FSU's first true road game of the season next weekend at SMU will be played at 8 p.m., the ACC announced today.

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A record 20 students who earned perfect 4.0 grade point averages during the 2023-24 academic year were among the 30 student-athletes honored as Golden Torch Award winners by the FSU Department of Athletics and the Seminole Boosters during the Seminoles’ game against Memphis on Bobby Bowden Field at Doak S. Campbell Stadium. The student-athletes with the highest grade point averages on each Seminole team, along with the one women’s (golf) and one men’s team (tennis) with the highest cumulative team GPA, were recognized.

Academically, the student-athletes on the 20 Seminole teams combined to earn Academic All-American honors by five different student-athletes, Academic All-District Honors by 38 different student-athletes, had 177 student-athletes named to their All-ACC Academic Teams, and had 289 student-athletes named to the 2024 ACC Academic Honor Roll.

“The Golden Torch awards are a tremendous way to recognize the academic excellence of our student-athletes,” said Florida State University Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Alford. “They continue to showcase the opportunities at Florida State to receive a top-tier education with championship experiences on the field. I’m proud of the work of our student-athletes in the classroom, as well as the support from our academic staff and coaches to emphasize the importance of a quality education. In addition to the individuals honored from each team, it was great to recognize our women’s golf team, which boasts the No. 1-ranked women’s amateur player in the world, and our defending ACC champion men’s tennis team as the winners of the highest cumulative team GPA in another shining example of combining success in the classroom and in competition.”

The nationally ranked women’s golf team, which finished in 11th place in the NCAA Championship Finals in 2024, was recognized with the highest GPA (3.674) among the women’s athletics teams at Florida State. It marks the 10th time (and fifth time under Head Coach Amy Bond) since 1991 that the women’s golf team has earned the highest GPA in a given year.

“The words student-athlete are an important part of our program,” said Bond of the women’s golf team. “Our players dedicate themselves not only on the golf course but in the classroom. Golfers miss more class time than any other student-athletes, and they are disciplined in doing their work on the road. I am very proud of what they accomplished last year in having the highest GPA in the entire athletic department. This was a huge accomplishment and something they should all be proud of.”

The ACC Champion men’s tennis team, which finished with a No. 10 national ranking in 2024, was recognized as having the highest team GPA (3.302) among the Florida State men’s teams. It marks the 11th time (and ninth time under head coach Dwayne Hultquist) the men’s tennis team has earned the award.

“We are honored to win the Golden Torch team award again this year,” said Hultquist. “We feel when we take care of schoolwork, our team plays its best tennis.”

Four members of the No. 4 ranked beach volleyball team were presented with Golden Torch Awards as each player earned perfect 4.0 GPA’s, including senior Paige Kalkhoff.

"At Florida State, excellence is the benchmark, and I embrace this standard wholeheartedly,” said Kalkhoff, who graduated from Florida State with a degree in public health in 2024. “I am dedicated to giving my best effort not only on the court but also in the classroom, the training room, and in every facet of my daily life. My commitment to academic success and athletic prowess is fueled by a drive to exceed expectations and achieve excellence in all I do. Whether it’s pushing my limits in practice or rehab, maintaining top academic performance, or demonstrating integrity and leadership, I am determined to excel and make a positive impact both on and off the court."

Gray Albright, of the No. 2 ranked men’s golf team, earned the Golden Torch award for the men’s golf team. He has been named to the All-ACC Academic Honor Roll three times and was included as a member of the 2024 All-ACC Academic Men’s Golf Team. Albright earned his degree in real estate development from Florida State in 2024.

"My parents taught me from a young age to get good grades and that it would pay off in the future,” said Albright. “Success in the classroom goes hand in hand with success on the golf course. My ultimate goals include being a successful student and helping Florida State be successful on the golf course.”

The Florida State Department of Athletics, in conjunction with Seminole Boosters, Inc., has presented the Golden Torch Awards to the top Seminole student-athletes since 1991. The ACC Honor Roll student-athletes, as well as the individuals with the highest GPA on their respective teams, and the men’s and women’s teams with the highest Grade Point Averages are recognized as Golden Torch Award winners.

2024 Florida State Athletics Golden Torch Winners

Women’s Team Winner: Women’s Golf

Men’s Team Winner: Men’s Tennis

Baseball, Daniel Cantu, 4.00, Graduate, Athletic Coaching (Graduate Certificate)

