Tag: Florida State Seminoles

Florida State took a giant step toward a potential departure from the ACC

If it hasn’t been made abundantly clear by now, Florida State REALLY wants to leave the ACC behind.

It feels like the idea of Florida State making a move out of the ACC had been dangling about for over a decade. But now, the discussion feels more real than it has ever felt before.

On Friday, Florida State trustees voted unanimously in favor of suing the ACC over the legality of the conference’s grant of rights and withdrawal fees, the two strongest reasons why the ACC has held on stable ground in the recent shifts of conference realignment changes. But Florida State supporters have long felt those were merely hurdles yet to be cleared. Now, Florida State is backing up the talk with actions.

In short, Florida State is filing a lawsuit with the hope of having the grant of rights and withdrawal fee voided, thus making it easier to swiftly move to a new conference. Which conference that would be, of course, remains to be seen, but you had have to expect the Big Ten would be mentioned as a possibility. And if Florida State cracks the door open with this lawsuit, other ACC members could follow the lead of Florida State. And some of those options could be interesting expansion candidates if the Big Ten keeps an eye open for additional expansion moves.

The Big Ten is already set to add four new members in 2024 from the Pac-12; Oregon, UCLA, USC, and Washington. That will bring the total membership count up to 18 full-time members, which equals the number of teams in the soon-to-be-expanded SEC with the additions of Oklahoma and Texas in 2024. The Big 12 scooped up more members from the collapsing Pac-12 (Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah), and California and Stanford are set to join the ACC, ironically. The last two Pac-12 members, Oregon State and Washington State, are hoping to continue carrying the Pac-12 banner while organizing affiliate memberships and scheduling agreements for football and other sports.

Talks of Florida State’s frustrations with its ACC membership are nothing new. They have been bubbling ever since the first wave of seismic realignment changes that saw Texas A&M and Missouri leave the Big 12 for the SEC, Nebraska for the Big Ten, and Colorado for the Pac-12. The pair of Florida State and Clemson have typically been thrown together as an expansion candidate duo for the Big 12, SEC, and Big Ten. But to this point, the SEC has supposedly said it is fine where it sits now. The Big Ten will sell that message too with its last batch of expansion efforts, although it would be expected the Big Ten offices would at least entertain a phone call with Florida State leaders if the school came looking for a new home.

The Big 12 may be the most likely option for Florida State if the program does find a way out of the ACC, although it may lack the profits and revenue Florida State ultimately desires that would be offered with membership in the Big Ten or SEC.

This may ultimately lead to nothing if a court rules in favor of the ACC, and Florida State willingly signing off on the conference’s grant of rights and withdraw terms seems like a possible open-and-shut case to some, in which case Florida State’s frustrations will continue and grow louder and louder.

But if Florida State gets its way, could the school be the next big expansion move for the Big Ten?

ACC commissioner and Board of Directors respond to Florida State lawsuit

ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips and the chair of the board of directors called Florida State’s suit “unprecedented and overreaching.”

After Florida State announced its intention to leave the ACC and challenge the conference’s withdrawal penalties in court, the ACC commissioner and board of directors responded on Friday.

The Florida State Board of Trustees unanimously agreed to seek legal action against the conference after it was revealed the current Grant of Rights would charge the Seminoles with a $572 million withdrawal penalty.

“Florida State’s decision to file action against the Conference is in direct conflict with their longstanding obligations and is a clear violation of their legal commitments to the other members of the Conference,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips and ACC Board of Directors chair Jim Ryan wrote in a joint statement.

“It is especially disappointing that FSU would choose to pursue this unprecedented and overreaching approach.”

The duo also reaffirmed their confidence that any legal look into the Grant of Rights would hold up in court and that the conference and its legal team would be able to enforce the agreement.

“Each university has benefited from this agreement, receiving millions of dollars in revenue and neither Florida State nor any other institution has ever challenged its legitimacy,” the statement read.

FSU would owe a hefty exit fee to bolt from the ACC

FSU set to challenge the ACC in the courtroom as they look for a new opportunity.

The Florida State University Board of Trustees were set to meet on Friday morning to discuss legal matters related to Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

The Board of Trustees and the university leadership are looking to exit the ACC in search of a better opportunity.

“Today we’ve reached a crossroad in our relationship with the ACC, FSU Trustees chair Peter Collins said. “I believe this board has been left no choice but to challenge the legitimacy of the ACC grant of rights and it’s severe withdrawal penalties.”

