After worst season in more than 50 years, ‘The Climb’ begins again for FSU football
Mike Norvell has often spoken of “The Climb.”
It became his team’s motto when he took over a struggling Florida State football program amid the COVID pandemic in 2020.
Norvell’s Seminoles spent the next four seasons scaling the proverbial mountain all the way to an Atlantic Coast Conference championship and a 13-0 record two years ago before being controversially denied a spot in the College Football Playoff.
But sometimes during a climb, you can slip and fall.
FSU didn’t just stumble, it hit rock bottom.
The Seminoles struggled to a 2-10 record and the program’s worst season since 1974.
So for Norvell and the Seminoles, “The Climb” begins again.
“Everybody wants to get to the top,” Norvell said last month at the ACC Kickoff event in Charlotte, North Carolina. “We’ve seen that. A couple years ago, we got to lift the trophy. Most people talk about it; we’ve seen it. We know what that looks like.
“...But the most important step along the journey is the next one. People that are willing -- regardless of the circumstance, regardless of what you find yourself in, that you’re willing to take the step to go be your best, to put everything that you have in -- I don’t want a team full of sidekicks. I want guys that are willing to grasp it, to hold it, to push it, to step for it and to go be it, and that’s what’s needed, and that’s what I believe I’m seeing within this football team.”
Norvell knows the pressure is on once again to restore Florida State to glory.
And he’s embracing it.
Norvell and his staff spent the offseason reshaping the Seminoles’ roster, and brought in more than 50 new players, mostly from the transfer portal, and others from a recruiting class ranked No. 19 nationally by 247Sports.com
Internal expectations are high for a notable and immediate turnaround as more than half of those transfers are being projected to take on starting roles including quarterback Tommy Castellanos, a transfer from Boston College.
The Seminoles also hired veteran former Auburn and UCF coach Gus Malzahn as their new offensive coordinator and Tony White, who produced top-25 ranked defenses at both Syracuse and Nebraska over the past four seasons, as their new defensive coordinator.
Florida State’s schedule, which has seven of its 12 games at home, will challenge its hopes of a quick turnaround. The Seminoles face four teams that will open the season ranked in the top 15 by the Associated Press including rivals Miami (Oct. 4 at home) and Florida (Nov. 29 at Gainesville).
Florida State also has a trip to ACC favorite Clemson on Nov. 8 and opens the season on Aug. 30 at home against Alabama.
“I believe in the group of guys that we have that have come together. In today’s age of college athletics, everybody has a choice because it’s easy to leave,” Norvell said. “It’s hard to stay, and it’s hard to say yes when you know the expectations that are going to be put in front of you. When you come to Florida State, you’d better embrace the highest of expectations, because it’s what I have, it’s what our program has.”
Castellanos, who was recruited by and played for Malzahn at UCF before transferring to Boston College in 2023, threw 18 touchdown passes and five interceptions before suffering a lower-body injury Nov. 9 last year against Syracuse. He did not play again for the remainder of the season.
Castellanos has already made some waves this offseason with his comments about FSU’s first opponent, saying: “[Alabama] doesn’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.”
“We stand on what I said. But there’s no disrespect between that team or anything like that,” Castellanos said at ACC Kickoff. “It’s just the confidence that I have in my teammates and the way we’ve been preparing and putting this preparation together this off-season, I just feel confident in the guys and the work that we’ve been putting in.”
Castellanos, a dual threat, is part of revamped offense, which has been tailored personnel-wise around Malzahn’s offensive scheme. Malzahn will try to inject some life into an offense, which finished ranked last in the ACC and among the worst in the nation in nearly every category last season, and averaged only 15.4 points per game.
Four likely new starters on the offensive line including UCF transfers, guard Adrian Medley and tight end Randy Pittman Jr.
Castellanos’ potential weapons will include USC transfer receiver Duce Robinson and Tennessee transfer Squirrel White.
On defense, tackle Darrell Jackson Jr., linebacker Omar Graham and safety Earl Little Jr. all return, as well as free safety and fifth-year Seminole Shyheim Brown.
White introduced an aggressive 3-3-5 scheme, which should reenergize a defense, which mustered only four interceptions last season and forced only six turnovers — both ACC lows.
“I’ve been blessed throughout my coaching career to be around a lot of wonderful coaches, and I believe this is a special staff,” Norvell said. “To be able to pour into them, to be able to help support them, to challenge them, for them to do the same for each other and for myself, it does make a great dynamic.”
This story was originally published August 21, 2025 at 1:44 PM.
