all about. It's about doing the little things so that when you play against good players technique wins. Odell is the best in the business and he keeps building that group.

I want everything we do to be done with great pace, with how we teach, how we learn, how we communicate. I think the ability to play fast, react fast, respond quickly, those are all things that we want to make sure that we have. We need to play smart, whether that's penalty-free, whether it's with adjustments, whether that's playing together, whether it's with rotations, I think we've got to be a step ahead of our opponent by knowing ourselves great. And then we got to play with a great toughness and I think toughness shows up in different ways. Toughness shows up in red-zone defense, toughness shows up in tackling. Toughness shows up in that process-driven defense, whether it's a scrimmage or how we show up tomorrow and how we take to coaching or how we take some of the success that happened tonight, whatever all that is. We've got a long ways to go and we've got high expectations here. This is Florida State. And to play defense here, we want to raise the bar of where we have been. We've got a long way to go, but I do like the people that we have in that room. And they're driven. It’s important for us to help this football team win football games. And we got to keep points off the board. We got to be physical in all aspects. I just want us to be able to step up when this team needs us consistently throughout the year, whatever that takes.

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