Men’s Basketball Jesse Jones, 3.925, Junior, Finance

Men’s Cross Country, David Mullarkey, 3.844, Senior, Public Health

Football, Shyheim Brown, 3.950, Junior, Social Science

Men’s Golf, Gray Albright, 3.500, Senior, Real Estate

Men’s Swimming and Diving, Eli Butters, 4.00, Junior, Statistics

Men’s Swimming and Diving, Jesco Helling, 4.00, Senior, Chemical Engineering

Men’s Swimming and Diving, Stephen Speck, 4.00, Senior, Sociology

Men’s Tennis, Justin Lyons, 3.780, Freshman, Exploratory

Men’s Track and Field, David Mullarkey, 3.844, Senior, Public Health

Beach Volleyball, Morgan Chacon, 4.00, Senior, Athletic Coaching

Beach Volleyball, Kaeli Crews, 4.00, Senior, Social and Sustainable Enterprises

Beach Volleyball, Paige Kalkhoff, 4.00, Junior, Public Health

Beach Volleyball, Carra Sassack, 4.00, Sophomore, Sport Management

Soccer, Lauren Flynn, 4.00, Senior, Public Administration (Master’s)

Soccer, Heather Gilchrist, 4.00, Sophomore, Finance

Soccer, Beata Olsson, 4.00, Junior, Environment and Policy

Softball, Kaley Mudge, 4.00, Graduate, Athletic Coaching (Graduate Certificate)

Volleyball, Maddie Snider, 3.971, Freshman, Pre-Exercise Physiology

Women’s Basketball, Avery Treadwell, 4.00, Senior, Chemical Engineering

Women’s Cross Country, Jane Eiselstein, 4.00, Senor, Athletic Training

Women’s Cross Country, Olivia Niewald, 4.00, Junior, Biological Sciences

Women’s Cross Country, Ava Povich, 4.00, Senior, Exercise Physiology

Women’s Cross Country, Hannah Schemmel, Junior, 4.00, Computer Science

Women’s Cross Country, Dani Thompson, Junior, 4.00, Behavioral Neuroscience

Women’s Golf, Lottie Woad, 3.972, Sophomore, Sport Management

Women’s Swimming and Diving, Kayleigh Clark, 4.00, Psychology

Women’s Swimming and Diving, Skylar Ruffner, 4.00, Junior, Behavioral Neuroscience

Women’s Tennis, Vic Allen, 4.00, Senior, Sport Management (Master’s)

Women’s Track and Field, Tori Carroll, 4.00, Graduate, Athletic Coaching (Graduate Certificate)

FSU sports information:

The No. 21 Florida State volleyball team (7-1) showcased its determination and consistency as they defeated the UCF Knights (5-1) in a thrilling four sets (25-16, 25-20, 23-25, 25-17) at home on Sunday afternoon. This victory marked the Seminoles' first win over the Knights since 2020.

The Noles took part in a back and forth battle in the first set, exchanging the lead constantly in the early moments. The Seminoles broke away with a five-point run that put them up 17-14, forcing a UCF timeout. Florida State's momentum didn't settle as they added three unanswered points immediately following the timeout to extend the lead to 20-14. The Seminoles finished the set strong with a 5-2 scoring run with Iane Henke delivering the final two kills to secure the 25-16 win.

The back-and-forth pattern continued throughout the second set. Florida State took an initial 2-0 lead, but UCF quickly responded with its own four-point run. The lead once again didn't stay with either team for too long until the Noles finally pulled away with a quick 3-0 run thanks to back-to-back aces from Kenna Phelan to make it 18-15. UCF cut it to 20-18, but the Noles scored five out of the final seven points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Knights found their pace in the third set, establishing an early lead of 8-4. Despite being down 17-10 at one point, the Seminoles kept fighting and managed to close the gap and got within one at 23-22, but UCF rallied to force a fourth set.

Florida State jumped ahead with an 8-4 lead in set four to stop the Knights' momentum. UCF battled back and to cut the lead to one at 13-12, but FSU used a 5-0 run to take a commanding 18-13 lead. The Seminoles went on to take the set and the match by a score of 25-17.

Audrey Koenig was outstanding once again for the Noles as she led the way with 15 kills with a .464 hitting percentage. Koenig has now recorded 10 or more kills in her last five games. Koenig also recorded a career-high five aces for FSU. Taylor Head picked up her second consecutive double digit kill match with 11 kills. Florida State dominated in blocks with 13 total compared to UCF's six. Khori Louis had seven and Kelsey Perry and Henke both had five. FSU also dominated behind the service line as they recorded 13 total aces compared to just five from UCF.

The Noles will take center stage on Tuesday night as they will face the No. 13 Florida Gators on ESPN at 7 p.m. in Gainesville.

The play calling is just baffling. Is DJ hurt to where he can’t throw? We just ran the ball on 3rd and 4 with 7 guys at the line of scrimmage. It’s so frustrating seeing our offense.

Mike Norvell is still sickened by the product FSU put on the field vs. Georgia Tech, taking the brunt of the blame himself. And yet, what he's seen since in terms of ownership from all coaches and players has him encouraged about FSU's pending response.

It was pretty big to get Alford on campus this weekend. In my opinion, a flip comes down to how effectively and more importantly how quickly FSU would use Alford.
https://floridastate.rivals.com/new...alford-offers-unique-perspective-on-fsu-visit

IMO, the guy should have been gone after that loss.. Thats the post..

After a bye week to recover a bit and return to basics, the Florida State football team gets its third shot at its first win of the 2024 season Saturday afternoon.

