Kalen DeLoach reiterates teams desire to stay hungry even after success

The Florida State Seminoles enjoyed one of the better turnarounds in college football this season. The Seminoles went from 5-7, failing to qualify for a bowl game in 2021, to 9-3 this year, earning a trip to the Cheez-It Bowl. Still, Florida State is not satisfied with the success of this season. According to linebacker Kalen DeLoach, the results of this year have only made the program hungrier. And during a recent presser, DeLoach reiterated his team’s desire to stay hungry even after success.

“That’s what we look forward to doing. We did it the second half of the season, as you can see,” said DeLoach. “We won six straight games. I feel like we want what’s best for us. We figure if we win, that’s what’s going to be best for us. The more we win, the better we all get taken care of.”

The Seminoles have a chance at their first 10-win season, with a victory over the Oklahoma Sooners in the Cheez-It Bowl, since Jimbo Fisher’s 2016 team. Afterward, DeLoach, under the leadership of head coach Mike Norvell, will head into the offseason while they were prepared to do it all over again in 2023. But next season, expect Florida State to aim even higher and attempt to challenge Clemson for the ACC crown.

DeLoach sum up what winning 10 games means to the program

Florida State is in the midst of their best season under third-year head coach Mike Norvell, as the Seminoles are one bowl game win away from achieving their first 10-wins season since 2016. Some of Florida State’s upperclassmen players spoke about what it would mean to achieve the 10-win mark, one of which was DeLoach.

“We want that tenth win real bad, that’s part of the reason why we come out here and work the way we do. We want to be able to change the sign they’ve got in the locker room to another win, another 10-win season. So I feel like we’ve got the mindset that we gotta come out here and work and we need that 10-win season, it’s gonna help us a lot,” DeLoach said.

DeLoach ranks third on the team in tackles with 55 this season, adding three sacks, and a team-leading seven pass breakups to his stat line from his linebacker spot. He’s been a key to the Seminoles’ success this season, but attributes their overall success and being on the brink of 10 wins to the difference in buy-in.

“Like you said, everyone just wants to play for each other, the buy-in is for each other so if I do something it’s going to be for the man that’s next to me or the man behind me,” DeLoach explained. “I want to be the best me for the team, if I bring the best me that means everybody can bring the best them, and then we’re gonna be the best us.”