Not a ton of Florida State’s transfer portal entrants over the first few days of the period came as much of a surprise.
That changed Tuesday night when starting defensive end Patrick Payton announced on Twitter he intends to enter the transfer portal.
“I’m Sorry Nole Nation I Plan To Enter The Transfer Portal,” Payton shared in a tweet.
However, Payton had deleted that tweet, which sent shockwaves through the FSU fanbase, as of Wednesday afternoon. It's yet unknown what that means for Payton, who has still not shown up in the transfer portal officially.
Payton emerged as an impactful edge-rusher in 2022 as a redshirt freshman with five sacks, six tackles for loss, three pass breakups and a forced fumble. For that, he earned the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year honor.
This season, Payton started opposite Jared Verse and improved his numbers, putting up six sacks, a team-high 13.5 tackles for loss and 10 batted passes, the most nationally among all defensive linemen.
The announcement obviously comes as a surprise with Payton one productive season away from being a potentially high NFL Draft pick. It’s also a serious loss if it holds, especially with FSU also expected to lose Verse to the NFL Draft this offseason.
It bears mentioning that Payton has only announced his intention to enter the portal and isn’t officially in yet. Even players who officially enter are permitted to leave and return to their former school if the team allows it.
Overall, Payton is the eighth FSU player to announce his intention to enter the portal since it opened Monday morning.
