Mike Norvell reveals how Florida State is embracing lofty expectations ahead of 2023 season

Florida State will go into the 2023 season as a top-10 team and a potential College Football Playoff contender, a far cry from where the team entered the season a year ago. Lofty expectations have emerged.

That difference in expectation level is something coach Mike Norvell has had to combat with his team all offseason.

“I think you have to embrace expectations,” Norvell said. “Man, to be honest with you, that’s a question I get asked a lot is, ‘How are you handling expectations?’ Well, we’ve always had expectations. You come to Florida State because you want those expectations.”

Still, it’s one thing to be coming off a five-win season like Florida State was in 2021 and another to be coming off a 10-win season like in 2022. Moreover, many of the key pieces that made last season’s 10-win season a reality are still in place.

Star quarterback Jordan Travis is back and viewed as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate. Star receiver Johnny Wilson is back and now has Michigan State star Keon Coleman paired with him. Stud edge defender Jared Verse is back.

There are a lot of really good pieces.

So it’s unsurprising that the lofty expectations on the outside have ratcheted up a notch. Norvell said that doesn’t affect the internal expectations, though.

“Maybe the outside, last year maybe the outside didn’t have much expectations of our team, but we believed in what we could do,” Norvell said. “We believed in what we could accomplish.

“This year it’s great that the country’s talking positively about our program. They should. It’s Florida State. This is a program to be proud of and the players I get to coach, but the expectations, they don’t determine what you’re going to do. We have to do that.”

Florida State’s schedule will once again be pretty tough. In addition to the traditional ACC powers the program will face, the Seminoles also take on SEC squads LSU and Florida to bookend the campaign.

Norvell knows if his team is going to live up to the lofty expectations the process will have to be on point.

“So it’s continuing to focus on that process, and I think our players have a lot of ownership in that,” Norvell said. “And so the expectations for us, they are the same. That’s continue to get better and go be our best, and I think our guys have embraced that well.”