Making up for lost time: FSU's Norvell loads schedule with camps, clinics
Mike Norvell never really got the chance to make inroads in the state of Florida during his first year as Florida State's head football coach -- at least not in person.
Well, he apparently wants to make up for lost time.
Not only is Norvell hosting several on-campus camps for high school players this summer, but he'll also be traveling around the state to host one-day clinics for youth players as well.
He'll start in the first week of May with camps in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and then Miami, and he'll finish on June 21 in Tallahassee. In between are trips to Jacksonville, Melbourne, Orlando, Kissimmee, Fort Myers, Tampa, Lakeland and Pensacola.
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That's 12 different clinics, all over Florida, for a head coach and a program trying to make an imprint on young players in the state.
"I am incredibly excited for this opportunity to invest in communities throughout the state of Florida,” Norvell said. “Our focus will be on serving our state’s youth by providing a positive, impactful experience. There has been so much adversity this year and sacrifices our children have had to make. This will be an opportunity to have fun, develop athletically and celebrate the Seminole Way.”
Because those camps are limited to players in the eighth grade and younger, they do not fall under the NCAA's rules for contact with recruits.
Of course, Norvell is also interested in those recruitable players as well.
When word came out earlier this week that the longest "dead period" in NCAA history would finally be ending, Norvell and his staff wasted little time announcing their summer camp schedule.
Florida State will host several of those events in the month of June:
* A Sunshine Showcase Mega Camp on June 6
* A 7-on-7 camp and Big Man camp on June 9 and June 16
* A QB camp on June 18 and 19
* A kicking camp on June 18
* And individual one-day camps on June 13, 18, 19 and 20.
So, even though spring is over and preseason practice doesn't start until August, Norvell and the Seminoles' coaches are going to be very, very busy in the meantime.
Which is the exact opposite of a season ago, when they were allowed to do nothing in person for the entire summer, and had to do all of their recruiting via Zoom and other media platforms.
"This last season was difficult for everyone across the country from an evaluations perspective," special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach John Papuchis said. "Because you lost the piece with (hosting a) camp, obviously. But you also lost the in-person evaluation that you would normally get by going to a spring practice or a game in the fall.
"So, everything was off film. And in some cases, there was no in-person (contact) at all. We signed three defensive ends that I never met in person."
He'll no doubt be meeting all of the defensive ends for FSU moving forward.
The camps allow players to come visit Florida State, of course, but they also allow the FSU coaches to see a variety of different prospects. They get to talk to them, coach them, see how they learn and retain information, see how they play against other good players.
It's the type of information that simply can't be gleaned any other way.
And offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham explained that the information is shared both ways. The camps also give prospects a clear understanding of what they would be getting into if they signed with the Seminoles.
"I tell guys all the time, when I'm talking to them on whatever platform I'm talking to them on, is you've got to want to be coached by me, and I've got to want to coach you," he said. "Because we're going to be around each other a lot. So, if you don't like me and I don't like you, this probably ain't gonna work out. And that's why I'm not fake in the recruiting process. I'm very real. I'm very honest.
"Because at the end of the day, you better know what you're getting yourself into. ... And that's what excites me. I get to be around those kids (in the camps), I get to coach them. And they get to see what it's going to be like the day they stand on campus. It's the relationship piece of them being here just as much as the physical evaluation."
The evaluation is a big deal too, however.
As Papuchis said, virtually all of the offers the staff made for the Class of 2021 were off film. The vast majority of the recruiting process was digital.
Now that the dead period is being lifted on June 1, the Seminoles' coaches will get to see high school players up close and personal. And they're excited about it.
So much so that offensive line coach Alex Atkins made a point Wednesday to tweet about how the Seminoles' "Big Man Camp" was going to be different from other ones around the country.
FSU has set up a website with more information and registration links for Norvell's camps.
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