The numbers provided during the Zoom meeting show that the exit fee along with fees associated with getting out of the grant of rights are indeed severe. A number that is north of half a billion dollars.

The number makes it virtually impossible to leave the conference but FSU plans on challenging the ACC’s penalties in the court room. The board unanimously approved the legal team to take action on behalf of the university.

Dellenger also reported that they would file a motion in the Tallahassee circuit court on Friday. Should FSU give notice to the ACC of their intention to leave the conference, they wouldn’t leave for a new home until July 1, 2025. Essentially they would remain with the ACC through the 2024 season.

If Florida State does go this route, it is only a matter of time before Clemson, Miami, and North Carolina among others join in on challenging the ACC. We could see another conference go down in the same light as the Pac-12, only this time it will come by challenging the ACC in court.

We will continue to provide updates on the situation.

Florida State and its ACC future: Everything we know so far about the move to possibly leave the conference

Could this mean FSU could leave the ACC?

Are we about to see the end of Florida State in the ACC?

That’s the possibility at the moment, but there’s A LOT that needs to happen before Florida State leaves the conference, like so many other universities and their athletics programs have done in recent years.

On Thursday, there were reports that Florida State had called a special, “emergency” board of trustees meeting on Friday morning, with the agenda reportedly focused on steps that could be taken to leave the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Why would the school want to do that? How could it happen? Let’s dive in with what we know so far:

FSU Board of Trustees likely to discuss bolting from the ACC on Friday

Well this makes things interesting.

It appears that the next domino in conference realignment is about to fall. The Florida State University Board of Trustees has called a virtual meeting for Friday at 10 a.m. ET.

The expectation is that the BOT will approve a legal filing in their bid to leave the ACC. It is public knowledge that leadership at the university has been very unhappy with the conference. Given how much revenue FSU generates, they believe they deserve a bigger piece of the pie. They aren’t the only ones as Clemson is another team unhappy with the ACC.

The exit from the ACC will be a costly one. In August, the Associated Press reported that the fee is roughly three times the annual revenue which equates to about $120 million. In the 2021-22 year, the conference paid out roughly $39 million per school.

Florida State President Rick McCullough called for action unless there is “radical change to revenue distribution.”

“We are not satisfied with our current situation,” the FSU president said. “We love the ACC and our partners at ESPN. Our goal would be to stay in the ACC, but staying in the ACC under the current situation is hard for us to figure out how to remain competitive unless there were a major change in the revenue distribution. That has not happened.”

When the Seminoles were left out of the College Football Playoff, this felt like the most likely solution in their minds. That was just another log thrown on the “let’s get out of the ACC” fire.

The ACC is set to welcome California, SMU, and Stanford to the conference in time for the 2024 season. Should FSU make a move from the ACC, we will likely see more action from Clemson, Miami, and North Carolina.

Top 2024 defensive lineman flips back to Miami after Florida State commitment

Armondo Blount, one of the top 50 prospects in the Class of 2024, recommitted to Miami on Wednesday after two months with the Seminoles.

The Miami Hurricanes managed to win back one of the best defensive linemen in the Class of 2024, according to a Wednesday report from On3’s Hayes Fawcett.

Miami native Armondo Blount, a 6-foot-4 and 250-pound defensive lineman, signed with the Hurricanes on Wednesday. He committed to Miami for the first time in September but flipped for the Florida State Seminoles on Oct. 22. Mario Cristobal’s staff managed to get him back at the buzzer, however, as Blount signed his letter of intent to play for Miami on Wednesday after an official visit the previous weekend.

Blount is the No. 22 player in the country according to 247Sports’ Composite Rankings, and the same rankings consider him the fourth-best defensive lineman in the Class of 2024. 247Sports director of scouting Andrew Ivins describes him as a “rosy defensive line prospect with a rare blend of twitch, power and bend.”

Blount joins five-star defensive lineman Justin Scott as the Hurricanes’ best 2024 signees, and the Hurricanes now sit No. 4 in the team recruiting rankings.

Top safety in the country flips from Florida State to Georgia

KJ Bolden becomes the third top-15 player in the country to join Georgia’s No. 1 2024 recruiting class after he announced the change.

Five-star safety KJ Bolden, one of the 20 best players in the Class of 2024 and the 247Sports’ top safety, announced on Wednesday that he’d flipped his commitment from Florida State to Georgia. On3’s Hayes Fawcett first reported the decision.

“I wanted to be developed and compete with the best of the best,” Bolden said in Fawcett’s report on the decision.

The Georgia native committed to Florida State in early August.

