Tag: Florida State Seminoles

CBS identifies Jaguars’ 2024 rookie ‘sleeper’

CBS identifies Jaguars’ 2024 rookie ‘sleeper’

As Jacksonville’s 2024 NFL draft class prepares to embark on its collective rookie season, all eyes are on wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr and his potential to make an immediate impact.

But beyond the Jaguars’ first-round pick, which freshmen could be in a position to contribute significantly this year?

According to Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports, cornerback and third-round selection, Jarrian Jones, is Jacksonville’s top candidate for such a breakout.

Trapasso identified post-Day 1 “sleepers” from April’s draft who could step into key roles for their teams in 2024. Following his productive college career at Florida State and considering Jacksonville’s need for stability at the nickel cornerback position, the No. 96 overall pick made for a sensible choice.

Jones was one of the largest and most athletically gifted nickel cornerbacks in a class loaded with good ones. Mostly operating out of the slot, the Mississippi State turned Florida State standout had five interceptions and nine pass breakups across five collegiate seasons. He’s nearly 6-foot and 190 pounds, so it’d be easy to mistake him for a boundary cornerback.

The Jaguars signed [safety] Darnell Savage in free agency, but he’s best away from the line of scrimmage. They don’t have an established, steady nickel cornerback. That’s precisely what Jones was in four seasons with the Seminoles. He has the athletic chops and smarts to assume that role immediately in Jacksonville.

Impressive stat to know: 40-yard dash, vertical, and broad jump all above the 85th percentile at his position 

Over five college seasons, his first with Mississippi State before four with Florida State, Jones compiled 96 tackles with 5.5 for loss, one sack, five interceptions with one pick-six, 12 defended passes and one forced fumble in 55 games.

Jones shined at nickel corner in 2023 after spending most of his career on the outside, recording single-season career-highs with three interceptions, 25 total tackles and five tackles for loss. In coverage, he allowed 50% of his targets (16-of-32) to be caught, per Pro Football Focus.

Jacksonville allowed its primary nickel cornerback from the 2023 season, Tre Herndon, to exit via free agency earlier this offseason. Herndon signed with the New York Giants last week.

Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson and new defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen have floated Savage, who signed a three-year, $21.75 contract with the team in March, as a fit for Herndon’s former position, along with Jones.

Savage most often aligned at deep safety during five seasons with his drafted team, Green Bay, but notably logged 1,026 snaps at box safety and 961 snaps at nickel cornerback over the years.

In his 72-game NFL career, Savage has produced 302 tackles with nine for loss, one sack, nine interceptions, one pick-six, 32 defended passes and two forced fumbles.

For Rutgers football’s Malcolm Ray, there is no bigger transition this year than becoming a father

Rutgers football defensive lineman Malcom Ray is going through a lot of changes. The biggest change? Diapers. #Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — As if Malcolm Ray wasn’t facing a big enough task already, the Rutgers football defensive lineman is also tackling the job of being a father. In a year of transition for Ray, the biggest change for him has been changing diapers for the past seven months.

Along with his strong Christian faith, Ray says that fatherhood and his marriage defines who he is as a man. As if being a student-athlete isn’t challenging enough, the Rutgers defensive lineman must also make time to be a father and a husband.

Those roles at home, Ray said, are what motivates him each day in the locker room and on the practice field.

Being a father is still new to him, with all the twists and turns that come with having an infant. Ray’s son, his first child, is seven months old. Becoming a father comes at a time when Ray’s life is already chaotic and unpredictable.

His biggest challenge, apart from raising his son, includes settling into a Rutgers football program he joined this offseason via the transfer portal.

“I’m blessed,” Ray told Rutgers Wire during spring practice. “But there have been a lot of changes the past few months. We’re settling in and liking it.”

From Florida, Ray had never before been to New Jersey when he committed to the Rutgers staff in early January. But he saw the Scarlet Knights as a good pathway for increased playing time in his final season of college football after four years at Florida State.

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Fatherhood is something that differentiates Ray from many of his teammates. He has, in his words, a “big responsibility to take care of” in raising his son. His life is very much centered around the addition to his family.

It leads Ray to a certain amount of regimented living and more structure to his life than many if not all of his teammates. He and his wife are forced to communicate and be flexible when Ray has a scheduled workout or practice.

“It’s hard but we make things work,” Ray said about the schedule.

“You know, she takes him sometimes when I’m going to have to wake up early in the morning. We just come up with a plan and just execute it really, I take him, she takes him. We make it work.”

His son goes to sleep early, a blessing that allows Ray to plan his sleep schedule around that of his son. A consistent talking points for head coach Greg Schiano with all of his teams is getting rest and sleep.

