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September 9, 2024 15 mins
The Managing Editor of Warchant.com, Ira Schoffel, joined Preston for a look back at the 0-and-2 start for the once 10th ranked FSU football team and offered some thoughts on what has gone wrong and what the rest of the season may look like. 
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Five minutes past the hour. It is the third hour
of the morning show with Thrustin scot Good Morning Friends
Show fifty two thirty Jose, can you see over there
in Studio one A. I'm here in Studio one B,
and it's time. We decided that we would give it
a couple of weeks before we talked to Irischeffell, managing

(00:34):
editor at warchat dot com. All Right, Iira, you've had
a little bit of time to reflect on the first
two weeks of the season. Give me your big picture
at this point, your takeaways?

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Uh wow, yeah, man, it's a little different, a little
different than when you had me on last year, after
wins every week. You know, it's I think it's a
combination of things. Now we've taken a couple days, couple
weeks to try to like take a deep breath and
reflect on everything. I mean, I think the reality is,
you know, when Florida State lost so many guys to

(01:08):
the NFL Draft last year, ten guys drafted, several other
guys who signed free agent contracts. You know, I think
most of us knew, Okay, this is probably gonna be
a little bit of a step back year. But then
Mike Norvell didn't want that. You know, he went out
and got dj Uey Ungole and a bunch of high
profile transfers, and I think we all kind of talked
ourselves into believing that, okay, you could just kind of

(01:28):
keep reloading through the transfer portal, and clearly that hasn't worked.
So now you know, we could sit here, and we
are sitting here and trying to figure out all the
reasons why it's not working. But that's the bottom line.
It's not going to be an overnight fix. This team's
not going to get in the playoff picture. The question
now is can he get it back on track at
least so that the program keeps moving forward into twenty

(01:50):
twenty five and beyond.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
We're already starting to see. I'm looking at one of
the lead pieces on war chand dot com right now
there are players decommitting from Florida State, and I have
to believe it's largely due to an zero to two start.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, there's no question, and you know, you know, it's
just kind of the nature of the business when when
you get off to this pore of a start and
play this poorly, all you're doing is giving ammunition to
all the other colleges when they're talking to these recruits.
And so now you can keep you know, Florida State
for people that don't follow recruiting closely. You know, during

(02:27):
the summer, at one point, Florida State had a recruiting
class that was, you know, borderline top five in the
top ten, around number seven or number eight. They missed
out on a few guys late in the summer that
they thought they could get, and if they had gotten
those guys, it might have been one of the top
two or three classes in the country. Signing days not
until December, and how you play on the field affects that.

(02:49):
And Florida State's off to an awful start. And as
you said, they've lost two top defensive line recruits, and
that's you know, obviously offensive line defensive line are two
of the most important positions to recruit at the high
school level, and Florida State had two, they had three,
They have three, had three very highly rated defensive linemen,
three of the top defensive linemen in the country. Two

(03:09):
of them now committed this weekend, Myron Charles and Jamie
on Hillson. And so you know, this is the challenge
now Florida State has to get back on track to
preserve what's left of that class.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Let's just stay with lines. At this point, much was
said about the defensive line being among the best in
the country, that the offensive line might be the strength
of the team because of returning experience. Neither of those
have been proven accurate. What do you think is the reason?

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, not at all. I mean I think it's two.
I think it's different reasons on each side. Defensive line,
you know, I think you had, you know, you bring
back Patrick Payton who had fourteen a half tackles for
loss last year. Josh Farmer, who is I think second
team All acc maybe, but those guys were kind of
like secondary players on the defensive line to Jared Verse
and Braden Fist. Well, now those guys have to be

(04:02):
the top guys, and they have not taken that jump
that you were hoping that they would take into being
frontline guys. They've been you know, I don't think they've
been marketably worse than they were in the past, but
now they have to be the lead guys and they
haven't really taken that jump. And then the other guys
who are filling in behind them have not played great either,
but physically, if you look at that defensive line, and

(04:23):
where a lot of that hype came from was NFL
scouts come to practice, And if you look at Marvin Jones, Junior,
Patrick Payton, Josh Farmer, and Darryl Jackson, You're not going
to find a better looking defensive line in the country.
They just have not played anywhere close to that level
on the offensive line. As you said, that was based
on most of the experience, returning experience. You have a
lot of guys who've started thirty forty fifty college football games,

(04:46):
and I think what's different there is the reality is
most of those guys played with a mobile quarterback at
Jordan Travis, and I think that can make an offensive
line look better than it is. And right now they
do not have a mobile quarterback in DJ and they're
getting exposed, and so I think it's a I think
Mike Grovel's gonna have to figure out some things to
help out that offensive one.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Welcome to the Morning Show with Preston Scott, back with
irischafellowarchand dot Com. I want to zero in on DJ
for just a little bit. Uh Oue Ungley and you
know I got I got to really some thinking about this,
because it broke my heart when I heard some of

(05:28):
the chants that were going on in the game against
Boston College. I thought it was brutally unfair. Look, he's
not played great, he hasn't and he's not even played
up to his normal standards going back to last season
at Oregon State. But when we're comparing him, as you
pointed out earlier, to Jordan Travis, and the thing that

(05:50):
stood out to me is, you know, Mackenzie Milton came
in and he didn't quite excel with one offseason to
pick up the offense. And then you've got dj and
he's got one offseason to pick up the offense. Jordan
Travis literally grew up with Mike norvel in this offense.
Are we expecting just too much from this guy at

(06:13):
this point?

