The defense continues to appear to be winning most of the battles in practice, but in each report we hear about long drives being sustained, from what sounds like the starting offense at times. It continues to "feel" like the offense is making strides when placed in real football situations. The last practice the starters drove the field to kick a field goal in a two minute drill. Hearing sporadic success like that gets me excited about this offense. I just think in actual games, when the coaching staff really settles into what this offense has success with, and isn't worried about installing more or basically "practicing" they will find steady and consistent success against a defense that most of the time is going to be not quite as good as our second stringers, and definitely not as good as our starting 11 on defense.

Ask yourself how many points teams are going to score against us. . . Will this defense give up an average of 17 points per game? Will they win the turnover margin most games? Will there be enough big plays on offense to make up for the occasional errant throw or dropped pass? I think yes to all these questions.

I feel we will be shocked at how effective this offense is during the season even though they are not consistent in practice now. I also feel they will be able to play loose and aggressive because they will be able to trust that the defense will generally keep teams off the scoreboard most drives.

When the installation is finished, and the coaches have settled on the starting 11 on offense, I am super confident they will be a bear for defenses to contain on a consistent basis.

Drink up, Noles.

FSU sports information:

Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei earned his third preseason watch list honor Thursday when he was named to the Davey O’Brian Watch List, presented annually to the nation’s best quarterback by the Davey O’Brien Foundation. Uiagalelei previously earned a spot on the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year watch lists.

Uiagalelei has started 40 games in his career and earned a 30-10 record while accounting for 9,451 yards of total offense with 8,319 yards and 57 touchdowns passing and 1,132 yards and 21 touchdowns on the ground. The Inland Empire, California, native transferred to FSU from Oregon State, where he was a 2023 Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist after throwing for 2,638 yards and 21 touchdowns with 219 rushing yards and six more scores on the ground. His 21 passing touchdowns were sixth in a season for the Beavers, with a career-high five coming in Oregon State’s victory over Cal.

Uiagalelei spent his first three seasons at Clemson, where he ranks top-10 in program history for completions, passing touchdowns, quarterback rushing touchdowns, passing yards and wins as the starting quarterback. He recorded 51 total touchdowns with the Tigers and was 22-6 as Clemson’s starting quarterback.

Florida State has won the Davey O’Brien Award three times: Charlie Ward in 1993, Chris Weinke in 2000 and Jameis Winston in 2013.

The Davey O’Brien Award will announce its Class of 2024 on October 29 and semifinalists will be selected on November 12. Three finalists will be named on November 26 and the winner will be announced during the ESPN Home Depot College Football Awards Show held on December 12.

Florida State, the defending ACC Champions, will open the season August 24 at 12:00 p.m. ET in Dublin, Ireland, for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic against Georgia Tech on ESPN.

Preseason Watch Lists
Davey O’Brien Award – best quarterback – QB DJ Uiagalelei
Walter Camp Player of the Year – QB DJ Uiagalelei
Lou Groza Award – best placekicker – K Ryan Fitzgerald
Ray Guy Award – best punter – P Alex Mastromanno
Wuerffel Trophy – community service – OL Maurice Smith
Thorpe Award – best defensive back – DB Shyheim Brown
Nagurski Trophy – best defensive player – DL Joshua Farmer
Outland Trophy – best interior lineman – DL Joshua Farmer & OL Darius Washington
Maxwell Award – best player – QB DJ Uiagalelei

just a thought, if a player can now transfer at any time, why can’t a school transfer at any time?

FSU WRs coach Ron Dugans talked after Thursday morning's practice about Malik Benson, who has stood out so far this preseason and his players' practice battles with FSU's talented secondary.

Mike Norvell had praise for Shyheim Brown, Marvin Jones Jr. and others after FSU's second and final practice in Jacksonville Thursday morning. Here's the full interview with the FSU head coach.

FSU is practicing on UNF's campus this morning to close out its trip to Jacksonville. Here's footage from the Seminoles' 13th practice of preseason camp this morning.

(This list will be updated throughout the season by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club)

ACC Representatives on the 2024 Biletnikoff Award Preseason Watch List:

Name, School, Class, Position
Jordan Moore, Duke, Graduate Student, WR
Caullin Lacy, Louisville, Senior, WR
Samuel Brown, Miami, Fifth-Year Redshirt Junior, WR
Jacolby George, Miami, Senior, WR
Xavier Restrepo, Miami, Fifth-Year Senior, WR
Kevin “KC” Concepcion, NC State, Sophomore, WR
Elic Ayomanor, Stanford, Redshirt Sophomore, WR
Malachi Fields, Virginia, Senior, WR

FSU sports information:

Florida State’s Morgane Metraux, who is playing for her home country of Switzerland, is in a tie for third place with a 2 under par score of 70 after the first round of the 2024 Olympic Women’s Golf Championship at Le Golf National. Metraux trails only the first round leader (Celine Boutier of France, 1, -7) and the second place golfer (Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa, 2, -4) in the race for a gold, silver, or bronze medal after the first 18 holes of play.

Metraux is tied for third place with Gaby Lopez of Mexico, Uribe Mariajo of Columbia, and Vu Lilia of the United States for third place.

