Pitiful

While attending home football games the past few weekends, I've had a number of people approach me about the Doak Campbell Stadium West Sideline project expressing concern about whether they will be able to afford their seats in coming years. As I listened to their concerns I realized the majority of my friends had not been through the presentation yet and were operating with information they are hearing was second or third hand. And some of those who had been through the presentation didn't hear or ask the right questions about lower priced west side seats including the chairback and bleacher seats.

I understand the concern and wanted to create this forum where I can try to be of some help to our subscribers.

If you have concerns, please express them here and I will try to be a conduit for providing accurate information and maybe alieviating some of your concerns.

Because I've been a season ticket holder and a donor for nearly 50 years, I have accumualted enough points to have been through the presentation, so to start this thread I'll tell you what I know, which I hope helps, and invite you to share your questions or concerns which I will solicit answers for from the right people at Florida State.

1. Patience will relieve unnecessary anxiety
I suggest you wait to hear the presentation for yourself before you make up your mind.
Right now FSU is only selling club seats, so the prices you are hearing are for club seats ONLY. The next product they will sell is the chairback seats and Champions Club seats but they have not released those prices yet.
What I know is the capital campaign gift will be much lower for these products as will the seat price. If the chairback seat prices are too much for your budget then FSU will get back to you with a bleacher seat price once that product is released for sale. The bleacher seats WILL NOT REQUIRE A CAPITAL CAMPAIGN GIFT.
My number one suggestion is patience as it will take time to get to every one of the seat holders and donors as they are doing the presentations one at a time.

2. Why are they communication it this way?
Why not do a blast communication of every product to every donor and season ticket holder?
Athletic Director Michael Alford has had success running projects like this one at Alabama, Oklahoma and the Dallas Cowboys and has found this the most fair way to do it.
The idea is to start with existing season ticket holders and current Boosters, in priority point order, as each of seven products are released for sale, starting with the highest premium products.
They want to meet individually to communicate the project and the experience they are selling, get a better idea of the experience you want and the budget you can afford. Based on Alford's experience, he believes this is the most fair way to provide existing ticket holders the first opportunity to see each prduct they release and allow the donor/ticket holder the first opportunity to decide if this is the right experience and price point.
If it is not the right experience or price point, as it was not for me, they used the meeting to ask me what experience and price point I would have an interest and will offer that product to me once it is released. While they weren't able to tell me what the price point would be they did give me an assurance it would be less than the club seats and I left the meeting feeling there would be a product to fit my budget.
I personally believe they are doing it this way to sell their premium products first, as those products provide the lion's share of the funding for the project. And, very importantly, this process is an opportunity to meet every donor and ticket holder on a personal basis and get a better idea of their interests and capacity.

3. Where is FSU in the process?
They started with mid-level skyboxes and once they were sold out, went to Founders Loge seats, then club seats where they are more than half sold out today. The seat prices, and capital campaign gift requirment, you are hearing right now are for club seats only.
They have worked through the priority list and I believe are still meeting with the large group of Tomahawk donors now.
FSU has not released the chairback seat prices, or the capital campaign gift requirement yet, so again the prices you are hearing are only for the club seats. The chairback seats will have a much lower campaign gift requirement and seat price.
Once they have the club seats sold out, they will announce the chairback seat prices and begin selling those products in priority point order. Those chairback seats will have a lower seat price than the club seats and a lower capital campaign requirement. They have not released those prices yet.
When they are done selling chairback seats, they will annonce the price of the bleacher seats on the west sideline, which are illustrated on the endzone sidelines. These seats will not require a capital campaign gift but will be wider, with more legroom and have access to all the new concourse, concession and restroom amenities.

