How Mike Norvell Went From Bowden 2.0 to Taggart 2.0

by Kyle Golik

I will be the first person to say I got fooled into Florida State being the best team heading into 2024. I wasn’t alone—Phil Steele, who promotes his annual periodical as the most accurate, had Florida State as his No. 3 “Surprise Team.” Steele’s definition of a surprise team is a team outside the AP Top 10 (which FSU was not) that has a shot at the College Football Playoff. Even Nick Saban praised Norvell’s program during ESPN’s College GameDay visit to Ireland, where Florida State played Georgia Tech. Fast forward a month, and now questions surrounding Norvell have swung back to failure mode.

Orlando Sentinel’s Mike Bianchi inspired this column by suggesting that Mike Norvell is starting to resemble Willie Taggart . While Bianchi raised some valid points, I want to dig deeper into the comparison

The obvious issue: Norvell took a big swing and missed with quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei . Uiagalelei, despite his five-star potential in high school, never fully lived up to expectations. Dabo Swinney , along with coordinators Tony Elliott and Brandon Streeter , couldn’t figure him out. While Jonathan Smith at Oregon State had some success with Uiagalelei last season, his efficiency was still questionable.

Uiagalelei led the Pac-12 in yards per completion (14.7), an impressive stat considering the league's abundance of elite quarterbacks. However, he only completed 57.1% of his passes. In Oregon State’s four losses, Uiagalelei was ineffective, completing barely 50% of his passes with an average of 6.2 yards per attempt. This season, he’s averaging just six yards per attempt.

Norvell expressed confidence for his quarterback room following Memphis, “I got a lot of confidence in the guys that are in that quarterback room. Also, you know, I mean, got to be able to help the guy out there as well. Throw a ball and hit somebody in the hands, got to be able to catch it. If we're making a right read, being able to put the ball in -- where it's supposed to be. We all have challenges. It's easy to point to one person and say, this has to be better.” But where is the improvement going to come from for Uiagalelei or even redshirt freshman Brock Glenn ?

Florida State this season has had no semblance of a ground game to complement Uiagalelei.

Last season Uiagalelei was complemented by running backs Damien Martinez and Deshaun Fenwick . The duo averaged nearly six yards per carry. Oregon State averaged 167.1 rushing yards per game overall.

This season, Florida State is averaging 52 rushing yards per game through three games and a measly 2.2 yards per carry. Against Memphis, Florida State averaged 1.5 yards per carry on 24 attempts. Even Uiagalelei, much-maligned as he is, needs more support. The running backs collectively touched the ball only 15 times, and without a clear No. 1 back, the offense is suffering.

Norvell was asked directly about the lack of touches:

“We had a plan to work to try to be good in the run game, to be able to run the football, have touches. You know, they did a good I've been in their pressure. They were zero blitzing us, coming off both edges. You don't have enough hats to block what it is, so you have to be able to take things on the perimeter, got to be able to get the ball out in some of those situations. So when we did that, we were not as productive for whatever reason. We didn't make them pay when it came to that. You know, I thought there were some good elements in what we did in the run game from time to time, but obviously we got to be able to be better in those moments.”

Much of Norvell’s running back room consists of transfers, like Roydell Williams (Alabama) and Caziah Holmes (Penn State), who haven’t capitalized on their opportunities. Hope lies in true freshman Kam Davis , a top-10 back from the Class of 2024, to step up.

Finally, Norvell’s bread and butter—finding elite defensive ends in the portal—may have hit a snag with Marvin Jones Jr . Norvell had great success developing Jared Verse and Jermaine Johnson into All-Americans and NFL Draft picks . However, his latest pickup, former Georgia defensive end Marvin Jones Jr., has yet to materialize into the star many hoped for. It’s premature to call Jones a bust after three games, but with only 0.5 tackles for loss so far, he hasn’t lived up to expectations.

The combination of Patrick Payton and Jones coming off the edge has only produced a single sack this season. Last season as a team, Florida State was fourth in the nation with 46 sacks, this season the Seminole pass rush has been nonexistent only getting to the quarterback six times.

The heavy reliance on the portal at critical positions has to question just how good Norvell is at recruiting. While Norvell’s last four recruiting classes have each been Top 25 classes by 247Sports, where we have arrived to this season is an inflection point of Norvell’s tenure. Norvell simply hasn’t been able to find the worthy successor or groom one in Jordan Travis . He hasn’t found skill players who can run or catch the football consistently. Let’s be honest— Keon Coleman falling into Norvell’s lap via the portal isn’t something that will happen every year. Elite edge rushers don’t get tossed in the scrap heap.

Bobby Bowden was amongst the best recruiters the game ever saw. He could start late and steal whomever he wanted with his charm. Bowden could identify talent as good as anyone. If Bowden had the transfer portal in his era, along with the playoffs, make no mistake Bowden, if you know the ACC Championship rings photo, would have a couple of pounds of gold in his hands. Norvell, however, has struggled to find gold. His recruiting misfires and failures in the portal make him look more like Taggart 2.0 .