The Seminoles (0-2, 0-2 in ACC) host the Memphis Tigers (2-0) at Doak Campbell Stadium (Noon on ESPN) in a clash of FSU head coach Mike Norvell against the program that gave him his first head coaching opportunity. Over four seasons at Memphis, Norvell went 38-16 (.704) over four seasons as the Tigers' head coach from 2016 through 2019. Now, he hopes to snap a three-game losing streak against his former team after FSU won 19 straight games across the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Memphis arrives in Tallahassee as the No. 25 team in this week's USA Today Coaches poll and three spots removed from the top 25 of the AP poll. The Tigers beat FCS North Alabama 40-0 in their opener and then beat Troy 38-17 last week entering this opportunity to send a statement against their former head coach. Memphis head coach Ryan Silverfield was an assistant during Norvell's Memphis tenure.

FSU leads the all-time series against Memphis 10-7-1 and has won the last four games against the Tigers. But Saturday's game will be the first game between the two programs since 1990. FSU is favored by 6.5 points over the visiting Tigers.

FSU, meanwhile, has had 12 days since its last game after getting the first of three bye weeks this season last week. Norvell is 9-2 (.818) in his head coaching career coming off an in-season open date. Including season openers, non-Saturday games and bowl games, his teams are 27-11 (.711) with more than seven days to prepare for a game.

The only change to FSU's depth chart this week was the removal of Indiana running back transfer Jaylin Lucas, who suffered a season-ending injury in FSU's loss to Boston College Sept. 2. However, it will be interesting to monitor if there are any changes to the starting lineup during pregame warmups and once the game gets underway.

At least one good bit of news for the Seminoles is that sophomore wide receiver Hykeem Williams, a former five-star recruit, is expected to make his season debut Saturday after missing the Georgia Tech and Boston College losses. Williams had 80 yards and a touchdown as a true freshman in 2023 and should bring a dynamic athleticism and big-play ability to the Seminoles' offense.

We'll have updates from Doak starting around 10 a.m. once the press box opens. When the game begins, we'll also be sharing game updates here.

Maybe NIL is creating pressure for coaches to continue to play certain players? ROI?

Who’s the better ball coach and who would u rather have ?

Posted this awhile back, got alot pushback on this, but this staff is not elite at HS recruiting... its come back to haunt us... Need to upgrade the staff at the end of the year.
How many programs have recruited outside of the top 10 for the past 4 years and are considered "elite"? How many have made the playoffs? a few, but its not the norm.
It would be wise for Norvell to pull a dabo and give up some of his salary to hire a better staff

noletaire said:

Not good. Recruiting classes at 19, 27, and 20, not bad, not impressive either, and not the talent needed to compete with the "big boys". A new turd coach with a bad hair cut and only a few months on the job posted a #19 class.... Norvell needs to pick up the recruiting.

Click to expand...

A lot of people were saying that the season is lost and we need to play the young guys. I think the coaching staff agreed. On offense, we saw Kam Davis, and Jaylen Early played the whole game at right tackle. Bunch of young guys played on defense. We saw KJ Sampson, Blake Nichelson, Justin Cryer, DeMarco Ward, Quindarrius Jones, Ja'Bril Rawls, Conrad Hussey, KJ Kirkland. I think we can expect to see DJU being benched as well. Obviously this year is a disaster, but maybe getting all these freshman and sophomores playing time will pay off next year.

Eau Gallie's 2026 star Xavier Lherisse finally got his dream offer from FSU with he and dad in town. He is already talking about bringing the rest of the family, too.

team needs his help

Mark Salva, Fish, Pat and possibly Shane Burnham will go live on the Osceola YouTube Channel to offer instant reaction to FSU's game vs. Memphis.


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FSU has released its participation report ahead of today’s game vs. Memphis.

The good news? Hykeem Williams is set to make his season debut today.

The bad news? Veteran DB Shyheim Brown will miss today’s game.

I’ll start with DJ. I’m sure DJ is a great kid/person but he’s not a big time QB. Zero mobility and not accurate with passes. Literally brings no intangibles to the table and defenses do not respect or fear him.

Norvell. CMN is not doing very good. Play calling is a joke and the offensive production is worse than a joke.

Defense actually looked good today, granted it was Memphis, but they definitely improved. Offense did not help them out at all today.

Funny thing is I thought the offense could be tweaked and get better but I also felt the defense was not salvageable this year. I got it backwards.

Penalties are horrible. This is not a very good coached team.

For $10.5M a year Norvell should be feeling major heat. No one should make that kind of money and be that bad at what they do.

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I think the game today is ugly, but we figure something out against Memphis. We turn the corner. If that happens, we scrap together a 6-6 season with a 8 win ceiling if the win occurs.

I think Kirkland. Bad penalty at the end but he and Kam Davis look like players..Thats it besides the kickers. How did we get so slow?

Duke, after the bye week and Charleston Southern.