Speaker 2 (06:15):
No, that's fair, and I'm with you. I thought the
worst thing that, you know, I think one of the
issues that's that's played dj if during his college career.
I think it was a big problem m Clemson was
he came in as you know, one number one or
number two quarterback in the country. They expected him to
be the next Trevor Lawrence. When he wasn't that the
fans turned on him, and I think it affected his confidence.
I really thought he needed to get off to a

(06:36):
good start at Florida State and for the fans to
support him, to really kind of help him become whatever
he can be. Once he got off to a poor start,
and like you said, it wasn't all his fault, even
in that first I don't blame the Georgia Tech loss
on him. I agree, And even that first the first series,
on third down he hits the running back with the
I mean, it looked like a perfect pass and the
running back just doesn't catch it. And so now it's

(06:59):
two series he's in, We're channing, we want Brock and
I think that I agree. I think that was unfortunate,
but it's the nature of the business. He's getting a
lot of money from Nil because he's a quarterback, so
that's part of the deal. You get it. But as
far as what we expect from him, yeah, to a degree,
but you only have him for one year. And I
think this is where you point to the head coach
and say, listen, you know, because look, I was the

(07:20):
first one to blame Jimbo Fisher when he I felt
like he too much on James Blackman as a true
freshman who got thrown into playing time, and that's just
the nature of it. The head coach has to figure
it out. There are quarterbacks in college football Dylan Rayola Nebraska,
They're Lagway DJ, Lagway of Florida. There are young quarterbacks

(07:40):
who are thrown into the action and the head coach
or offensive coordinator figures out a way for them to
have success. That's not Mike Norvell. Now, he may have
thought DJ could do more than he could do and
made a misjudgment there, but he's got to figure that out.
I mean, DJ's played a lot of college football. He
only has one year. They have to figure out a
way to get him to be more SUCCESSFU Mike Norvel.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
I think everyone, most anyone that has a head on
their shoulders IRA understands this guy's a really good coach
and he's not going anywhere, and we don't need him
to go anywhere. Uh I full faith and trust in
the guy that said. On the outside looking in, I'm
thinking he's given DJ another couple of starts, and if
the team's not turning it around, at least on his

(08:23):
side of the ball. I don't think he has a
choice but to go to one of the young guys.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
No, I agree. Part of the problem is you if
the quarterback's not performing, then it affects everything else. Yep,
and so he needs I think if I'm Mike Norvello,
I'm figuring out a way to get brock Glann maybe
a series or two, just to give a different look
and let let let the players know that you are
evaluating it. You're not just gonna ride with this guy

(08:48):
because you signed him and you're stuck with him. And
so yeah, he's definitely gonna have to The challenge there
is you know everybody, and you know this as well
as anybody, or better than anybody. You know, everybody loves
the back of quarterback sometimes until you see him. And
so we'll see how that goes. I mean I have
not I've watched a lot of practices. I have never thought, Okay,
brock Land is totally the answer. He still a red

(09:11):
shirt freshman, so we'll have to see. Now, maybe when
the lights come on, he gives you that spark because
he can run a little bit and he is a
competitive kid, and maybe just giving DJ some time off
might help him. Decompress a little bit. But yeah, he
can't just ride with DJ every series of every game
if they keep losing.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
W s l A on your phone with the iHeart
radio app and on hundreds of devices like Alexa, Google Home,
Xbox and Sonos and Ihearts radio station. He's the managing
editor at war chand dot com, Irischaffell, covering Florida State
Athletics longer than either of us are willing to admit. Ira,

(09:53):
let me just ask you before we kind of move
on a little bit. Luke Chromehook, is that his name, Chromehawk, Kroumenhawk, Chromanhawk.
Is he remotely on the horizon or is it brock Glenn,
the guy that maybe if we go Kentucky Derby like
the old days about and I thought that was one
of the most brilliant things that they used to do,

(10:14):
is they'd get guys experience, given them series of plays
in meaningful parts of football games.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
You know, honestly, that's something that they could do. I
don't know if like Norvell is even aware of the
Kentucky Derby or if he would ever do it. But
it wasn't just a quarterback. He would bring in that
second team offensive line too, and I think you've got
enough linemen to do that. The problem is you're not
winning games handily anymore. But oh there's that, There is that.
But yeah, no, I like Luke Trumpenhawk a lot. I

