It remains to be seen over the next few years if Kevin Sperry has the physical tools to become a starting quarterback at Florida State.

But it didn't take long to see during his introductory press conference Tuesday that he has one mental trait that feels essential for any successful quarterback: confidence.

Sperry played running back and linebacker instead of QB — in large part because his dad, Kevin Sperry Sr., was a linebacker at Washington State — until eighth grade when he saw a need that had to be addressed on his team.

"Our quarterback wasn't very good in eighth grade so I just kind of took on that role," Sperry said. "I wouldn't say I carried the team, but I was a big role in a lot of our wins. I just loved the pressure that the quarterback position had...

"I think the main reason I wanted to play quarterback is because I wanted the ball in my hands every play."

Sperry took to the position and became quite a prolific dual-threat quarterback at a few different high schools in Texas and Oklahoma. As a senior at Denton (Texas) Guyer High this past fall, he had 2,523 passing yards, 27 touchdown passes, 1,156 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns.

While Sperry is now established as a quarterback, it sounds like he still channels some of that RB/LB physicality in the way he runs the ball.

"I feel like a quarterback isn't known for running somebody over. I feel like that brings a lot of energy to the team, a lot of energy to the sideline," Sperry said. "I feel like that's a part of my game, you see that in my high-school film and I'm excited to showcase that on the college level, too."

He's not just physical, though. Sperry said Tuesday that he hit 21 miles per hour in a game during his final season of high-school football at Guyer.

That intensity and physicality Sperry likes to play with is a testament, he says, to a quarterback he admires, former Oklahoma quarterback and NFL mainstay Baker Mayfield, who has led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to NFC South division titles in each of his two seasons since joining the team.

"His intensity that he brings to the game, I think every quarterback should have that..." Sperry said. "I've liked him probably since I decided to play quarterback. I think the main thing about him is just the intensity that he brings, the amount of passion that he has for the game. I feel like every team he's been a part of, he's brought the best out of all his teammates. Obviously, he's a great quarterback, but his intensity is what I really look at."

That OU connection with Mayfield may have played a role in Sperry's decision to commit to the Sooners in March 2023 and remain committed for nearly two full years before deciding to flip to the Seminoles in late November 2024, less than two weeks before the early signing period.

The four-star quarterback, ranked by Rivals the No. 187 overall prospect in the 2025 class, flipped late to FSU in large part because of the bond he had built with Mike Norvell and FSU quarterbacks coach Tony Tokarz during his initial recruitment.

"Florida State was always my No. 2 behind OU," Sperry said. "Obviously, I was committed to OU for almost two years, but I always had a great relationship with coach Norvell and coach Tokarz. I think that started right before my sophomore season when I got the offer from them. I'm just glad how everything worked out."

Before committing to Oklahoma, Sperry worked out at a variety of college camps, including FSU's quarterbacks camp in June 2022. While he wound up choosing the Sooners originally and FSU had Tramell Jones Jr. committed for a long time before he flipped to Florida late in the process, some dominoes aligned for FSU and Sperry to reunite — and had Norvell excited about being able to coach the promising prospect he had seen throw 2.5 years prior.

“What he does with his arm is special. What he does with his legs, it really makes him very dynamic..." Norvell said. “Watching the ball jump off his hands, the accuracy, the kind of precision in the passing game that he showed there that young in his career, it really just — the ball jumped out of his hand. That's when we offered him. I was very confident in what his career would be, and he's definitely not proved me wrong.”

While many new additions to the roster have not shied away from inferring that FSU's Tour of Duty offseason conditioning program is quite intense and grueling, Sperry seems to be thriving in the intense work.

"I love everything about the Tour of Duty. It's the only thing we're doing right now that's like a real game environment. There's a lot of chaos going on, a lot of yelling, a lot of details you need to memorize," Sperry said. "Obviously it's tough, but I love it. My first Tour of Duty when the Warchant was playing during warmups, I couldn't stop smiling."

While we won't see him in a practice until March and FSU fans may not be able to observe him much, if at all, during his freshman season with this year's spring showcase canceled, Sperry is excited to get to work on Gus Malzahn's offense.

"I think the offense is pretty similar to what I was doing in high school," Sperry said. "There are certain things, the terminology is a little different, but I know that we're going to be moving very fast, a very fast-paced offense and we're going to take a lot of shots."

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