Florida State PrimeTime LIVE 23 Host: Jackson Burleson | Guest: Colby Crawford (247Sports FSU) Theme: Pressure on Mike Norvell, Week 0 mindset vs. New Mexico State, camp takeaways, injuries, and roster questions. Quick Snapshot ACC follows Big Ten/SEC in blocking former professionals; legal back-and-forth (TROs, institutional penalties) still unfolding two days from Week 0. Devin Carter (true freshman WR) out for opener and likely SMU; Quintravion Weisner (Texas transfer RB) expected to play but in a measured committee with Usman Croma and Sam Singleton. Ashton Daniels earned “Break the Rock”; camp praise for leadership and confidence, but protection and ball security remain the swing factors. No official depth chart. Watch OL/DL rotations, LB snaps behind Chris Jones/Caleb Lavallee, and safety usage. Colby prediction vs. NMSU: 37-13 (does not cover 32.5). Jackson leaning 40-7. Norvell hot-seat bar: clear on-field and recruiting progress. Colby’s full-season lean is 4-8; Jackson more in the 7-8 win range. Schedule is the ACC’s toughest. Timestamped Notes 0:00–1:30 — Open Florida State PrimeTime Live presented by FanDuel. Jackson welcomes 247 FSU reporter Colby Crawford to talk “Knowles football.” Subscribe, notifications, drop questions in chat. 1:30–5:20 — ACC / former-pro ruling and courtroom noise ACC joins Big Ten and SEC in blocking former professionals from returning. Colby: once SEC (Greg Sankey language around “full and total authoritative control”) and Big Ten drew a hard line, ACC following felt inevitable—like school districts canceling after a neighboring county does. Still expect portal additions of players who never signed NFL contracts. Issue also exists in basketball. Dan Murphy (ESPN) tweet + Dallas TRO allowing roughly two dozen outgoing seniors back. Colby: expect countersuits against conferences, not just schools/NCAA. SEC posture is “play the player if you want, but we’ll fine the institution or restrict the coach.” Not over in court. Both want to get back to football with Week 0 two days away. 5:20–8:15 — Devin Carter injury True freshman WR who had a good spring and was competing for fifth/sixth WR snaps + special teams. Banged up early in fall camp. Mike Norvell already said he’s out for the opener. Colby: not a Deuce Robinson / Makai Dancy / Usman Croma-level loss. Could be a couple of weeks or stretch toward midseason. Unlikely for SMU; the NMSU / Central Arkansas games were the natural spots to ease him in. Depth is flattened, so every body matters, but the top of the WR room came through camp healthy. Carson Hobbs (Notre Dame transfer) is out for the year (ACL). 8:15–11:00 — Quintravion Weisner and the RB room Texas transfer was the “shiny new toy,” missed some camp time (injury not disclosed). Expected to play vs. NMSU. Croma and Singleton took a lot of the reps and earned glowing reviews (Singleton big TDs in second scrimmage; Croma “taken charge”). Weisner is by far the most experienced (Colby: nearly double Croma + Singleton’s career snaps from last year alone) and a true three-down back who can catch. Expect a committee: Croma as the “truer one,” spelled by Singleton and Weisner. Staff will be measured—want everyone healthy for the Sept. 7 game. RB room is one of the most comfortable units on the roster. 11:00–13:40 — Ashton Daniels Earned Break the Rock at the end of camp; viewed as a prominent leader. Colby: he is the biggest question mark / “little engine that could.” Large career sample. Problems historically come when pressure leads to poor decisions and turnovers. Best flashes: 100+ rushing yards vs. Alabama, career game vs. Vanderbilt. Question is a full 12-game season against a tough ACC slate plus Alabama and Florida. Need: protection + game-manager version that hits Deuce Robinson, gets the ball to playmakers, and works off the run game. Ball security is the priority. Around the building: same guy every day, no negative remarks, leads the right way. A few throws (especially far-side) he’d want back. Confidence is the highest it’s been; now it has to hold when stakes rise. 13:40–16:45 — Camp grade + transfer-QB model Overall positive camp. Biggest win is health (Hobbs the notable exception). Lots of new transfers, especially OL, needed the reps to gel. Productive work. Third straight Week 1 starting transfer QB (DJ Uiagalelei, Tommy Castellanos, now Daniels). If the Daniels experiment fails, Colby says FSU will have bigger program questions than just the QB room. Sustainability of yearly portal QBs depends on the program, recruiting arm, and money. Indiana and Miami have made it work with high-end transfers. FSU has felt one-foot-in, one-foot-out on strategy. Evaluation matters more than the source (five-star freshman vs. transfer)—both are expensive. 