Mike Norvell addresses the plan moving forward with Sam McCall

Highly touted Florida State freshman defensive back Sam McCall announced he plans to enter the transfer portal on Monday. However, he quickly reversed course and, on Tuesday, he was back on the practice field with the Seminoles. Noles head coach Mike Norvell very briefly touched on the situation after practice.

“I appreciate Sam and obviously the work that he put in and the decision that he made to be a part of what we’re doing and to continue to work away at it,” Norvell said. “Because he does have a bright future. There’s no question about it. Today, he made a choice to get better.”

McCall was a four-star recruit and the highest-rated prospect in the Seminoles’ 2022 signing class, per the On3 Consensus. Throughout the season, he’s been seen mostly on special teams, recording one tackle in six games and returning eight kickoffs for an average of 17.75 yards.

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“In all reality, if I went with my immediate reaction to a lot of situations, there’d probably be a lot more challenges that would show up in life,” Norvell added. “There’s times that players frustrate me and I might have an immediate reaction of what I want to do, but if I was to quit on them or if I was to stop pouring in, then we’d miss out on some great opportunities to see growth.”

With three weeks of the season left, it appears McCall is in good standing with the program.

Norvell praises Florida State defense for near-shutout

Florida State’s defense was impressive in their win this weekend against Miami, holding the Hurricanes to just a field goal in their 45-3 win. Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell bragged about his defense following their win, starting with their ability to get off of the field on Saturday.

“It was awesome, and our guys they’ve worked really hard and we talked about wanting to create three and outs today tonight,” Norvell said. “We wanted to get the ball back for the offense as many times as we could, I think we might’ve ended with seven or eight on the night.”

“The defense was able to create takeaways, that’s something we’ve really been harping and working on throughout the last three or four weeks, and really for a season that we’ve been working on it. We hit a little dry spell, and then to see that show up in the moment tonight, guys were playing fast, they were playing physical, and they just continued to respond,” Norvell added.

In Week 11 action, the Seminoles take on No. 20 Syracuse. Kickoff is at 8 p.m. ET on the ACC Network.

On3’s Kaiden Smith contributed to this report.