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Given practice and film study, recovery and workouts, a student-athletes schedule is already busy and tiring. Throw in classes and that schedule becomes increasingly frayed.

Factor in an infant with feeding and diaper changing, daily bath time and being put down for sleep and Ray has to stick to a schedule. There is no other way about it.

He puts his son down for sleep and then Ray, almost immediately, heads off to bed himself. It doesn’t matter if Jeopardy! is still on and the sun hasn’t yet set, the Rutgers defensive lineman has to get his rest.

He does so because he needs to be up around 4 A.M. for a feeding. His son eats and usually falls asleep quickly, which means that Ray might be able to get back to sleep for an hour or two before getting up for class work and workouts.

The family of three lives about five minutes away from the Rutgers campus. They are helped by the fact that his wife has family nearby in New York who can help with the childcare.

“The transition – it is going pretty good,” Ray said.

“My wife – she’s from the area. She has family nearby. For me it is still you know, getting, trying to learn what the exits are and all that but rather than that, I’m liking it. My son is loving it up here. He’s having a ball.”

Rutgers and Schiano are hoping that Ray has a ball this fall.

With the graduation of Isiah Iton (with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted rookie free agent), Rutgers is looking for an impactful defensive lineman who can challenge and make plays in the interior. Ray comes with some significant experience at Florida State, with a four-year career output of 60 total tackles with 3.5 sacks and two passes defended.

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Making the decision to join Rutgers took a bit of a leap of faith from Ray, but he knew it was the right place for him to continue his career with an eye toward the NFL.

From his first contact with Rutgers in the transfer portal in December, Ray started to develop a strong relationship with the staff.

“It was a big risk. So I got to say, with coach Schiano, when we first got on the phone and we were talking like we knew each other from way back when,” Ray said.

“But it was just like the connection that we instantly. We clicked so fast and it was just like ‘How can I not?’ A connection with the head coach is like something you want. So it was just that it felt right.”

Oklahoma lands commitment from 2026 four-star TE Ryder Mix

Oklahoma lands second prospect for 2026 recruiting class, earning a commitment from four-star tight end Ryder Mix.

Oklahoma is knee-deep hosting official visits for the [autotag]2025 recruiting class[/autotag] this month, but that hasn’t stopped this staff from broadening their horizons and scouting talent for the classes to come. Brent Venables’ Football Camp is all about exposure for a lot of prospects from across the country and one of the camp’s standouts saw enough to hop in the boat.

Ryder Mix, a talented four-star tight end out of Frisco, Texas announced his commitment to the Oklahoma Sooners Saturday afternoon. 247Sports has Mix as the No. 21 tight end in the country and a top-60 prospect in the state of Texas. Mix chose Oklahoma over offers from Ohio State, Michigan, Miami, Florida State, and Oregon.

The layers to the Mix commitment run deep.

Mix plays his high school ball at Lone Star High School, which also gave the Sooners, [autotag]Marvin Mims[/autotag].

Mims starred at OU before being drafted in the third round by the Denver Broncos. Mix’s offensive coordinator is former OU football player [autotag]Travis Wilson[/autotag], a member of multiple Big 12 title-winning teams. He was part of a loaded receiving core that featured [autotag]Mark Clayton[/autotag] and [autotag]Brandon Jones[/autotag].

The Sooners offered in February and after an unofficial visit Mix made the decision to come down to camp this summer. Mix clocks in at 6-foot-4 and over 210 pounds. He was named an All-District selection and looks to take on a much larger role for his high school team this year.

With Mix committed Oklahoma now has two commits for its [autotag]2026 recruiting class[/autotag], both being on the offensive side of the ball. Running back Jonathan Hatton Jr. surprised everyone during the season last fall by committing to Oklahoma out of nowhere. Mix’s commitment is somewhat out of the same playbook.

Oklahoma is building some nice early momentum for their 2026 class. With two commitments already, the summer may be fun for the Sooners’ 2025 recruiting and 2026 recruiting alike.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Bryant on X @thatmanbryant.

An extremely questionable check swing call helped Tennessee beat Florida State at the College World Series

Was this really a checked swing?

Whew, what a game at the College World Series!

Tennessee and Florida State went back and forth on Friday night, trading leads late into the game, and thanks to Christian Moore’s cycle, the Volunteers emerged victorious.

But there was some controversy! With Tennessee’s Blake Burke up and a 2-2 count on him, Burke checked his swing, and the third base umpire confirmed that was the case.

