Thomas Castellanos doubles down on Alabama smack talk to WR Isaiah Horton: 'Y'all boys gonna see'

Looking to bounce back from a disastrous 2024 season, the Florida State Seminoles brought in Thomas Castellanos as a transfer quarterback. Since then, he’s brought in a certain amount of confidence, which included making some headline-grabbing comments about Alabama to On3’s Pete Nakos.

Now, while working out with a group of other players, Thomas Castellanos doubled down on that Alabama smack talk. He even did right in the face of Crimson Tide wide receiver Isaiah Horton.

“Oh, you play with Bama? Listen, y’all boys gonna see,” Castellanos joked.

For his part, Isaiah Horton didn’t seem to take the bait and didn’t provide any additional smack talk. However, after a moment, Thomas Castellanos did look to explain why he started talking smack about Alabama. It was, apparently, about trying to motivate and build some confidence in his own team.

“On the real, though. If you watch any interview, I don’t never talk like that, bro,” Castellanos said. “But them boys coming off a 2-10. I just had to install some confidence. You feel me? That’s all I’m trying to do. That’s all I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to get some confidence. Like, I’m trying to get my boys ready to go. You feel me? I’m trying to make it the biggest stage. Yeah, I’m trying to make it the biggest stage.”

Castellanos began his college career at UCF before he transferred to Boston College. Along the way, he played for several different coaches, including Gus Malzahn, whom he’s now reunited with at Florida State. For his career, Castellanos has a 58.6% completion percentage and 3,689 passing yards in 26 games. He also has 33 touchdown passes and 19 interceptions for his career. A dual-threat quarterback, he also has 1,427 career rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns.

The comments that Castellanos made were eye-opening at the time. In particular, given the situation Florida State finds itself in going into the 2025 season, it needs to bounce back from a bad year on the field.

“I’m excited, man,” Castellanos told On3’s Pete Nakos in an exclusive interview, regarding Florida State’s clash with Alabama. “People, I don’t know if they know, but you go back and watch every first game that I played in, we always start fast. I dreamed of moments like this. I dreamed of playing against Alabama. They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.”

Alabama and Florida State will, of course, have the chance to settle this on the field. The Crimson Tide travel to Tallahassee for the home opener on August 30th for what has become a much-anticipated opener.

Alabama LB Deontae Lawson responds to trash talk from Florida State QB Tommy Castellanos

Alabama certainly has heard everything that Thomas Castellanos has had to say. In particular, linebacker Deontae Lawson had a very clear response to the trash talk. Alabama is going to take care of anyone disrespecting them.

“It definitely ignites us a little bit,” Lawson responded. “We can’t really think too much on that, because it’s just going to come down to what we do, and how we prepare that week. … All disrespect will be addressed accordingly.”

Lawson didn’t expand exactly on what that means. However, it’s safe to say he’s going to want to make sure Castellanos learns in Week 1.