After a stellar run at Memphis Mike Norvell has had a rollercoaster run in Tallahassee as the Florida State Seminoles head football coach. Norvell finished his four year stint at Memphis with a 38-15 record.
Florida
Nathan Boyles wins Florida House District 3 primary
Holt resident and three-term Okaloosa County Commissioner Nathan Boyles beat Jay Mayor Shon Owens and a field of six other Republicans to secure the GOP nomination for the District 3 seat in the Florida House of Representatives.
Owens finished 949 votes behind to finish second.
The big difference lay in the number of voters each of the front runners were able to pull in from the other’s home county. Boyles secured 1,390 votes more in Okaloosa County than the Jay mayor, unofficial results indicated. Owens beat Boyles in Santa Rosa County by only about 440 votes.
With voter turn out at about 28% in both counties, and with all precincts counted, Boyles had secured 8,712 total votes to 7,763 for Owens.
“I’m proud of the support we received in both Santa Rosa and Okaloosa County. It was a spirited, close race and the good news for the district is that the voters had multiple good choices,” Boyles said.
He said it is important to remind everyone following a sometimes contentious campaign that this election was not about Okaloosa or Santa Rosa counties, but about finding someone suitable to represent District 3 in Tallahassee.
To win the seat outright Boyles must defeat Democratic candidate Dondre Wise in a June 10 general election battle.
“I am mindful of the fact that I will have to ask voters one more time to step out and fill in a ballot with my name,” Boyles said.
Wise, who listed a Pensacola home address at the outset of the campaign and has yet to report any campaign finance activity, will be a decided underdog. Republicans outnumber Democrats by large margins in both Santa Rosa County and North Okaloosa County.
Santa Rosa County has been without a resident member of the Florida Legislature effectively since late November of last year when Dr. Joel Rudman, who lives in Navarre, announced he was resigning his state House seat to run for the congressional seat left vacant by the departure of Matt Gaetz.
The district is composed of all of Santa Rosa County except the southwestern tip, represented by Pensacola resident Alex Andrade, which includes the city of Gulf Breeze, the Pace and Midway communities and Navarre Beach.
District 3 extends enough into North Okaloosa to encompass rural areas north of the county seat of Crestview. The number of registered Republican voters in District 3 in Santa Rosa County outnumber those in Okaloosa County 73,497 to 14,814.
Boyles becomes the first Okaloosa County resident to serve this district since Greg Evers was elected in 2001. Evers, of Baker, served through 2010 in what was at that time District 1.
Hayden Hudson, an assistant state attorney who was Rudman’s choice to follow him into the District 3 seat, was third in the balloting with 2,522 votes. Pace resident Cindy Smith finished fourth with 2,099 votes. Wade Merritt, a Baker resident, pulled enough Okaloosa County votes to finish second behind Boyles in that county’s balloting.
Boyles ran as the darling of the GOP power brokers in Tallahassee and was endorsed by every member of the Northwest Florida legislative delegation. He received significant donations from outside sources during the campaign and was able to tuck $151,000 into his campaign war chest by the Tuesday election.
Owens entered the fray with endorsements from nearly all of Santa Rosa County’s local leadership. Boyles also missed out on an endorsement from outgoing state Rep. Dr. Joel Rudman. Rudman threw his support to Hudson and didn’t hesitate to criticize Boyles as an establishment candidate favored by “old time country club Republicans.”
Owens took the notion of keeping the district seat in the hands of a district resident, as it had been since Evers with first Doug Broxson, then Jayer Williamson and then Rudman. He blamed candidates who didn’t have a real opportunity to win with siphoning off Santa Rosa County votes that could have gone to him.
“There were two or three people who never had a chance to win that did not really see the importance of this as a Santa Rosa County seat, they were just being selfish,” he said.
Owens said he believes Boyles will serve well at the District 3 representative and he will support him.