4. Why are they rebuilding the west sideline?
There are a couple of reasons which I have some personal knowledge.
a.) Doak is more than 70 years old and the metal structure has served its useful life. I was involved in the last major repair to the stadium, some $20 million dollars in 2016, and I can tell you this is ultimately a longterm maintenance issue. The new structure will be concrete.
b.) The second reason is to provide fans with a better fan experience, wider seats, more leg room, less steep stairs with handrails, more ADA seating, better concessions and restrooms. When done, I believe this will be a much improved experience including in the lower priced bleacher seats.
c.) At the end of the day, the primary reason for pretty much every project is to be able to provide your program with adequate funding and I'm sure this project will be just another source of funding for the football program. Athletics is not a profit making enterprise. Whatever money is generated through tickets, contributions, concessions, etc. is plowed right back into funding 20 men's and women's sports.

5. Financial and emotional reaction
I've been retired from Seminole Boosters since 2019 but have vivid memories of conversations with our ticket holder and donors as we implemented four ticket priority policy changes between 2000 and 2019.
My first assignment was to implement the 2000 ticket priority policy change, which was the first in 25 years. I spent a lot of time on the phone and in meetings listening to both financial and emotional concerns and as a paying season ticket holder and donor, it was easy to have empathy for each person, whether a young family or a retiree, so I get it.
Each of those priority policy changes asked for incremental changes to maintain the same seats with the same experience. This change is more dramatic financially but unlike prior changes will provide fans with a much improved experience, which should not go unnoticed in these discussions but natually does.

If you have concerns, comments or questions, fire away. If I don't know the answer, I know where to find it.

I heard on the TV broadcast? Oh and the camera work on the CW broadcast sucked along with gator homer Bates pretending to be a Nole fan.

Coaches talk about the “football Gods” always deliver Humble 🥧 and Reward Respect and Hardwork! The saying goes
“Always Respect the Game” in everything you do.

During pre season all the videos, the LV bags,
instagram handles on jerseys, flash ect ect was slowly catching the eyes of the “Football Gods” ! Then the season approached and they got the 1st, then 2nd and 3rd in a row. Going into the 3rd game the lack of respect for the game finally burst the dam wide open flooding Boulder with arrogance, flash, Individualism, tv hungry, social media famous. Then 🦆 game hits and the disrespect and lack of respect for opponents and program coupled with video of stomping on the O, staring, laughing close to Nix towards warming up, Shit talk to players but coaches too, snatching a headband off a fans head opponents.

We came into watch film and we all pretty much said the same thing almost at the same time and that is the lesson was coming, pie just finished cooking and over night delivery was on the way.

Deion talks about teaching young boys how to be young men who are respectful, have accountability and more. You can sit on camera and say this or say it behind closed doors doesn’t matter when it’s nothing more than lip service. How do you know this was lip service? All you to do is watch social media, before games, during games. If Deion meant it this you would have saw a 180 by suspending players from games, which hurts the most. Players do not travel or dismissed. It takes drastic measures to get drastic results. It almost like Deion feels each player on his team has to have the mentality he did along with the persona he had and still has. It just doesn’t work like that. I will not ever wish failure for a program, coaches or players, but as I said to begin with if you don’t respect the game and the “Football Gods” you will be served with that Big Fresh Humble Pie!

Jordan Travis and Mark Andrews have had their seasons ended by this borderline dirty tackle. It's a career ending injury.....

He looked smooth out there on the Zone Read TD!
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1. To the “JT13 shouldn’t have even been playing” crowd, get real. He’s firmly in the pantheon of all time great QB’s here. No coach anywhere is going to sit him on senior day for his last home game. Take your revisionist history and shove it.

2. Re: the injury - terrible, tragic, heart breaking. JT13 has character that we haven’t seen here since Warrick Dunn. He absolutes deserves to go out on his teammates shoulders hoisting a trophy instead of on a golf cart. However he went out playing the way he always has, doing everything he could to lead an inspire his teammates. This kid deserves every accolade and record he has as he has overcome a lot in his career and worked very hard at his craft.

3. The season isn’t over. We’re not the first team to lose a starting QB and won’t be the last. We lost our leader on the field so it’s time for someone else to step up.

4. Calling all playmakers, Coleman, Wilson, Benson, Bell, Douglass, Toa, Morlock, etc. You’ve all shown game changing ability at times this season, time to do it consistently this team needs your best going forward. Every snap, every rep.