But the replay shows it was … questionable at best. It really looked like he offered. Then, Burke tied the game at 11. Tennessee went on to win, and FSU manager Link Jarrett didn’t go too hard on the umpire for the call, as you’ll see below:

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LSU men’s basketball to face Florida State in ACC/SEC Challenge

The Tigers will play host to the Seminoles on Dec. 3 at the PMAC.

LSU men’s basketball coach [autotag]Matt McMahon[/autotag] enters a crucial Year 3 in 2024-25, and while we don’t know the full schedule yet, we do know at least one non-conference game for the Tigers.

They’ll be playing host to Florida State in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Dec. 3. In last year’s ACC/SEC Challenge, LSU went on the road to face Syracuse, a game it ultimately lost.

The Seminoles, led by veteran coach Leonard Hamilton in what will be his 23rd season, are coming off a disappointing 17-16 season that saw them miss the postseason. The two teams last faced in Nov. 2018, a game the Seminoles won 79-76.

After a disappointing first season under McMahon, LSU closed out 2023-24 in strong fashion and earned an NIT bid. With a transfer heavy team once again, the Tigers will hope to take the leap to tournament contention this season.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

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Florida State star withdraws from portal, returning to Seminoles

The forward will now be a key piece for Florida State next season.

The Florida State Seminoles received some significant news about their 2024-25 roster Friday afternoon, as star forward Jamir Watkins officially announced that he was withdrawing from the transfer portal, as well as returning to Tallahassee next season.

A player who transferred to Florida State from VCU prior to last season, Watkins started all 33 games for the Seminoles to average 15.6 PPG, 6 RPG, 2.8 APG, and 1.9 SPG, some of which led the team. The forward also shot 45.7% from the field, as well as 34.4% from three and 79.5% at the free throw line

A career 11 PPG scorer across three seasons at the collegiate level, Watkins now slots back into Florida State’s projected starting lineup for the 2024-25 season.

After the decision of Watkins, the top remaining names in the transfer portal include Illinois forward Coleman Hawkins, Providence guard Garwey Dual, Jackson State guard Ken Evans Jr., Kansas guard Arterio Morris, and Youngstown State forward DJ Burns, among others.

Florida State football’s academic turnaround is almost as impressive as its 2023 season

Florida State lags behind Ohio State and Alabama in the APR, but its progress is remarkable.

Mike Norvell is thriving in every aspect of his job.

The Florida State head coach took over in 2020 and has made the program better on the field each season. 2022’s 10-win campaign was merely the prelude for a 13-win 2023 and ACC title. The only thing that could derail that momentum was quarterback Jordan Travis’s broken ankle — just the caveat the College Football Playoff selection committee needed to omit FSU from a shot at a national championship.

That’s not the only thing he’s doing well. As a leader of student athletes, his staff has found a way to focus on the former part. This summer, that led to a $150,000 bonus.

The NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a tool used to measure how student athletes are performing in the classroom. It measures every scholarship player on a team’s roster in two categories: whether they’re on pace to graduate and whether they’ve remained academically eligible to play their sport. You get one point for each “yes” answer you earn each year; those points are then divided by the number of total points and that percentage is multiplied by 1,000 to create an APR score.

Programs must maintain a rolling four-year average APR of 930 or better to remain eligible for postseason play. Florida State flirted with that line in the waning days of the Jimbo Fisher era, then began its rise under Willie Taggart before jumping toward the top of the list under Norvell. Here’s FSU’s rolling APR scores since bottoming out in 2015-2016 and where they’ve ranked among FBS programs:

Of course, Florida State isn’t the only elite program to post impressive APR numbers. Here are the top 10 FBS football programs when it comes to rolling four-year APR rates after the 2023 academic year:

  1. Ohio State, 1,000 APR score
  2. Alabama, 997
  3. Northwestern, 996
  4. North Carolina, 996
  5. Clemson, 995
  6. Cincinnati, 994
  7. Michigan, 993
  8. Wisconsin, 993
  9. Air Force, 992
  10. Minnesota, 992

Having a high octane program with a massive focus on athletic performance doesn’t disqualify you from posting great APR scores. Of course, it likely also helps that these programs are large enough to take on additional academic support staff where needed. Even so, something clearly changed at Florida State that allowed Norvell and his staff to turn a weakness that threatened to cancel the team’s postseason plans into a strength.

Georgia commit shares cryptic recruiting picture involving Nebraska quarterback

Jadon Perlotte is a four-star linebacker for Buford High School in Buford, Georgia. 

A University of Georgia commit recently shared a cryptic recruiting picture with a certain Nebraska quarterback. Jadon Perlotte is a four-star linebacker for Buford High School in Buford, Georgia.

The linebacker has been committed to the Georgia Bulldogs since December of 2022 but has flirted with multiple schools since that commitment.

