Florida State hiring former player to Mike Norvell's coaching staff

The Seminoles now have eight coaches on staff who played in garnet and gold.

Mar 9, 2024; Tallahassee, Florida, USA; Florida State Seminoles head football coach Mike Norvell accepts the Bear Bryant coach of the Year award during a media timeout of a basketball game against the Miami Hurricanes at Donald L. Tucker Center. Mandatory Credit: Melina Myers-Imagn Images / Melina Myers-Imagn Images

Florida State has made plenty of changes to its coaching staff ahead of Mike Norvell's sixth season in Tallahassee. Despite the influx of new faces, Norvell has always made it a point to have garnet and gold bloodlines running through all areas of his program.

With spring practice kicking off on Wednesday, Florida State is adding another coach to its staff. According to a program spokesperson, the Seminoles have hired Buffalo defensive backs assistant Jaleel McRae as a defensive graduate assistant.

If the name rings a bell, it's because McRae played at FSU from 2019-21. He signed with the Seminoles as a four-star prospect out of IMG Academy but former head coach Willie Taggart was fired before the conclusion of his first season with the program.

Norvell took over the reins and McRae ended up contributing at linebacker and on special teams. In 25 appearances, with one start, he totaled 21 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack.

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Following the 2021 season, McRae chose to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal and reunited with Taggart at Florida Atlantic. He had a career year in 2022, recording 34 tackles, two tackles for loss, 0.5 sacks, two pass deflections, and an interception.

Taggart ended up being fired by the Owls near the end of the season. A few months later, McRae chose to retire from playing football and move into coaching.

McRae stuck around at Florida Atlantic in a player development role under head coach Tom Herman for one season. Last year, he accepted a position as a defensive graduation assistant at Buffalo. The move led to a reunion with former FSU staffer Joe Bowen, who is the defensive coordinator for the Bulls. Bowen coached for the Seminoles as a defensive analyst and defensive graduate assistant from 2018-20.

In his lone season at Buffalo, McRae was the assistant defensive backs coach. It's unclear which position group he'll be focusing on at Florida State but the Seminoles did recently lose Josh Bringuel to Arizona, who was expected to work with the linebackers.

Amazingly enough, McRae is the eighth member of Norvell's staff who played for the Seminoles, joining Odell Haggins (associate head coach), Ernie Sims (assistant linebackers coach), D'Mitri Emmanuel (defensive graduate assistant), Rick Stockstill (director of scouting - offense), Gerard Ross (director of high school relations), DJ Daniels (director of recruiting strategy), and Corey Fuller (director of football relations).

Which New Coaches Did Florida State Hire For The 2025 Season?

Offense:

Gus Malzahn, Offensive Coordinator (UCF)

Herb Hand, Offensive Line Coach (UCF)

Tim Harris Jr., Wide Receivers Coach (UCF)

Cooper Williams, Assistant Offensive Line Coach (Missouri)

Brendan Bognar, Offensive Analyst (Samford)

Defense:

Tony White, Defensive Coordinator (Nebraska)

Terrance Knighton, Defensive Line Coach (Nebraska)

Evan Cooper, Safeties Coach (Nebraska)

Jack Potenza, Defensive Analyst (Nebraska)

Kevin McGarry, Defensive Analyst (Nebraska)

Jaleel McRae, Defensive Graduate Assistant (Buffalo)

Special Teams:

Jonathan Rutledge, Special Teams Analyst (Catholic University)

Recruiting:

Devin Rispress, Director of Recruiting (Colorado)

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