Almost seven years ago, when Mike Norvell took the head coaching job at Memphis, he was impressed enough with graduate assistant Tony Tokarz that he offered him a job on his staff.

He wasn't sure in what capacity Tokarz would work, but he knew after watching him for two weeks in prep for Memphis' bowl game that he wanted him to stay with the Tigers.

Tokarz said no thanks.

Instead, he took an on-field job as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at Division-II Stonehill College. But he stayed in touch with Norvell, and a year later he accepted a grad assistant spot at Memphis.

That might have been the last time Tokarz said no to Norvell -- at least about career decisions.

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When Norvell took the Florida State job in December 2019, he offered Tokarz an off-field analyst role. It technically was a step down from being a position coach -- the young assistant had been named Memphis' tight ends coach one year earlier -- but he didn't hesitate to join his boss in Tallahassee.

"I couldn't say no," Tokarz said Monday during his first meeting with the media since being named the new Florida State quarterbacks coach. "From there, whether it's been a graduate assistant, on-field coach or analyst, I've gotten a chance to be around one of the greatest coaches in the country. And it's served me well. So, I'm excited to continue to grow our relationship and keep building the program together."

One decade ago, Tokarz was starting his coaching career as a wide receivers coach at Anna Maria College. He also was a three-year starting quarterback at Division-III Worcester College -- he still holds the program's all-time record for rushing yards by a quarterback -- before he started his unique journey that now has him as an on-field coach at one of the prominent college football programs in the country.

From Anna Maria he went to Stonehill to coach receivers for a year, then was a graduate assistant at Memphis for Justin Fuente for two years, returned to Stonehill for that gap year, and then went back to Memphis as a grad assistant before being named the tight ends coach in 2019.

He left that on-field role to join Norvell as an offensive analyst in 2020, and now, with the departure of Kenny Dillingham, has worked his way back on the field as a quarterbacks coach.

Tokarz said he thinks his time at the lowest of levels of college football gives him a great perspective for his new opportunity and for the Florida State program.

"When you play and work at a lower level of college football, you really embrace the detail," he said. "Obviously the players aren't as talented, but as a coach or a player ... you have to figure out a way to get your job done. With detail, with efficiency, because you might not have the God-given gift or ability that some of these higher-profile players have. ...

"Coaching those guys requires a very specific teaching skillset, with detail, with patience."

Patience is something he's had plenty of over the last decade.

The former Division-III quarterback has waited his turn. He has coached at colleges you've never heard of. He's been a grad assistant for multiple seasons. He left an on-field role at Memphis for an off-field one at FSU, with the hopes it would one day pay off.

Now, it has.

"Coaching at the lower levels has been beneficial," Tokarz said. "It's also provided me an opportunity to wear a bunch of hats. I mean, shoot, at one point I was running a weight room, doing laundry, breaking down film and then helping put together a game plan. So, you also gain respect for the other areas that make a program go."

He then added a quote that sounded like it might wind up on a T-shirt one day.

"I'm not the blue blood that some may have wanted," Tokarz said. "But I'm the blue collar that this program needs."

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