He was originally expected to change his commitment to the Florida State Seminoles before announcing that he was no longer considering FSU. Perlotte also plans to visit Alabama on June 14.

The linebacker recently shared an image of him and Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola with the caption ‘Big Red.’ Perlotte and Raiola were teammates last season at Buford High School.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound prospect runs track and has committed to playing in the 2025 All-American Bowl. It’s unknown when or if he will visit Nebraska, but the Huskers remain active on the trail, and Raiola continues to use his status and social media to help recruit top players to Lincoln.

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Sooners eliminated from NCAA Tournament after 7-1 loss to UConn

Oklahoma Sooners season comes to an end after 7-1 loss to UCONN in regional title game

Monday was a rough day for both Oklahoma sports teams on the diamond. While the ladies of the softball team lost at the hands of Florida, the baseball team had their own business to tend to.

The mission was straightforward: Win and move on to the Super Regionals to face the Florida State Seminoles.

However, things didn’t go nearly as planned. The UConn Huskies, winners of the Big East regular-season crown, laid waste to the Sooners in Norman to punch their ticket to Tallahassee.

Carson Atwood received the start for the Sooners, while the Huskies sent out DIII transfer Gabe Van Emon to start things in the winner-take-all game.

After keeping the Huskies off the board first, the Sooners opened up the bottom of the first, looking to strike first and capture some serious momentum.

John Spikerman led the inning off with a single up the middle before Bryce Madron worked a walk. An Easton Carmichael double play followed and UConn coach Jim Penders decided to intentionally walk Michael Snyder. Snyder has terrorized opposing pitching staffs in the regional, which led to a Jaxon Willits ground out and the end of the inning.

What started as a promising half-inning fizzled out big time. That was virtually the game for the Sooners.

Both teams were held scoreless until the fourth inning, when things came apart for the Sooners.

Korey Morton cranked a two-run homer over the fence in left-center to put the Huskies out in front. Catcher Scott Mudler made a critical throwing error to complete what would have been a strikeout and the third out of the inning. The ball rolled to the wall on the right field, and Tyler Minnick raced around to third base.

After Skip Johnson relieved Arwood, he brought in Carter Campbell, who promptly gave up a two-run homer. The Huskies lead doubled to 4-0.

After connecting on a couple of singles, in the bottom half of the inning, OU remained scoreless. They couldn’t put together the big hit when needed.

Luke Broadhurst and Korey Morton delivered RBI singles for UConn later in the game to make it 6-0 and that pretty much decided the game.

Van Emon, hardly a flamethrower, used well-located breaking pitches to keep the Sooners off balance. His defense behind him, by far the best defensive unit in this region and the best defensive team OU has played all season, kept dazzling with spectacular plays and made the routine ones look routine. He pitched 7.1 shutout innings, allowed five hits, and walked just two batters en route to the win.

A dynamic offense like Oklahoma’s just ran into bad luck, and a much-improved pitching unit had one of its least effective outings in quite some time. Throw in some defensive miscues by the Sooners, and you will get the result.

With the loss, OU’s season comes to an ends. The Sooners will have quite a few returners but lose some valuable pieces as they leap to the SEC next season. There will be multiple decisions to make, and Skip Johnson and his staff will have to use the transfer portal to fill in gaps along the way.

Johnson and this team were a much-improved group, winning a Big 12 regular season title and earning a top 16 national seed. It’s not the way anyone expected the season to end, but OU shouldn’t hang its head. They put together a terrific season.

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Duke football game against Florida State will be broadcast on ESPN2

The Blue Devils will host Florida State on the night of October 18, and new head coach Manny Diaz’s team will play on national television.

Duke football will play at least one football game on national television in 2024.

The Blue Devils will host Florida State at 7 p.m. on October 18, and ESPN announced on Thursday that the game would be televised on ESPN2.

The Seminoles went undefeated in the 2023 regular season and won the conference championship game, but the Blue Devils gave them all they could handle in their home stadium last fall.

Duke built a 17-7 lead early in the second quarter and led by three points at halftime, but an injury to quarterback Riley Leonard helped the Seminoles mount a massive comeback for an 18-point victory.

However, both teams will look quite different in 2024. Leonard and former Duke head coach Mike Elko both left for different programs, and Florida State lost stars like edge rusher Jared Verse, wide receiver Keon Coleman, and quarterback Jordan Travis to the NFL.

In their place, the Seminoles and new quarterback DJ Uiagalelei (yes, the former Clemson Tiger) will battle new Duke passer Maalik Murphy.

The game will be Duke’s seventh game of the season and the Blue Devils’ third conference battle of the 2024 season.