Boyles, whose company, Adams Sanitation, serves as the garbage service provider for thousands in Santa Rosa County and employs 75 county residents, has said he believes he is better positioned than anyone in the District 3 race to serve as the representative.
“Santa Rosa County’s success is very important to me. Just as important as Okaloosa County is to me,” he said. “I think I’m the only candidate with real connectivity in both counties.”
Boyles said in a recent candidate survey that he intends to work with the local delegation to support and implement President Trump’s America First mandate.
“I will champion legislation that helps make living in Northwest Florida more affordable by tackling key issues like our continuing property insurance crisis,” he said.
“I believe strongly in championing better infrastructure for our communities,” Boyles said. “This includes an improved road network, rural broadband, adequate contaminant free drinking water, stormwater treatment to keep our surface waters healthy and modern sewage treatment and disposal. I have significant experience in prioritizing infrastructure while keeping taxes low.”
The decision by Gov. Ron DeSantis to hold off scheduling this primary until April 1 and a general election until June 10 means that Boyles or Wise won’t get the opportunity to participate in the 2025 legislative session.
“If elected, I will be fully dedicated to the job,” he said when asked about the “red-shirt” aspect of the job he has now been hired to do, Boyles said “the additional time ahead of the 2026 legislative session will give me the opportunity to meet with residents and local officials to learn more about the priorities that they expect me to pursue.”
“Starting mid-way through a term allows the opportunity to learn the process in Tallahassee and build relationships to better serve the citizens of the District,” Boyles said.
At FSU Norvell started off slow winning only eight games in two years. Then the ‘Noles had an awakening and won 23 games from 2022-2023. And now that reality has come crashing back down with seven wins the past two seasons.
FSU will have 17 transfers in the 2-deep once again in 2026. It’s become a double-edged sword where he only way Norvell can keep his job (buyout be damned) after this year is to inject talent into the roster but he’s got a bad culture in the field house up at Doak Campbell Stadium.
Now let’s put the ‘Noles through The Goal, our 2026 Summer Scheming analysis system.
Acquisition: The ’Noles high school recruiting hasn’t been as ‘bad’ s advertised. FSU is 16th over the past three years in prep signings and 14th when it comes to the transfer portal for an average of 15th overall.
Development: Now this is the crazy part. Over the past couple of years the ‘Noles have only produced eight NFL players. Only eight have stuck it out from the 2025 and 2026 NFL Draft classes. Remember all of those drafts loaded with FSU talent like Jameis Winston and Jared Verse? Right now it’s Deuce Robinson and who else?
Deployment: This preseason Bill Connelly’s SP+ has FSU 35th in overall SP+. The Seminole offense is 45th, the defense 30th and the kicking game is 94th. So where as Mike Norvell has the 15th best players he’s producing the 35th best team. He’s revamped his coordinators once again sending Gus Malzahn off to the glue factory and promoting Tim Harris Jr to OC.
The bottleneck to success at FSU is the culture within the program. The Seminoles went hellbent on the transfer portal to improve from 5-7 to 10-3 and dipped their toe in again to move to 13-1. They were Jordan Travis’ leg away from competing for a national championship. But injuries do happen and losing your starting QB is a devastating one.
Mike Norvell has taken the Manny Diaz approach to the transfer portal and it’s killed any semblance of a culture that could possibly have been built in the FSU locker room AND he’s losing games.
The FSU strength of schedule is 45th of 138 in FBS per CFB News. Florida State faces SMU before an off week. Then they head to Tuscaloosa to play the Alabama Crimson Tide. After a cupcake, FSU hosts UVA before consecutive road trips to Louisville and Miami. The ‘Noles also face Clemson, Pitt and Florida over the back half of the schedule.
The inventory space includes returning production per Bill Connelly, the On3 top-100 list and the Athlon preseason All-Conference Team honorees. The ’Noles returning production is 48th in FBS at 57% production. FSU has two players on the On3 top-100 list in WR Deuce Robinson (74th) and DL Mandrell Desir (97th). The ‘Noles have one player on the Athlon All-ACC Team and that’s Robinson.
