Mike Norvell Raves About Ashton Daniels After FSU Football's First Spring Practice

The Florida State Seminoles kicked off spring practice on Monday morning. Though the first two sessions won't feature much contact as players are only in helmets and jerseys, this is the time to focus on fundamentals and begin developing chemistry.

After fielding one of the top offensive attacks in the country last season, the Seminoles are going through a total overhaul. Florida State is replacing at least one starter at every position on the offense, including the entire offensive line.

FSU will also have a new quarterback and the spotlight is primarily on Auburn transfer Ashton Daniels and redshirt freshman Kevin Sperry entering the spring. Head coach Mike Norvell has confirmed there will be a competition for the job, though the margin of error for Sperry compared to Daniels is yet to be determined.

Either way, for the first time since 2021, Florida State's starting quarterback isn't necessarily penciled in, and fans are keeping a close eye on how the situation unfolds.

Ashton Daniels, Quarterback Perform On First Day

Following the opening practice, Norvell seemed pleased with what the quarterback room brought to the table.

"I thought the quarterbacks did a really good job," Norvell said. "Being able to go and have control of what we did today, locate the ball well. I mean, there's a couple shots that showed up down the field."

When it comes to Daniels specifically, the fifth-year senior is learning yet another offense. Though that could result in some growing pains, Florida State isn't putting too many new concepts on his plate.

It's still early but Norvell likes how Daniels fits into the system.

"As he comes in, this is really his fourth offense since he's been in college to have to learn. That is a good thing when it comes to a lot of things that you can fall back on," Norvell said. "There's not much that we're asking him to do that's totally different than something that he's done before, so there are some foundational elements he can pull upon, but now it's how we do it and the finer details."

"Where we went eyes, obviously, the locations, the reads, all those things kind of work together," Norvell added. "We've had some conversations leading into it of things that he likes, things that I've seen him do well on film. As we're putting all that together, some things really fit, and we knew coming in that would be really good for his skill set."

Daniels has already been working on building timing with the wide receivers. That connection was evident on day one.

Now, he'll have to keep stacking good days.

"I thought he threw the ball really well today. He's able to locate it," Norvell said. "You can tell that those guys, receivers and quarterbacks, for the first day, I mean, you can see the work that they've done on their own. It was pretty clean when it came to that. He had a really good control. I thought he played fast, and it was what you want for a first day."

Florida State returns to the practice fields on Wednesday morning with the first day in pads scheduled for Friday.

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