Gus Malzahn praises Thomas Castellanos for response after interception in scrimmage

The 2025 season is rapidly approaching. It’s a season where the Florida State Seminoles are hoping to have a much-improved season after struggling offensively last year. That’s a charge that is being led by new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn and transfer quarterback Thomas Castellanos.

That changing of the guards on the Florida State offense hasn’t come without some growing pains, though. That included a recent interception in Florida State’s last scrimmage. While that interception isn’t something anyone wants, for Malzahn, his response to it is proof that the Seminoles are on the right path.

“Those things are very, very important,” Gus Malzahn said. “Yeah, he threw an interception early in the scrimmage. Then, he came back and made a play, and I think threw a long touchdown. Then led us down to another touchdown. That’s the response that you’re looking for out of your quarterback, and so very impressed with that last night.”

There is an amount of comfort between Malzahn and Castellanos that goes back years. In his first season in college, Castellanos was at UCF, where Malzahn was the head coach. There, he got familiar with Malzahn’s offense, and even though he transferred to Boston College, where he played for two different coaching staffs in as many seasons. So, even though it’s not in back-to-back years, it’s the first time he has had the same offensive system as in a previous season.

In that freshman season at UCF, Castellanos had limited playing time. However, in that playing time he did receive, he completed nine of 16 pass attempts for 75 yards. He’d also rushed for 120 yards on 8.6 yards per attempt and a touchdown.

That comes in a career where Castellanos has completed 58.6 percent of passes for 3,689 yards and 33 touchdowns to 19 interceptions. Castellanos also rushed for 1,427 yards and 15 touchdowns. That comes in 26 career games.

Gus Malzahn breaks down how Thomas Castellanos is handling learning Florida State offense

The familiarity between Gus Malzahn and Thomas Castellanos seems vital to their relationship. It’s allowed the pair to hit the ground running in Tallahassee and, hopefully, get the Seminoles offense on track.

“He’s already familiar with the big picture stuff we did,” Malzahn said. “Obviously, being with me a couple years ago. I think the challenge — our defense presents so many challenges. There’s some unconventional things with the things that we do, which makes it really tough on offenses with IDing things. So, when you’re installing, sometimes you’ve got to take that into account with everything. But he’s done a really, really good job up to this point.”

Florida State needs the offense up and running right away. The Seminoles open with Alabama at home to start the season, which is never an easy task, but particularly  Castellanos has been very confident publicly about beating the Crimson Tide.