Mike Norvell on chants to replace DJ Uiagalelei with Brock Glenn: 'That's part of the game'
Florida State fans were not happy with the team’s performance Monday night against Boston College, specifically quarterback DJ Uiagalelei. Chants for his benching began in the second quarter and grew even louder after the halftime break. Brock Glenn was the crowd’s QB of choice, wanting to give the backup an opportunity.
Mike Norvell decided against the idea and ultimately stuck with Uiagalelei. At the same time, he understands fan’s reactions are a part of the game and something that comes with struggles. Norvell is happy with how Uiagalelei responded and made some nice plays down the stretch.
“That’s part of the game. At the end of the day, I mean, there’s — everybody’s gonna have an opinion on what it is. And obviously, you know, it’s playing quarterback, being the coach, being, you know, being a part of a great, great university, great program with high expectations, I mean, it’s our job to go and to play to a high level. And there’s times that you might hear things that you don’t want to hear. You might have to go through, you know, hard and challenging situations and those are all — it’s all part of it.
“But I think DJ, you know, he’s mature, he’s obviously been through a lot, you know, I think that he’s — he was very encouraging there on the sideline with his teammates, and very encouraging there in the huddle as we were going, just trying to push to go make the next play. And that’s what you have to be able to live within. You know, when you play this game, the world can be against you, but if you’re able to go out and execute and control that next play, you’ll be able to work yourself through it.”
Watch College Football Games Live -Try for Free Fubo! Click HERE NOW
Uiagalelei finished with 272 yards, a touchdown, and an interception on the night while completing 50% of his 42 pass attempts. Sure, there were some drops but a few throws should have been automatic from the fifth-year quarterback.
Glenn did not get onto the field, despite the vocal support from him in the stands.
Mike Norvell pressed on keeping DJ Uiagalelei in game
In what turned out to be a horrible Monday night for Florida State, Norvell decided against making in-game changes. Despite the Doak Campbell Stadium crowd chanting Glenn’s name, Norvell stuck with Uiagalelei at quarterback throughout the Boston College loss.
When asked about his decision to not bench Uiagalelei, Norvell instead took the opportunity to use some coach speak. He believes the Florida State coaching staff needs to focus on putting players in the right position to succeed. Norvell’s main goal is finding a way to make sure the Seminoles improve.
“We were struggling offensively,” Norvell said during his postgame presser. “There were a lot of reasons for that. Everything that we’re doing, we got to push and get better. That’s what we’re going to focus on doing. We’re going to focus on pushing to get better. We’re going to put our guys in position to achieve success and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”