Florida State Seminoles football opened preseason camp on Wednesday, with media given a brief viewing period. Here is what we saw from the Seminoles.
Football is back, officially.
Florida State football held its first preseason practice of the season on Wednesday, July 30, as the Seminolesbegin preparation for Alabama and the 2025 season.
The Tallahassee Democrat took in about 15 minutes of practice and got a first look at Tommy Castellanos, the new-look offense and defense alongside the new coaching staff.
While viewing was limited to a handful of drills, here is what we saw from day one of the Seminoles preseason camp.
Quarterback notes: Tommy Castellanos begins his first season leading the FSU offense
Castellanos led off every drill as QB1, as expected, and he linked up mostly with true freshman wide receiver Jayvan Boggs and returning redshirt-junior Jaylin Lucas in the drills during the viewing period.
From what we saw, Castellanos was on time with most of his throws — he did have one or two misses with balls thrown at the knees of intended targets. He spent time coaching up true freshman Kevin Sperry between drills, and seemed to be vocal with his teammates.
Given the limited viewing, there wasn't much to take away outside of the delivery of the football to the receivers running routes.
Offensive notes
Recievers and running backs only partook in a handful of individual drills during the open window, with a few names earning some praise from the coaching staff.
Boggs popped up more than a handful of times in his drills, earning praise from both head coach Mike Norvell and offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn at times. He worked with both Castellanos and Brock Glenn during the viewing window, a notable observation given how the coaching staff and teammates have praised the true freshman.
Micahi Danzy was made to re-run a drill after a mistimed route and attempting a one-handed catch, with Norvell heard in the background yelling "two-hands." Malzahn instructed him to run the route again and he made a nice grab, followed by another later in practice as he continues his transition to a new position.
Lucas, who was used as a running back last season, lined up and worked with the wide receivers in practice. Duce Robinson, Elijah Moore and Lawayne McCoy all earned praise for their work in various drills.
There wasn't much to note with the drills done by running backs and the offensive line.
Defensive notes
The biggest takeaway was the vocalness of Darrell Jackson and defensive line coach Terrance Knighton.
Knighton was barking orders, at times profane, at players running through defensive line drills.
Jackson led off every drill and, Knighton made everyone re-run drills from the top with even the slightest error. Once Jackson finished his work, he joined Knighton in coaching the line through their work.
The linebackers were split into two groups, with everyone working on pass rushing and ball security drills. There wasn't much action, but Justin Cryer was very vocal within the group alongside both linebacker coach John Papauchis and assistant Ernie Sims.
Defensive backs worked in coverage drills, and there wasn't much to note with what we saw.
FSU football 2025 schedule
- Aug. 30, Alabama, 3:30 p.m.
- Sept. 6, East Texas A&M, Noon
- Sept. 20, Kent State, TBA
- Sept. 26, at Virginia (Friday), 7 p.m.
- Oct. 4, Miami, TBA
- Oct. 11, Pittsburgh, TBA
- Oct. 18, at Stanford, 10:30 p.m.
- Nov. 1 Wake Forest, TBA
- Nov. 8 at Clemson, TBA
- Nov. 15 Virginia Tech, TBA
- Nov. 21 North Carolina State (Fri.), 8 p.m.
- Nov. 29, Florida, TBA
Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at [email protected] or on Twitter @__liamrooney
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State football takeaways from first preseason practice
Category: General Sports
