Markeston Douglas moved 1,800 miles away before he realized what he was missing at Florida State. Douglas had fun at Arizona State, won a conference title and competed in a College Football Playoff game. But he kept thinking about his teammates and watched the Seminoles’ games.

“During my season in Arizona I was liking it but it didn’t feel like it was home,” Douglas said. “I was talking to the players here all year, my brotherhood. I saw them not doing too well. I was like, ‘It doesn’t feel right being away from teammates like that.’ I just felt like there was a need to come back and help, even though I wanted to be back here also.”

In his first interview back in Tallahassee, Douglas admitted that his parents didn’t want him to transfer from FSU to ASU. Tight ends coach Chris Thomsen tried to convince him to stay.

“I feel like it was something for me to get away for a minute,” Douglas said. “But Florida State was always my home. I didn’t want to finish somewhere else. I wanted to be here, finish with my team, finish on a good note.”

Help has returned to FSU, and especially at tight end, in the form of two familiar faces with Douglas and UCF standout Randy Pittman (who had been committed to the Seminoles from April 2021 through June 2022). It’s a room that’s in rebuilding mode, with Landen Thomas returning for year 2 while bringing in Douglas, Pittman and four-star prospect Chase Loftin. Amaree Williams could also see time at tight end, although the coaches view his primary role as a defensive end.

At the very least, it’s a tight end room loaded with Power 4 experience. Douglas caught just one pass for three yards, although he played 239 snaps across all of Arizona State’s 14 games. It wasn’t what he expected after grabbing a combined 25 catches for 326 yards and four touchdowns in 2022 and ’23.

While less of a target out west, Douglas returns with a Big 12 title ring and has shed roughly 25 points to the neighborhood of his desired playing weight of 265.

“Throughout my career, I’ve been a bigger tight end,” Douglas said. “They’ve been labeling me as a big blocker. I want to transition out of that to be an all-around, balanced tight end that can line up in the slot, on the outside, in the H-back, on the line. I just want to be all of that.”

Pittman has, in many ways, been all of that in his two years at UCF. The 6-2, 225-pound Pittman often referenced himself as undersized for a tight end but he nearly doubled his receiving yards from year 1 to year 2 (215 to 416) and had 32 catches last fall.

While Pittman is undersized, and he’s smaller than Douglas by 40 pounds, it was evident how much the Panama City native likes to block by how many times it was a discussion point in his interview with the media.

“I think being young and a freshman, I think what helped me so much is just being able to hold my own and being able to block, being so small and things like that,” Pittman said. “But coming in and knowing the offense, it definitely gives me a little head start, but who knows how it's going to go? I’m just excited to be a Seminole.”

Pittman has a prior relationship with every FSU offensive assistant coach, from the UCF group (Gus Malzahn, Herb Hand and Tim Harris Jr.) to Thomsen, running backs coach David Johnson and coach Mike Norvell. FSU’s offense will be a blend of Norvell’s concepts and Malzahn’s schemes, which are much more similar than different.

The value of a versatile tight end in FSU’s offense appeals to Pittman.

“I think he (Malzahn) uses the tight ends a lot of different ways,” Pittman said. “Definitely we're big blockers. We're big targets. He finds ways to get us the ball and things like that, so he schemes things up well for the tight end.”

The big similarity between Norvell’s offenses and Malzahn’s is the desire to run. UCF featured top-10 rush offenses in the last three seasons. FSU led the ACC in rushing in 2022, and his Memphis rush offense was fourth in the FBS in 2018.

Coupled with the addition of four transfer offensive linemen, it’s no surprise the coaches added a bigger tight end in Douglas and a tough, yet undersized tight end in Pittman to strengthen the ground game.

“I think it's very important for a tight end to be able to block,” Pittman said. “With the backs we have and the backs that coach Malzahn has had, he's known for having big, powerful backs. So just being able to hold your own and to be able to get movement at the line is very big as far as being a tight end in Coach’s offense.”

Douglas is a year removed from FSU, so he’s catching up on the new offense. He said the concepts are the same, but the terminology has changed. When asked about commonalities between two league champions, 2023 FSU and 2024 Arizona State, Douglas said he felt “both teams were just hungry. We had our mind on work.”

The work has begun. When asked if his teammates have flushed the results of 2024 and put it behind him, Douglas said the Seminoles are full-speed ahead.

“We’re already throwing balls,” Douglas said. “We’re doing Tour of Duty. The energy is high. … This year was just a fluke, I guess. Everybody is ready to get back on top.”

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