Throughout his time as a quarterback, Kevin Sperry has enjoyed surprising teammates with his athleticism.

Part of it, certainly, is that he played at three different high schools. That gave him the chance to make a strong impression a few different times. But even if Sperry talked a bit about his athleticism before spring football began, he's still pulled off another surprise in his first spring with the Florida State football team in terms of being more athletic with the ball in his hands than people expected.

"That boy, he can fly," FSU linebacker Elijah Herring said of Sperry.

Added fellow linebacker Stefon Thompson: “Kevin’s really fast. Like really, really fast. He’ll have a quarterback keep where he’s reading the edge player, and he’ll pull the ball sometimes and he is rolling."

Maybe people shouldn't be surprised. After all, Sperry ran for 1,719 yards and 19 touchdowns over his final two seasons in high school. But still, he seems to be catching teammates off guard.

In the scrimmage FSU opened to media members in early April, Sperry had quite a few impressive runs, but none more impressive than one where he drew an audible reaction from teammates when he stuck his foot in the turf and cut on a dime to make a defender whiff on a tackle in space.

"I think every team I've been on has been a little surprised," Sperry said. "I'm just excited to showcase that on the college level."

Sperry's name has been one said quite a bit by FSU's offensive coaches this spring. While he's just an early-enrollee freshman and has some of those accompanying freshman moments, it sounds like Sperry has come on strong and made a very good impression in his debut spring.

"He can run. He can really run. He's growing. The moment hasn't really been too big for him, which is kind of unusual for a true freshman," FSU offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn said after one of FSU's scrimmages of Sperry. "So far, I've been real impressed by him."

It sounds like Sperry hasn't been limited to just being impactful as a runner, something you sometimes see or hear about with freshman QBs getting used to the speed of the college game. During FSU's first scrimmage in late March, he was quite impactful as a passer as well.

"He just went out there and played, and I like seeing that. Had a couple vertical shots that he hit downfield..." FSU head coach Mike Norvell said after FSU's first scrimmage. "I liked his poise out there as a freshman. There are plenty of plays out there in the scrimmage that we'll have to continue to push, grow, develop, all those things, but for a first scrimmage I felt like he did a really nice job in that."

It seemed like FSU could be in quarterback trouble with regard to its 2025 signing class when longtime commit Tramell Jones Jr. left the Seminoles' class last November. Exactly a week later on Nov. 21, Sperry flipped his commitment from Oklahoma to FSU.

While he hadn't been on FSU's campus in over a year, the four-star quarterback prospect saw Norvell's vision. About a week after he committed, Norvell hired Malzahn to be his offensive coordinator in early December.

That move, as it turned out, only became a better one for Sperry with Malzahn now running the offense. Historically, he's used the quarterback's legs more than Norvell's offense to open things up. That certainly plays into Sperry's athletic skill-set.

"It's not a super simple offense. I don't think any college offense is simple. But the coaches make it a lot simpler for us, explaining and showing stuff on film..." Sperry said of Malzahn's offense. "I really just approached (this spring) with getting better each day, competing against myself. I promised coach Norvell my best every day and just being myself. That's what I bring every day."

Sperry still hasn't been able to show what he said he considers one of his best traits in his introductory FSU press conference: His willingness to be tough in the run game and take on defenders head-on.

He's been stuck in a green non-contact jersey all spring, as all the FSU QBs have been. As such, he'll have to wait until he finally gets into a game to show that off.

"I think all the quarterbacks get upset sometimes with the early whistle, but that's a part of spring ball. No injuries with the quarterbacks," Sperry said.

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