5. OL - Find your fangs. JT13 isn’t back there to mask deficiencies anymore. The new guy needs protection and the backs need running lanes. Step up and do your jobs.

6. Defense - time to elevate your games. You started the season a little slow but have come on as of late. We need you guys to keep getting better rep after rep.

7. These next 3-4 games are going to tell us a lot about where we’re at as a program. We don’t have a heisman candidate to carry us anymore. We’re going to have to win games by playing complete games in all 3 phases as a team. We’re more talented than FU or Louisville even without JT13. There’s no team in the country that wants to just rely on a strategy of “my guy is better than your guy” against the likes of Coleman, Wilson, Bell, and Benson. We control our own path the the CFP. The reps Rodemaker gains in these next few games will be invaluable for next year.

8. We’re going to lose some guys before next season. JT13, Coleman, Wilson, Benson, Verse, Deloach, Green, Etc. We’re going to learn a lot about how we replace some of these guys in the next 3-4 games.

FSU sports information:

Florida State (22-8, 15-2) came out on top after battling in five sets against North Carolina (12-14, 6-11) on Sunday. The Seminoles continue their seven-match win streak and have sole possession of first place in the ACC standings.

North Carolina came prepared to play as they immediately put the pressure on the Seminoles. The first set swayed back and forth. FSU tied it up at 18-18, but the Tar Heels closed out the set on a 4-0 scoring run (19-25). Maddie Snyder led the way in the first set with four kills.

In the second set, the Noles would find themselves down quickly (1-7). FSU chipped away and a Snider kill would bring the score within two (9-11). It would not be enough as Florida State had their backs against the wall, dropping the second set 19-25.

Florida State flipped the script in the third set as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Audrey Rothman’s ace grew the lead to 16-8. The Seminoles kept their foot on the gas and closed out the set 25-14.

The fourth set was once again a close fight. FSU and UNC had six ties throughout the set. The Noles had a 4-0 scoring run towards the end of the set, and would win the fourth set 25-21, forcing a fifth set.

In the fifth set, FSU took control early going up 6-4. The Tar Heels would not give up as they tied the score at 8-8. Like much of the match, the final point ended in dramatic fashion as a block by Audrey Rothman and Khori Louis sealed the win.

Snider had a career high of 15 kills today. Rothman was clutch, finishing the day with 17 digs and 11 kills. Kiari Robey was a defensive specialist recording 10 blocks. Khori Louis had another solid match registering a .467 hitting percentage.

The Seminoles will host Notre Dame next Saturday at 2 p.m. with an opportunity to win the ACC Conference.

The match will be televised on ACCNX.

Obviously Travis is the big one but who else got banged up. I did not see Green the 2nd half. He is a big piece of the defense. Also Smith went out as well. That’s terrible news for the OL if he is sidelined.

FSU sports information:

Two of the best offenses in all of college soccer will be on display on Sunday evening as the No. 1 Florida State women's soccer team (18-0-1) will play host to the Texas Longhorns (17-4-2) at 5:30 p.m. at the Seminole Soccer Complex. Ariya Massoudi (Play by Play) and Trevor DeGroot (Color) will be on the call on ESPN+. Sunday will be just the second all-time meeting between the Seminoles and Longhorns as the two teams met in 2007 in the Round of 16 in Tallahassee where FSU prevailed in a 4-0 win en route to their fourth College Cup appearance.

There will be plenty of star power on the pitch and plenty of offense as two out of the top five offenses in the country will go head-to-head on Sunday. FSU has the top scoring offense in the country at 3.16 goals per game while Texas ranks fourth in the country at 3.04 goals per game. The Seminoles have only given up three goals once this season and have only given up three or more goals in four games in the last four season. FSU has recorded shutouts in five out of the last six games and has allowed just four goals in their last 11 games dating back to Sept. 29 against Miami.

