3/18/2024 football Edit

Notable weight changes on FSU football team over Tour of Duty program

Patrick Payton (11) gained weight, while Sione Lolohea (13) shed weight. (Bob Ferrante)

Curt Weiler • TheOsceola

Senior Writer

Florida State football's Tour of Duty offseason strength and conditioning program is complete and spring camp is almost upon us.

As has often been the case, this year's Tour of Duty proved fruitful in terms of players on FSU's roster transforming their body. FSU shared updated weights Monday morning for how players' bodies have shifted over the last few months.

FSU head coach Mike Norvell said this year's winter conditioning program was among the best he's witnessed.

"One of the things I'm most pleased with is when you're looking at the overall average on our team, it's the strongest we've been in our time here. That's saying a lot when you look at the age of our team," Norvell said during his Monday press conference. "We've had some young guys that have really come on and we have some really explosive and powerful players that have graduated, but our team average in bench, squat, power-clean is better than what it's been. That gives me a lot of excitement and confidence in the work these guys have done. Now it's time to transition that out to the field."

Here's a look through the FSU roster position-by-position looking at the significant weight changes for the newcomers since they arrived and for the returning players from last season to now:

At quarterback, the only notable weight change was Oregon State quarterback transfer DJ Uiagalelei. He was already a large quarterback at 6-foot-4, 245 pounds when he enrolled in January, but that has only become more the case since he's added 10 more pounds over the last two months.

Now weighing in at 255 pounds, that seems to confirm exactly how much FSU wants to use his large body as a physical, tough-to-tackle participant in the run game.

At running back, bulking seems to be one of the goals of the offseason as quite a few members of the backfield added weight over the offseason so far.

Alabama transfer Roydell Williams is up 10 pounds from when he arrived to 225 entering spring practice and returning players Lawrance Toafili, Caziah Holmes and Sam Singleton all added weight as well. Toafili is up eight pounds to 196, Holmes is up seven pounds to 215 and Singleton gained 11 pounds to reach 199 entering spring camp.

Wide receiver is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of some players adding weight while others shed a few pounds. The transfer additions, Jalen Brown and Malik Benson, are down eight and five pounds respectively. Brown now weighs 172 while Benson is now listed at 190.

Conversely, freshmen receivers BJ Gibson and Camdon Frier quickly added weight. Gibson is up nine pounds to 199 after enrolling in January at 190, while Frier is up seven pounds to 192 entering his first spring at FSU.

The only returning receiver who made a significant weight change since last season is senior wide receiver Ja'Khi Douglas. Perhaps in an effort to be more durable, Douglas is up 10 pounds since the 2023 season and is now listed at 199 pounds.

At tight end, the only changes of note were freshman Landen Thomas dropping 10 pounds to 235 in the two months since he's arrived and redshirt sophomore Jerrale Powers dropping six pounds to 230.

On the offensive line, it's again a bit of a mixed bag of ups and downs. Florida transfer Richie Leonard is up 15 pounds to 335 since he weighed 320 when he enrolled. Second-year transfer guard Keiondre Jones also put on a bit of weight, gaining seven pounds to reach 339 entering the spring. Veteran offensive tackle Robert Scott is the biggest weight-shifter on the FSU roster so far this offseason, gaining 26 pounds to enter the spring at 339.

On the other side, second-year tackle transfer Jeremiah Byers is down five pounds and weighs 320 entering the spring while Jaylen Early is down nine pounds to 290 and Bryson Estes is down 15 pounds to 285 at the onset of spring camp.

Switching sides of the ball, some of the more drastic transformations early this offseason have come at the defensive end position.

Georgia transfer Marvin Jones Jr. and returning starter Patrick Payton each looked noticeably larger during Tour of Duty and the updated weights confirm that. Jones is up seven pounds and now listed at 257, while Payton gained 15 pounds and is now listed at 254. It'll be fascinating to see what that added weight can do for Payton, who has been impactful at smaller weights throughout his FSU career.

Sione Lolohea, an Oregon State transfer addition, went the other way of Jones, dropping 10 pounds to enter spring with a listed weight of 260 pounds that should help his mobility a bit. Redshirt sophomore Aaron Hester is also down six pounds to 235 entering spring.

Redshirt junior defensive end Byron Turner Jr. is up seven pounds to 251 entering spring while redshirt sophomore Dante Anderson added eight pounds to reach 248.

At defensive tackle, Colorado State transfer Grady Kelly has taken very well to the weight gain FSU's coaching staff wanted from him. After arriving in January at 285 pounds, Kelly is now listed at 299 (a 14-pound gain) entering his first spring at FSU. Redshirt junior Joshua Farmer is also up seven more pounds and will start spring at 318 pounds, 68 pounds up from the 250 pounds he weighed when he signed with the Seminoles.

One of the more interesting positions to monitor this spring, linebacker, had a few weight shifts this offseason. Veteran of the room DJ Lundy is down a bit, listed at 240 pounds after playing the 2023 season at 244 pounds. True freshman Jayden Parrish is already up five pounds in his two months on campus, going from 215 to 220 on the FSU roster.

Redshirt freshmen linebackers Blake Nichelson and Justin Cryer are both making the most of their first full offseason in the program. Nichelson is up five pounds from last year to 220 while Cryer has added seven pounds and is listed at 232 entering spring.

Finally, there have been eight weight changes of six-plus pounds in the secondary since the end of the 2023 season, all of them adding weight.

Miami transfer Davonte Brown is the biggest gainer of the bunch, adding 16 pounds in two months to get to 201 pounds as he pivots from being a cornerback to a safety role. Freshman Cai Bates has also made the most of his brief time on campus, adding 10 pounds to jump up to 190 entering his first spring in college football.

Redshirt freshman safety K.J. Kirkland is up nine pounds to 206, veteran safety Shyheim Brown is up eight pounds to 213 and nickel cornerback Greedy Vance Jr. also bulked up, adding eight pounds to reach 178.

Redshirt freshman cornerback Ja'Bril Rawls and true freshmen Charles Lester III and Jamari Howard each added six pounds as well, getting to 176, 181 and 191 pounds respectively.