Mike Norvell explains emotions of losing Jordan Travis to injury

In the first quarter of Florida State‘s win over North Alabama, quarterback Jordan Travis went down with a massive leg injury. For head coach Mike Norvell, it was an incredibly emotional moment that he had to find a way to focus the team after.

Norvell explained that when Travis went down, it was devastating for him and the team.

“Jordan went down there in the first quarter and you had a season-ending injury and you really just,” Mike Norvell said. “I mean, it was devastating just for him, for who he is, for what he’s meant to this program, the impact that he’s made on and off the field, to know that his last play at Florida State has happened, it’s hard. With all of the emotions and you felt the support, you felt the concern for him.”

One thing about Jordan Travis praised, in particular, was his composure even while he was injured.

“He was remarkable. His composure on the field, in pain, all the things. He just kept telling me, ‘Coach, I’m good. I’m good. Tell my mom I’m okay and I’m good,’ and as he got up and both teams came out there to wish him well in his recovery. He’s had a great mindset throughout this with incredibly difficult circumstance but you felt for him,” Norvell said.

“And just like I told our team afterward and I said in the postgame, when you’re in that game and you’re playing an opponent you’re better than, and you have all the shoulds of what should happen. What it should look like, and you find yourself behind and you find yourself behind and then you find yourself with an unbelievable amount of adversity and just the mental state, and any of our players that were there on the field, it shook a couple of them. It takes a little bit of time just to kind of regather yourself, and I know Corey asked me afterwards, how do you block it out. You don’t block it out. Not on this team. Not being a part of who we are and what we’re about. You can’t just say, hey, it’s just next man up. That’s not real here. You care about every one of them.”

Jordan Travis wasn’t the only player who Florida State was missing on Saturday. Mike Norvell explained the loss of every player hurts in its own way, but he’s ultimately proud of how the team responded to it.

“Kalen DeLoach not being able to play Saturday was something that hurt me too. His last play at Doak Campbell has already happened. You want it for every one of those guys to be able to fulfill their journey and each of those experiences, but it shows you how fragile it can be and how important every play is throughout these guys’ careers,” Norvell said.

“But what I was so proud of was the response of our team. You saw a team that continued to come together.”

Mike Norvell speaks to national doubt around Florida State without Jordan Travis

Without Jordan Travis, there are plenty of people who expect Florida State to falter or would argue the Seminoles don’t deserve to make the Playoff. Despite that, Mike Norvell feels that Florida State is up to the challenge.

“It’s always about us. And through challenge, through adversity, through whatever the perspective is on the outside of people that think that know our team? I live with them every day. I watch them every day, I watch their work, I watch their heart, the ability – all the things that are important to winning football games and being able to sustain success. You never want to see anybody go down. But I can’t control what anybody on the outside says about our team,” Norvell said.

“We can make our impression by how we play and how we do the things that we do. I can’t go through the season and say, ‘Well, don’t worry about those things’ and then, ‘Oh, this week? Now it’s going to be important’. That’s not real. We are going to be true to who we are. These guys – to say that they don’t hear it? That’s not real either. I’m sure they hear it. But thank god that the opinions of others don’t dictate what our actions are going to be.”