After a month of offseason workouts, and with another month to go before his team opens spring football practice, Florida State football coach Mike Norvell looks and sounds excited about the start of his third year as the Seminoles' head coach.

As part of his team's winter workout program, the players participate in strength training and conditioning drills several times each week, and then there is the "Tour of Duty," which Norvell calls the "foundation" of his program.

It's when the players go through a battery of exercises and drills with very little rest -- similar to the Seminoles' old "mat drills" -- with Norvell and his position coaches pushing and prodding them to new heights.

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During the month of January, the team only holds Tour of Duty sessions once each week. But that gets ramped up to multiple sessions in February as spring practice approaches in early March.

"That's something that's a foundational element of our program," Norvell said during an interview on the Seminoles' official website. "To say they look forward to it, I don't know if that's the right term (smiling), but they know that it's a rite of passage.

"That's where we really build the culture, the foundation, the discipline, the effort ... just the overall expectation."

And this year's Tour of Duty has been unique.

For starters, this is the largest group of newcomers Norvell has had take part in offseason workouts during his coaching career. The Seminoles brought in 10 Division-I transfers in January, and they added 12 early enrollees from the high school class that signed in December.

On top of that, there are about 20 players who enrolled at FSU last summer or fall, so this is their first time going through the winter program and Tour of Duty.

"We had over 40 guys where that was their first experience of that," Norvell said. "So you continue to build upon it."

With nearly half the team learning on the fly -- getting a feel for the expectations of Norvell and his staff -- there undoubtedly have been some challenging moments. But the Seminoles' third-year head coach said he has been very pleased by the leadership of the returning players.

Now that they understand the level of effort and commitment required, having gone through the program once or twice themselves, they have been able to lead the newcomers.

"What I love about it is I'm starting to see the players coaching players," Norvell said. "They understand what the standard is. They've seen and they've built the confidence through the experiences that we've had here the last couple of years. So they know where we're going to be able to create our edge.

"And to see them help lead each other, it's exciting."

In Norvell's mind, Tour of Duty is as essential to his program as any offensive or defensive scheme, if not more so. He believes the effort displayed during those drills -- and the togetherness and toughness they establish -- are what will propel his players to success in their most trying times during the fall.

It also sets the stage for spring practice, which unofficially is slated to begin on March 5 and will culminate with the spring game on April 9.

With so many new faces, including 10 college transfers -- along with the bulk of the team's starters returning on offense and defense -- Norvell said there will be fierce competition at just about every position.

And he can't wait to watch it all play out.

"It's going to be a hard, tough, physical spring," Norvell said. "We're going to continue to build upon that identity, because that's where the true confidence emerges -- through that work.

"And the competition will be at an all-time high since I've been here."

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