Mike Norvell On Alabama QB Keelon Russell: 'He's A Scary Football Player'

The Florida State Seminoles and Alabama Crimson Tide are less than a week away from a rematch. Instead of Tallahassee, the two programs will meet in Tuscaloosa for the second half of their home-and-home series.

Florida State's first matchup against Alabama ended up being one of the shockers of the 2025 season. The Seminoles defeated the No. 8 Crimson Tide, 31-17.

The result was even stranger considering how both teams performed after that game. Alabama went on to make the College Football Playoff. Florida State didn't even qualify for the postseason, winning 4 of its final 11 games.

Going into 2026, the Seminoles are once again a heavy underdog, and the Crimson Tide are once again a top-10 team.

Alabama also has another first-year starter at quarterback after Ty Simpson left for the NFL. Former five-star recruit and sophomore signal-caller Keelon Russell steps into the spotlight.

Following Kevin Jennings' decimation of Florida State's defense, head coach Norvell sees the obvious threat with another dual-threat quarterback looming on the schedule.

Mike Norvell Praises Keelon Russell Before FSU-Alabama

Russell made his first two starts in Alabama's wins over East Carolina and Kentucky.

While he's still settling in, Russell has enormous potential. He's already starting to find his footing on the ground.

"Just watching two games, you see the threat. I mean, he's a guy that can throw the football; he can make a lot of different throws," Norvell said. "If he gets on the edge, he brings his feet into the equation. I mean, he's a scary football player. I say that in a very respectful way."

"You got to be able to account for him. You got to make sure that you can try to get him out of rhythm, but even when things break down, I mean, you better play with great pursuit," Norvell added. "You better make sure that if you're in coverage, things happen to break down, we're gonna do a great job of sticking on very talented receivers that are out there on the edge."

Over two games, Russell has completed 34/53 passes for 444 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. He's added 21 rushes for 77 yards and another score.

Russell is an athlete who can make things happen in the chaos. If a play gets off schedule or begins to break down, he's good enough to turn a negative into a positive.

"You can see his playmaking ability," Norvell said. "And it's one of the things that they love about him is that, even when it doesn't always look exactly how you might draw it up, he could still make a lot of great things happen."

In the loss to SMU, Florida State looked all out of whack. The Seminoles gave up 430 passing yards and 3 passing touchdowns, along with allowing the Mustangs to convert on 8/14 third-down attempts.

Following a week off, Norvell is hoping his defense will bounce back.

"It's gonna be a great challenge for our guys, but I can tell you, they're excited for our opportunity to get back on the field," Norvell said. "We just faced a very talented quarterback that could extend plays, that could throw the football, that did some really good things. And there were some times that we weren't as good as we needed to be throughout the course of a game."

"Learn a lesson. Go apply it against another very talented team and quarterback. That's our focus this week," Norvell added.

Florida State and Alabama will face off on Saturday, September 19. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

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