Some college football coaches will try to motivate their players by criticizing their effort and execution through the media.

Whether it's after a particularly poor practice -- or if the coach simply wants to shake things up during a spring or preseason camp -- they'll rip into the players during post-practice interviews and make it clear that the team is falling far short of expectations.

Mike Norvell is generally not one of those coaches.

He does his criticizing and motivating on the practice fields. And in meetings. And maybe in his office. But rarely in the media.

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So when the strongest compliment the Seminoles' third-year head coach could come up with after Tuesday's practice was that it was a "solid work day," you can rest assured he was not at all pleased.

And with good reason.

After taking more than a week off for spring break, the Seminoles were sloppy at times during Tuesday's practice. The passing game wasn't nearly as sharp as it was for most of the first week of spring drills, the running game didn't appear to be very potent, the pass-protection was spotty at times, and the defensive play overall was inconsistent.

There also were a handful of occasions where players got into unnecessary pushing and shoving long after plays had ended.

"It wasn't our best practice," running back Treshaun Ward said. "But it was pretty solid. It could have been better."

Said Norvell: "Some up and down today."

That was the case at just about every position. A defensive back would make a nice play on the ball one minute, and then get beat for a big completion the next. An offensive lineman would win a battle on one rep and then get overpowered by the same defender on the next.

Starting quarterback Jordan Travis probably had his least impressive day of the spring throwing the football, and the whole team just seemed a little out of rhythm.