16:45–19:10 — No depth chart Part of the broader trend: no spring game, more things kept behind the veil because of the portal and “loose lips sink ships.” Frustrating for fans, but if you’ve followed camp you have a decent picture. Half or more of the roster is new, so a published chart would help stadium-goers identify numbers. Changing world of CFB. 19:10–23:10 — Battles and standouts to watch Week 0 OL and DL rotations / snap counts / how deep they go. Safeties: KJ Kirkland vs. CJ Richard. LB: Chris Jones and Caleb Lavallee as the running mates; who is next (Makai Bayer, Blake Nicholson)? Chris Jones: after last year’s LB play “can’t get any worse.” Competent athlete who wants to get downhill, strike, and hunt the football. Teammate/self-quote vibe: “I tweak harder than anyone.” Reckless, physical, linebacker mentality. Not projected as all-conference yet, but the traits are there. Ernie Sims (former FSU / top-10 NFL pick) is a spark plug for the room—“apex predator” standard. Instills violence, desire, and passion. Especially pleased with Jones and Lavallee. Desir brothers: Mandrell had a strong true-freshman year (6.5 sacks, freshman All-American). Darrell was a fall-camp riser. Both can move around the line; Mandrell more versatile (“I can play one through five”). Hard to keep off the field; path to all-conference type seasons. Jabril Rawls: staff wants a true No. 1 lockdown corner who can travel with the opponent’s top WR and erase him. Athleticism, fluidity, leadership. Built on last year’s flashes (pick at UVA) under Blue Adams. 23:10–29:00 — New Mexico State preview, spread, and what FSU must show Spread sitting around 32.5 (moving). Colby submitted 37-13 to 247—does not expect a cover. Expect vanilla looks ahead of SMU, heavy rotation of DL and RBs in the second half, “wind the game down.” Still want a statement at home and snaps for depth. Jackson leaning they cover / something like 40-7; defense should show up, offense has familiar skill pieces. What the game needs to look like: clean operation all three phases (penalties, turnovers, special-teams execution, substitution/alignment issues). Passionate, flying-to-the-football effort. Control the game after the first quarter. Effort and desire will matter as much as the final margin for a fan base that has checked out or is bracing for another down year. Context check: both FSU and NMSU are 7-17 over the last two seasons. FSU has no road wins in that span. Jackson: “Is this the level we’ve dropped to?” Colby acknowledges the frustration from the Bowden-era standard. 29:00–36:00 — Norvell hot seat, schedule, and win totals Hottest seat among Power 4 coaches after the 13-0 anomaly and the slide since. Colby gut: 8-4 to feel safe, but he doesn’t see eight wins with this roster and this schedule. Seven-and-five might be the real conversation. Wins look different depending on start (6-0 vs. 5-0 then five-game skid). Need obvious progression on the field, off the field, and in recruiting. Colby’s penciled record: 4-8. Losses: SMU, Alabama, Louisville, Miami, Clemson, Pitt, NC State, Florida. Wins: Boston College, Virginia, Central Arkansas, New Mexico State. Jackson more in the 7–8 range and calls that generous. Schedule is the toughest in the ACC. A 1-2 start (especially if Virginia is a loss) makes the Louisville/Miami/Clemson stretch deafening. AD Michael Alford: boosters did their job; now it’s Mike’s turn. Read as a clear “live up to expectations or we move on.” Last year many thought the trigger would come after Stanford; this year the message is more explicit. 36:00–38:30 — Recruiting reset and the new facility Recruiting “gone by the wayside” in effort and approach; revolving door in the front office. Last year’s class was huge; this year’s is smaller and more cognizant, partly because the money wasn’t there for top targets. Ingredients: dominate the most talent-rich state in the country, keep Florida kids home, relentless trail work, re-establish the brand/shield. NIL/rev-share makes it more expensive, but competitive money + effort still wins a lot of battles. New facility: helps in the “have vs. have-not” comparison on visits. Nice recruiting tool, but still just a building if results and people inside it don’t match. 38:30–41:20 — Offensive line and Norvell calling plays OL was essentially rebuilt (almost everyone new except one holdover). Need physicality, striking, playing together, clean operation, and comfort rotating guys. Xavier Chaplin (6-7, 330, Virginia Tech/Auburn) is the bookend left tackle—if he goes down they’re in trouble. Physical tools plus Herb Hand coaching; now it has to show on the field. Norvell taking play-calling after Gus Malzahn’s late retirement. Colby doesn’t think it changes the job-security math much. “If it’s not now, it’s never.” The buck stops with him. Combination with Tim Harris will be worth watching out of the NMSU game. Hasn’t called plays in a while. 41:20–end — Close Colby will be at