Bolden strengthens what is emphatically the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2024. Even despite losing top quarterback Dylan Raiola to Nebraska on Tuesday, the Bulldogs now have three of the top 15 players in the country and 11 of the top 100.

Cornerback Ellis Robinson IV and linebacker Justin Williams, who both signed their letter of intent already, are also both the highest-rated recruits at their respective positions.

With the loss of Bolden, Florida State now sinks farther from Georgia at the top of the rankings, but the Seminoles still have the No. 3 class in the country.

Get more Georgia coverage at UGA Wire.

 

Oklahoma Sooners offer Albany defensive line transfer

The Oklahoma Sooners continue to look for more difference makers in the transfer portal, this time with a defensive lineman from Albany.

The Oklahoma Sooners are not done trying to find players in the transfer portal to join the team for the 2024 college football season. So, far they’ve done a nice job adding several players that should make an immediate impact.

On Monday they made another offer to a big-time defensive lineman from Albany, [autotag]Anton Juncaj[/autotag]. Juncaj will have one year of eligibility remaining but his numbers don’t lie.

In 2022, he had 29 tackles, seven tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. In 2023, he took a major jump. He finished with 55 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss and 15 sacks.

For comparison, Jared Verse who started his career at Albany before transferring to the [autotag]Florida State Seminoles[/autotag] and is projected to be a first-round pick, had 52 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks during his final season there.

Now, Verse was a redshirt freshman whereas Juncaj is a senior. But as you can see the production is there. Juncaj is going to be highly sought. According to his social media account, he has received offers from [autotag]SEC[/autotag] schools Arkansas and Texas A&M.

The Sooners are going to have to generate a pass rush in 2024. That is no secret. They finished with 19 sacks, which was tied for 110th in the country. Juncaj had almost that many by himself. So, he would definitely bring that ability if he picks the Sooners.

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SKOL Search: LSU WR Malik Nabers and FSU EDGE Jared Verse

Welcome to SKOL Search, an NFL Draft focused show breaking down prospects leading up to the annual event in April

Welcome to SKOL Search!

Throughout the end of the season and NFL draft process, we will be doing breakdowns of players not just in written form, but also in video form focusing on one or more prospects at a time with a focus on the Minnesota Vikings.

The 2024 NFL draft debut show has a special guest in NBC Sports’ Connor Rogers! He has an excellent mind for the business and knows how to evaluate prospects. We will be discussing two of his favorites in the 2024 class in LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers and Florida State EDGE Jared Verse.

  • What do they do well?
  • Where are their weaknesses?
  • Is there untapped potential that we didn’t get to see in college?
  • Are they first-round caliber players?
  • Could they be targets for the Vikings?

As we will with every show, host Tyler Forness asked Rogers about the Vikings quarterback position and what prospect he liked as the best fit.

Join us throughout the offseason leading up to the NFL draft in April as we break down prospects with the smartest minds in the industry on the Vikings 1st & SKOL YouTube channel.

Oklahoma Sooners offer former Arkansas Razorbacks linebacker Chris Paul Jr

Oklahoma is the latest to offer former Arkansas linebacker Chris Paul Jr.

Oklahoma’s defensive slide at the end of the season has been the subject of many dialogues people have had about Oklahoma in the aftermath of their 10-2 regular season. The defense was a huge issue early on in the Kansas game, which resulted in a loss. The against Oklahoma State in the first half put the Sooners in a spot where their offense had to be perfect. The offense didn’t do enough to overcome.

Against TCU, the Sooners had major issues covering the middle of the field, and while the offense put up over 60 points on their own, the defense was anything but encouraging.

And as of last night, it looks like one of the best players on the team, Danny Stutsman, will not return, instead choosing to depart OU for the NFL Draft. So, how will Oklahoma continue to reshape its defensive identity while losing a central figure in the middle of the defense?

They can start by landing former Arkansas linebacker Chris Paul Jr., who the Sooners offered Thursday morning.

Paul is a talented linebacker and a former three-star recruit from Georgia. Paul burst onto the scene as a redshirt freshman in 2022. Despite starting just two games, he amassed 62 tackles, eight TFLs, and four sacks that season. He was named a second-team freshman All-American by a few media outlets for his efforts.

In 11 games this season, he recorded 74 total tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks. Paul has already received interest from schools such as South Carolina, Texas A&M, Lousiville, Florida State, and Ole Miss. Three crystal balls to Ole Miss have already been entered on 247 Sports. No decision has been made, but the Sooners may have to act fast if they plan to make a add the productive linebacker.

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