Brennan Marion on Mike Norvell’s early potential: You always knew with Norvell’

UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion knew Mike Norvell was special as a coach from the moment he saw him.

Marion knows Norvell dating back to when both were at Tulsa. It was head coach Todd Graham’s first season and Norvell was a grad assistant while Marion played tight end.

Marion saw Norvell grow as a coach at a rapid rate.

“Yeah, you kind of always knew with Norvell,” Marion said on Andy Staples On3. “He wasn’t out there to make friends or see if coaches liked him. He was full speed and developing the receivers like he was a GA at first and they were like guys, you get to work with the receivers today and he was like cleats on, full speed. He was ready anytime you gave him a job or task, you just saw that he was going, to try to do it like the best in the country. I mean, that was kind of his mindset. He was hungry.” 

Norvell’s ability stood out to Marion and he could’ve seen the eventual FSU coach have great success.

“And you could tell that, you know, he would be something big in the future,” Marion said. “But we had I mean, we had (a lot on that staff). Everybody gives coach (Todd) Graham a hard time because he’s a tough, tough guy. You know, but he hired a lot of real coaches that, you know, he gave opportunities at a young age. I mean, there’s a lot of guys that have gone through the Todd Graham tree that have made it you know, big time in football now.”

Of course, Norvell leads Florida State in the present day. The Seminoles won the ACC last year and were controversially left out of the College Football Playoff.

But, he’s considered one of the top coaches in college football at this point. He’s only getting better.

Earlier this spring, Norvell made no secret about what he expects from players. With the transfer portal and NIL, arguably, the biggest topic of the field in the sport, Norvell doesn’t want guys who don’t want to be there.

“We find the right guys that fit Florida State,” Norvell said. “This program is not for everybody. We go through the process, whether it’s high school, whether it’s guys in the transfer portal, we try to be very transparent and real with what we’re looking for and try to also get an understanding of what’s important to them.

“We’ve had the success that we’ve had because we know what we’re looking for and try to be very specific in what we go after. When those guys have come here, they understand the expectation. We’ve been able to allow them to showcase all that they can bring to this program.”

In four seasons, Norvell is 31-17 at Florida State and 69-32 overall when you include his four seasons at Memphis.