(10:43):
think he might be the future. I think if everything
had gone well, I felt, you know, DJ would be
the guy this year and he'd have a great battle
next year by Luke Crumenhawk, who's just a true freshman
in Brock Glenn who's got a year older. But the
problem is, you know, he may need one or one
of them to step in at some point this year.
I would Brockland, I think is further along because he's
just been here longer, he's been in that system. But

(11:05):
Luke Kremenhawk's a big time talent and I think he's
going to be a big factor in this thing as
they go on, maybe next season. But if somebody needs
to step in now, would be Brocklyn.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
The coaching, let's just big picture of the coaching at
this point. Offensive scheme, defensive scheme. I believe coach Norvell
was very stubborn against Georgia Tech. Should have been throwing
the football and we might be in a very different
place right now, to be honest with you, because I
think if they if they win that game, I don't
think they lose to BC. I don't necessarily think they're

(11:36):
a juggernaut, but I just I think that they've been
lacking on that side. What are your thoughts on the
offensive and defensive play calling?

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yeah, no, I probably agree with you. I think, you know,
the first game, he really wanted to establish the run.
I think he personally was over confident. I think he
believes so much in their running game that if they
just kept at it, kept plugging away, they would bust
through in control take control of the game. The problem
is they can never get the ball back on defense,
so they only got seven possessions in the game. This

(12:07):
pass game. I think he wisely figured BC was gonna
be a little bit more aggressive top in the run
and try to throw the ball. But the problem was
the passing game didn't perform either. So he's kind of
over too on his hunches of what they needed to
do defensively. I don't think it's scheme related. I just
think that you have some new pieces that are just

(12:28):
not coming together. Yet. You have guys trying to do
too much. Some guys pressing and trying to make big
plays instead of just doing their job. And defensive football
is all about just doing your job. You could have
eleven not even great players, but if they work together,
you could have a really good defense. Right now, those
guys are not working together. It's all fixable. I think
they can be better, but you know, you just it's

(12:48):
hard to predict when that's gonna happen. Overall, I think
Mike Grovell is gonna have to tweak some things, I
think offensively to get them going. And again maybe that's
some wildcat. Maybe they just need to get some drives extended.
So I think he's We've seen him do it in
the past when he had limited talent. He's got to
help this offense out because just running the offense isn't
getting it done.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
How big of a difference will it be when and
if we see Hikim Williams back on the field.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Big difference. And it's a great point, and we don't
talk about it enough, but you're right, I mean, well, listen,
you know, in the spring, maybe their top two receivers
or two of the top three, where hai Kim Williams
and Dustin Hill, they're both not available. Dustin Hill had
a knee injury. We don't know when he's going to
be back. Maybe late in the season, maybe next year.
Haikim Williams has missed the first couple of games. He's
not only a big target at you know, six two

(13:37):
sixty three, big body, but he's also a great blocker
and that's one area they've really struggled in the running
game is the perimeter blocking has not been good because
they don't have any big bodied receivers. So yeah, there's
no question he would be a big help.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
Is there any word on him being back anytime soon?

Speaker 2 (13:54):
I would expect to be back this week. I thought
there was a chance he could have played against Boston College.
He didn't get to play against Roscots. He actually suited
up and went through some pregame warm ups that day.
I would be shocked. Unless he has a setback, I'd
be shocked he doesn't play this week.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
For all of the FSU faithful out there that are
trying to find reasons to go Saturday, what would you say,
do you think they find a way to cobble together
and get a win and get something going the other way?

Speaker 2 (14:23):
I think so. I mean, I just I really feel
and I'm gonna write something about this. I just feel
like everybody needs just reset, you know, just reset, recalibrate
kind of what this team is. Again. I this was
not supposed to be a year if you went back
six months, you know, eight months ago, ten months ago,
twelve months ago. This was not supposed to be a
year where Florida State was going to be in the
playoff contention again because you lost Jordan Travis and Jared

(14:45):
Versus Braden Fisk and all those guys. But we kind
of made ourselves feel like, Okay, there's a quick fix
here with the portal, and it really isn't. And it
was never when Mike Norvella, this was first couple of years.
He didn't see the portal as a quick fix. It
was just trying to get better place in the program. Yeah,
this year kind of all fooled ourselves into it being
a one year wonder and I just don't that's clearly

(15:06):
not going to happen. I think if you reset to
the mindset of, hey, they're just going to get better
again and start making progress for next year, which was
always I always felt like this could be a better
year because you have so much young talent that's going
to be There is a lot of young talent on
this team that I think will be ready to contribute
next year. So that would be my thought process is
just focus on getting better and maybe twenty twenty five

(15:29):
is a great year, as opposed to being mad the
rest of the season that this season isn't what anybody
expected it to be.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
I re, I think you just did it. I think
there's a bunch of guys right now and they're lazy
boys saying darn it, Margaret, that's it. We're going all right.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Sounds good success victory.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
I ra thanks for the time. We'll talk next week.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
Thanks Presdon, Thank you, Sir. I Rishafelle with us on
The Morning Show with Preston Scott
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