Against Texas A&M, the Seminoles turned to freshman Jordynn Dudley who is having one of the best freshman seasons in school history. Dudley scored the game-winning goal in the 55th minute against the Aggies for her 11th goal of the season. Dudley's 11 goals is the fourth most goals scored by a freshman in school history and is tied for second in the country among freshmen this season. Dudley and her counterpart Onyi Echegini are the first Florida State duo since 2014 to score 10 or more goals in the same season.

Cristina Roque rose to the occasion once again on Friday night with a season-high five saves to keep the Aggies off the board. Over the course of her career, Roque has picked up 13 NCAA Tournament wins in goal which is tied for second-most in school history and is just three wins away from tying the school record. More impressively, Roque recorded her 13th shutout in an NCAA Tournament game which is tied with Cassie Miller for the most in school history.

FSU updated its depth chart Monday ahead of Saturday's game at Florida. Tate Rodemaker is officially QB1 for the Seminoles while true freshman Brock Glenn will be his backup.

Jordan Travis confirmed on Monday morning that the severe injury he sustained on Saturday evening is season ending in a statement released by FSU football.

“I truly cannot thank everyone enough for the many thoughts, prayers and messages that have been sent my way," Travis wrote in a statement on Twitter. "I have been overwhelmed by the support from my teammates, coaches, the Florida State community and those all around the world. Although the injury I sustained on November 18th 2023 marks the end of my Seminole playing career, the great memories created here at FSU will never fade. Being the quarterback here at Florida State University has been a dream come true. I am humbled, honored and forever grateful. The journey this team set out on is not over yet as all of our goals still lie just ahead. I am excited to be by my brothers’ sides every day as we continue our attack. We’re all we got, we’re all we need. Job’s not finished. Go Noles!”

The defense decides to wake the hell up? We should have been up 14-0 when that injury occurred and Travis should have been watching from the sidelines. Unreal. Do we have to play from behind IN EVERY FRIGGIN GAME???

Welcome to the Post-Miami / N. Alabama Week edition of Recruiting Roundup.

As the Osceola staff keeps tabs on Florida State recruiting, we will produce a recap of the last week of recruiting and track visits and movement for Florida State commits and targets. The thread will be updated up until gameday as we keep track of visits of current commits and potential recruits that Florida State is battling for. The thread will include updates from Osceola Recruiting Analyst Charles Fishbein and will also include an organized list of relevant activity for FSU commits and targets, provided by Pat Burnham and Nick Carlisle.

To put it bluntly, this was a very successful weekend for Florida State recruiting - especially as it pertains to the future 2025 class. Any time you host a crop of recruits that large with a sold-out crowd and a win against a rival (with a borderline night game), you're going to have good results.

Now as far as the 2024 class is concerned, we reported a few weeks ago after the Duke game that Florida State's class was mostly complete and that following the commitment of Jamari Howard, they would likely only take one or two more players.

After the Miami game this past week, that is still the case. However, Florida State is still recruiting a list of targets that they will make room for if they decide to come to FSU and that list of players has grown in the last few weeks.

Florida State is trying to have the best defensive back class in the nation by the time Early Signing Day comes around and that is reflected in the pursuit of a few more 2024 DB targets. Florida State would also like to sign another defensive lineman before early signing day. And then, as usual, there is the looming possibility of flipping Jeremiah Smith from Ohio State - which has now been juxtaposed with the possibility of flipping Cam Coleman from Texas A&M.

Essentially the TL;DR is that there is not a lot of wiggle room but these are guys you make room for - either through dismissals or encouraging prospects being recruited over to move on.

If you have any questions about a particular recruit or visitor this weekend - including ones addressed in the post - leave it beneath this post and we will address it if we can.


2024 TARGET TRACKER:
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Jeremiah Smith visited Florida State this past weekend on an unofficial visit. This was a fantastic weekend for Florida State's recruitment of Smith, as the Ohio State commit was very impressed with his visit, heralding it as 'the best atmosphere he's been in all year'. Smith came back on Sunday to watch practice and meet with the FSU coaching staff.

