QB commit A.J. Duffy 'amped up' about future of FSU Football, recruiting
After an 0-4 start to the season, the Florida State football team has rebounded with back-to-back ACC wins. On Saturday, the Seminoles knocked off heavily favored North Carolina, 35-25, in a game that brought a lot of excitement to FSU's 2022 recruiting class.
One of the main leaders of that class is IMG Academy quarterback A.J. Duffy, and we caught up with the four-star prospect to discuss how things are going for him, what he thinks of the Seminoles' turnaround, what other recruits are saying, what he hopes to do when he enrolls in January and more.
Below is that complete Q&A:
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Q: So we are now around the midway part of the season at IMG Academy. How has the adjustment been for you, getting used to a new place, and how has the season been so far?
A: It's been really good. We are clicking more as a team and really coming together. It's kind of been an interesting thing with spring ball, where we had a coach for half the time and then a new head coach and then the new OC in July. We have just been building. We aren't there yet. I think offensively we want to be sharper, cleaner and make the right reads. We are still installing new plays. Just sharpen things up.
Q: We talked about this earlier in the year, but back in California, you were used to throwing the ball a lot and passing for big numbers. Do you mind not being able to put up those stats the same way in this type of offense?
A: I'm not really big on stats. Obviously, if I was just killing the stats or it was about that, I would have stayed home. I came here to get prepared for college and help me be as ready as possible for when I get to Florida State.
Q: A lot of prospects say that IMG Academy gets you ready for college. In what ways has this experienced helped prepare you for that?
A: The weight room, the conditioning, being away from home and coming together as a team, and being the leader. We have practice in the morning, school in the afternoon. It's pretty much college. I think it's also helped me a lot with how fast you have to pick up the progressions when you are going against five-star players every day in practice. The pass-rush is faster, and that prepares you so well when it's game day.
You have to have a clock in your head because I can't sit back there like how you see some high school games, where the quarterback has a lot of time. In practice, bullets are flying everywhere with pressure, and the best work I get is in practice. You get a quick pre-snap read, and then with me it's just believing in what I see. If they are starting too high or rotating into a different coverage, I have to trust what I see. Find the open guy and hit them, and the same goes for getting us into the right run-sets. So the practices are pretty intense.
Q: Turning now to Florida State, it goes without saying that last weekend was huge for the 'Noles, getting a really big win on the road versus North Carolina. Talk about your reaction to that performance and what jumped out to you most about the offense.
A: It was super exciting. Everything Coach Norvell and Coach Dilly (offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham) have been talking to me about happened in the last few weeks and in this game. What they are trying to build is growing up in front of all of us. Now they have the bye week, have a good week of practice, and let's get after UMass and get this thing rolling.
Everything just seemed clean throughout the whole game. The coaches were calling the right plays at the right time, and then of course Jordan Travis had a crazy game. He played his tail off. Then the running backs did their things. Feels like it was a complete game on offense. On the passing game, I don't think they did a lot different -- I just feel like sometimes you get into a groove in play-calling, or you know what the defense is in. It felt like they were a step ahead and the players executed perfectly. He was dialing them up.
Q: As a quarterback, that had to be a surreal feeling watching this type of game and knowing that you are going to be there later this year to kick off your career at FSU. What was that feeling like? And what did you like about the play-calling?
A: That fires me up and gets me amped up to be out there for sure. On calling the game, I don't think it was one thing that impressed me. It was everything. It was about knowing when they are expecting run and you catch them in that package and break the big pass-play downfield. My dad was my offensive coordinator back home, and he would tell me that you can call the perfect play, but it's your job to make it the perfect play. They did a great job with that.
Q: All the FSU commits I reached out to seemed very excited about that performance. What kind of things were you hearing?
A: Shoot man, we were all in the group chat and fired up so much watching this game. Talking to each other and saying this is what we signed up for, and this is what we wanted to see. Hoping now we can build on this. I don't think anyone was surprised. I think everyone had a feeling that it was going to happen because we are there, and we see the type of work Norvell and the staff put into this and the type of guy he is. We all believe in him. He's a guy that everyone wants to follow, and now it feels like that is happening with this team.
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