Metraux birdied her final two holes of her first round to put herself in contention for a medal with her first-round score of 70. She was three strokes under par on her final six holes of the round with three birdies. Metraux birdied four holes during the round.

Metraux finished the round as one of four golfers under par for the round. The top 11 golfers after the first round all within six strokes of the individual lead, with a group of five golfers just one stroke outside currently outside of medal contention.

Metraux begins play at 3:11 a.m. (local time) and will play with Azahara Munoz (Spain) and Bianca Pagdanganan (Philippines) in the second round. The group of Metraux, Munoz, and Pagdanganan will play as the second group off hole the starting tee in the second round.

Metraux, a two-time American at Florida State, is making her Olympic debut.

Golf Channel will air the 2024 Women’s Olympic Golf event on TV.

Olympic Women’s Golf TV schedule

Thursday, August 8: 3 a.m.-end of round (Golf Channel)
Friday, August 9: 3 a.m.-end of round (Golf Channel)
Saturday, August 10: 3 a.m.-end of round (Golf Channel)

Amaree Williams’ long-term future is on defense. But his talent, past experience and short-term outlook is on offense.

What Williams is doing is somewhat rare. High school stars are often asked to play offense and defense and then they decide along with college coaches which side of the ball they will focus on. The difference is Williams’ focus in the summer and preseason camp is on tight end, while also seeking to add on weight and eventually settle in at defensive end in 2025.

And after reclassifying, he’s doing this in what was set to be his senior year of high school.

“He’s made some really good plays,” tight ends coach Chris Thomsen said. “Still obviously learning. In high school he was a little bit more out wide on the perimeter. The closer he gets to the ball, some of that stuff is new to him. But overall he’s done a great job of just coming in and trying to absorb all of the things that he’s asked to do.

"His play-making ability, his athleticism has shown up.”

From Rivals' John Garcia:

2026 linebacker Izaiya Williams backs off Syracuse commitment, has strong interest in Big 3

The second and final offseason transfer portal window begins tomorrow and lasts two weeks.

While FSU's roster is in pretty good shape coming out of spring, I examined a few areas where the Seminoles could add transfers in this window.

Lawrance Toafili and Marvin Jones Jr. talked after Wednesday morning's FSU practice about the benefits of this preseason trip, their impressions of their position groups this fall and more.

Here's our video interview with head coach Mike Norvell after FSU's first practice in Jacksonville Wednesday morning. He praised guys like Malik Benson and Andre' Otto, talked about his hope that FSU can practice at UNF Thursday and more.

Is he still on the team. Was hoping he would do well this year after recovering from ACL surgery but have not seen him in any video coverage.

FSU is in the Jaguars' facility this morning for its first of two practices in Jacksonville. Here's video highlights from the opening portion of practice.

been a long time since we had a young stud like this

This morning's FSU practice was a bit shorter and less intense as the team prepped for its trip to Jacksonville. But there was still plenty to take away, including a strong start for the offense and an impressive finish by the defense.

Here's our practice report from Day 11 of FSU preseason camp.

Pretty big news, really

Via Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger:

Dozens more scholarship spots are coming to NCAA sports.

During a meeting Tuesday, power conference commissioners finalized new roster-size limits that pave the way for athletic departments to distribute millions of dollars in new scholarships to athletes in, most notably, football, baseball and softball. Conference officials with knowledge of the figures spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity.

As part of the new revenue-sharing model — beginning in 2025-26 academic year — by-sport scholarship restrictions are eliminated, and schools are permitted to offer scholarships to the entirety of their rosters. The new roster limit figures are not final until the approval of House settlement terms.

Football, with a current scholarship restriction of 85, will now have a roster limit of 105 — a 20-scholarship increase for those schools willing to give the maximum. In an important note for football, the 105 may not be a requirement until the start of the competitive season, giving coaches flexibility to go beyond that figure during preseason camp, for instance.

Baseball, with a current scholarship restriction of 11.7, is expected to have a roster of 34. Scholarship spots for softball and volleyball, each currently at 12, will increase to 25 and 18, respectively.

In all, more than 60 additional scholarships are available for distribution in those five sports. As they do now, schools are not required to distribute scholarships to each player. For instance, many schools are unlikely to use a full 34 scholarships for baseball, choosing instead to offer grants to only a portion of its roster and leave walk-on opportunities.

FSU sports information:

Senior midfielder Marianyela Jiménez has been selected to the 26-person roster for the Venezuela U-20 Women’s National Team for the upcoming 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia.

Jiménez scored 46 goals and provided 30 assists for 122 total points in three seasons at William Carey. She was named a NAIA All-American in 2022 and 2023 while leading the Crusaders to two straight NAIA Final Site appearances and reached the NAIA National Championship game in 2023.

She has made 29 appearances for the U-20 side, scoring seven goals for her country including four goals in the last four matches. Jiménez has also made two starts for the Venezuelan senior team in friendlies against Argentina and racked up over 150 minutes of play.

Venezuela makes only its second appearance in the competition after its debut in 2016. La Vinotinto will play in Group D and open against three-time champions Germany on September 1.

I am going to go with Kam Davis!