The once shot in the dark to land the #1 wide receiver in the 2024 class has become a very, real chance for Florida State to flip Smith. Smith will not be taking any other visits in the coming weeks and his last visit will be an official visit to Florida State before he signs. FSU has been persistent and they have given him a lot to think about.

Login to view embedded media With the firing of Jimbo Fisher on Sunday, the recruitment of Cam Coleman became a lot more interesting. Florida State has not stopped recruiting Coleman despite his commitment to Texas A&M and this has made the Seminoles a contender as a landing spot should Coleman decide to explore his options. After his unofficial visit to Florida State, Coleman stated that his commitment was open and that he is planning an official visit to Florida State in December. He also intends to attend the Iron Bowl.

Auburn is another school that is very firmly in the mix to flip Coleman should he decide to de-commit from Texas A&M. You can read more about his visit, here:

https://floridastate.rivals.com/new...cam-coleman-plans-ov-to-fsu-talks-about-visit

Login to view embedded media Jamari Howard, as expected, officially committed to Florida State on Friday. He chose FSU over Florida, Rutgers, Maryland and Michigan State. Florida State was firmly in control of this recruitment for the last month and Howard joins the class as the 23rd commitment.

Login to view embedded media This one is interesting because of where Lucas is from. Lucas attends American Heritage, which is where Florida State defensive backs coach Pat Surtain coached before joining the Miami Dolphins in 2022 and then taking the job at FSU.

Xavier said during his visit to Florida State that the coaching staff made him feel special and that he has not been in a stadium with that many people before. Per Osceola Recruiting Analyst Charles Fishbein, Lucas is trending towards Florida State and it would not be a surprise if he ends up in the class.

Login to view embedded media LJ McCray did end up making a visit to Florida State this weekend after there were some rumors that popped up early in the week.

When we spoke with LJ after the game, he said that he enjoyed his visit but that he was there for his teammate Zavier Mincey to see him through the visit and to see how he enjoyed it.

There is no doubt that Florida State is still recruiting LJ, as he is a position of need - even with the addition of Armondo Blount. He was very tight-lipped both times we spoke to him this weekend. He says that he is still locked in with Florida but it is worth noting that he did not have to visit with Zavier this weekend.

You know what we say. Follow the visits.

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Speaking of Zavier. Mincey visited unofficially this weekend and appeared to really like his visit. He attended the LSU vs. FSU game but had not been able to experience the true FSU home environment. "The energy was there, the crowd was lit, the band was rocking and the players were doing what they needed to do. I'm very interested in Florida State."

He holds offers from Florida, Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, and LSU amongst others. As of now, he is a Florida lean.

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Bates took an unofficial visit to Florida State this weekend after not being on campus since his official visit during the summer. Unfortunately, he left before we were able to speak with him, although on Monday evening he decommitted from LSU. Bates is one of many DBs that Florida State is looking to add to be the cherry on top for this DB class.

2024 COMMIT NEWS:
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Blount was back on campus for an unofficial visit. The important thing to report here was that Armondo addressed the rumors that he was talking with Miami about flipping back to them. "Yeah, I honestly have no ideas where those rumors were coming from... I don't," he said while laughing.

Armondo re-stated that he will be early enrolling, taking an official visit in December and will be on campus in January.

2025 TARGET TRACKER:
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Four-star 2025 DE Zion Grady announced his commitment on Sunday. Florida State was in the Final 4 schools along with Alabama, Auburn, and Georgia. Grady committed to Alabama. We assumed that it was a close in-state battle between Alabama and Auburn and it was indeed Alabama that came out on top.

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Howard made his second unofficial visit to Florida State this season. The FSU coaching staff is very high on Howard and he is a high priority target for the 2025 class. From what we have heard, the feelings are mutual as they are one of the leaders for his services. This will be a name to watch going forward as we transition into the 2025 recruiting class.

