Mike Norvell is 'very confident' in kicker Ryan Fitzgerald

Florida State kicker Ryan Fitzgerald has gotten off to a shaky start during the 2022 season, only hitting five of his ten field goal attempts thus far and drilling 21 of 22 extra points. Despite his early troubles, Seminoles’ head coach Mike Norvell still believes in Fitzgerald, and he discussed it in his press conference on Wednesday.

You can listen to the audio clip below in his press conference from the 5:10 to 5:56 mark. You can also read the transcribed version below the YouTube video.

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“Like I said, I’m very confident in what Ryan can do. Obviously, there’s different things in each game, you know. A lot of factors play into it, and so, as we get into games, we’re gonna go with our thoughts of how we want to attack and we’re gonna go with our thoughts. What some metrics say, but also feel in the moment as well. I feel very confident. Especially in the last three weeks, had another good day today (Wednesday). Ryan–he’s regained a lot of confidence. It helps to see him do it in the game the other day, too. So, we’re looking forward to him performing well whenever he gets his opportunities,” Norvell said on Wednesday after practice.

Why didn’t Norvell setup the field goal?

While it’s nice for Norvell to say he believes in his kicker, it’s a little hard to believe that after the mind-blowing decision he made last weekend against N.C. State. He made a highly questionable decision that clearly showed that he either A) believed in Jordan Travis and Mycah Pittman more or B) didn’t trust Ryan Fitzgerald enough or C) a combination of both. It was one of the most puzzling decisions of the 2022 season for Norvell and Seminole fans will likely hold it against him for quite some time. Deservedly so.

The Seminoles were painfully close to a victory against NC State on Saturday, before literally throwing the game away in the final minute. Trailing 19-17 and facing second-and-8 from the Wolfpack 22-yard line with 44 seconds remaining, Seminoles quarterback Jordan Travis lofted up a pass high to the end zone that was intercepted.

Although Florida State still had all three timeouts remaining, NC State forced it to use them all as it ran three straight running plays to earn a first down and run out the clock. Asked in the postgame why he did not opt to run down the clock himself and kick the game-winning field goal, Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell did his best to defend the decision.

“We’ve got man-to-man coverage and that was where we went,” Norvell said. “We had five different options on the play depending on the look and what it was gonna be, so I was good with anything that came within the different options in that play. We went and took the one-on-one, jumped to the outside and caught Mycah (Pittman) and they disrupted it and it’s one of those things that the guy made a good play.”

On3’s Chandler Vessels also contributed to this article.