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His unofficial visit on Saturday was the second straight Florida State home game that he had attended. After his visit, Ewald admitted that his visit had a large impact on his recruitment, especially with everything going on at Michigan currently. Things are trending well for Florida State in this recruitment but candidly, the outcome of the sign-stealing investigation will play a larger role in how Ewald's recruitment proceeds.

2024 COMMIT ACTIVITY:

Here is the list of Florida State commits that we can confirm were at Saturday's game against Miami:

Kameron Davis

Landen Thomas

Micahi Danzy

Ricky Knight

Charles Lester III

KJ Bolden

Jayden Parrish

Armondo Blount

Jamari Howard

Tramell Jones Jr. (25)

Ethan Pritchard (25)

Devin Carter (26)

WHAT COMES NEXT:

Florida State will be hosting recruits this weekend against North Alabama but this number will not be substantial and truthfully - it will mostly be commits attending the game. This weekend against Miami will be the last big weekend of the season and recruiting will pick up in December. Thanks for reading this week's roundup and have a great week!

https://floridastate.rivals.com/news/2024-four-star-safety-cj-heard-decommits-from-florida-state

2024 safety prospect CJ Heard has decommitted from FSU and has re-opened his recruitment. Heard had been committed to the Seminoles since July of 2022. FSU is thought to still be involved with several 2024 defensive back prospects including Cai Bates and Xavier Lucas among others.

While he has not released a personal statement, Heard decommitted from Florida State today. He holds 60 offers and is rumored to have visited Georgia Tech this weekend.

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...be careful. There's gonna be a LOT of cranky pants out there!

FLORIDA - Lost
MIAMI - Lost
USF - Lost
FIU - Lost
FAU- Lost
UCF- Lost

FSU- WON

@Fishbits what are your thoughts on this kid? Is he the second coming of Tebow or overrated due to playing in Texas?

Hotel rooms are available in downtown Charlotte within walking distance to Bank of America Stadium for Friday and Saturday nights or Saturday night only of the ACC Championship game on December 2. Hotels available include several Marriott and Hilton properties with rates from $159 to $264 per night plus a reservation fee. Please visit https://www.gamedaytravelhotels.com and click on Availabilities, or use the direct link to the ACC Championship hotel page, https://gamedaytravelhotels.com/product-category/acc-championship/. Please e-mail me at gamedaytravel1@yahoo.com if you have any questions. Please list the game (ACC Championship) in your e-mail.

Everyone has their own opinion and this is mine. Let me start by saying I appreciate where we are today versus 2 years ago. I am not being negative, I am speaking what I see.

I hear so much praise for Alex Atkins. At the end of the day FSU cant line up and run the ball on anyone they play when its time to run it. 3rd and 2/ 4th and 1, we seem to get stuffed. We rushed for 57 yards on Miami and only 22 on Clemson. Last night was the same so what's our best player do to try and spark us, he pulls it and makes a nice gain and in the process, he gets injured. Seeing JT get hurt made me sick. The bottom line is the team wasn't ready to play.
On the other side you have Odell Haggins, who everyone loves, myself included but we get gashed more than any team I watch. We are loaded with talent on the D-line, yet we continuously get it ran down our throat. Miami ran for 131 yards and Clemson ran for 146, not to mention 143 last night, granted 64 came on the fake punt.
When I look at the personnel we have in the trenches I believe we have the talent. Particularly on the defensive side of the ball. Hopefully we can improve as the next 2 weeks will be a tough nut to crack.

All of a sudden, there are a few more unknowns about FSU’s rivalry game at Florida next week.

Tate Rodemaker is expected to start for FSU at quarterback after Jordan Travis’ leg injury Saturday night and he'll be going up against UF backup QB Max Brown, making his first career start after Graham Mertz fractured his collarbone Saturday in UF’s loss at Missouri.

Despite the uncertainty, FSU opened as a seven-point favorite for the rivalry game (7 p.m. on ESPN) according to Circa Sports. FSU is looking to complete a 12-0 regular season while UF needs a win over the Seminoles to get bowl eligible.

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Louisville-6 1/5 vUK