FSU hit the transfer portal for four of their five potential starting OL in ‘26. They also brought in QB Ashton Daniels (Auburn) and RB Quintrevion Wisner (Texas). Daniels is another FSU QB with a penchant for throwing interceptions.
Robinson averaged 19.3 yards per catch with six scores in 2025. Wisner adds over four yards per carry and three TD’s from his run at Texas. On defense M. Desir returns with 7.5 TFL’s and 6.5 sacks from a year ago.
Southern Miss transfer LB Chris Jones logged 9.5 TFL’s and 3.5 sacks a year ago. Another transfer, this one DB Nehemiah Chandler, picked up 13 PBU’s last season with two INT’s.
Mike Norvell is committing highway robbery with the past two seasons performances. After the 13-1 season and the Alabama opening with Nick Saban’s retirement, Norvell landed himself a nice raise up to $10.3M a season. The issue is they’ve only won six games per season under Norvell which adds up to $1.7M per win. That’s second to only Bill Belichick in the grand theft coaching category.
There is no chance the goal at FSU is anything short of eight wins. What a sad cry from only three seasons ago when the ‘Noles were potentially a national championship program. That’s the crux of the transfer portal, live by the transfer / die by the transfer.
Highly successful clubs have started to be extremely careful with who comes in and out of their program, think: Ohio State, Notre Dame, Indiana and even lately- Miami. The vetting process is pivotal for not bottlenecking your success by bringing in locker room cancers.
Season Prediction: I can see this winding up anywhere from 5-7 to 7-5. They’ve got the 2nd most players on the On3 top-11 than anyone else on Miami’s schedule (ND has five). They also have the 15th best grouping of talent in the country. And yet I just can’t see Daniels, four new OL, a new RB, and another dozen guys on defense gelling together under Mike Norvell and into some phoenix that rises from the ashes of the ACC cellar.
An Iranian-made drone displayed at the Biltmore Hotel served as a stark warning from national security advocates and South Florida officials who say Cuba’s growing military ties with Iran could pose a threat to the United States.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, chairman of the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, joined U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Florida, to highlight concerns about what they say are roughly 300 Iranian drones that have been delivered to Cuba.
Standing alongside one of the drones, Bush described the weapon as among the deadliest battlefield threats faced by American forces in recent years.
“Most loss of life of the U.S. military than any single weapon that exists over the last 15 years,” Bush said.
Gimenez warned that the drones’ capabilities make them particularly concerning because of their ability to carry significant explosive payloads over long distances.
“This particular model, there is about over 100 pounds of explosives,” Gimenez said. “That’s a pretty big bang. That’s why they call them kamikaze drones — they crash into their target and they explode.”
According to Gimenez, the drones can reach speeds of about 115 miles per hour and travel more than 1,000 miles, placing South Florida well within range. He said the aircraft could also reach the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay and other cities throughout the southeastern United States, including Tallahassee and Atlanta.
The congressman said one of the primary concerns is the potential for Iran-style drone warfare tactics, in which large numbers of drones are launched simultaneously to overwhelm air defense systems.
While the United States has sophisticated defense systems capable of intercepting incoming drones, Gimenez noted that a successful strike may require only one, or a handful of aircraft to penetrate those defenses.
The event was organized by United Against Nuclear Iran, which has sought to draw attention to expanding military and strategic cooperation between Iran and countries aligned with its interests, including Cuba.
Supporters of the group’s effort say the growing presence of Iranian military technology in the Western Hemisphere warrants increased attention from policymakers and defense officials.
For South Florida residents, the warning underscores the region’s proximity to Cuba and the continuing role the island nation plays in broader geopolitical tensions involving the United States and its adversaries.
Body camera video shows a man fighting with Florida deputies who were trying to rescue him from a snake-and-alligator-infested canal, authorities said.
The incident happened July 3 when Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies found a man lying on the ground shirtless in front of an elementary school.
The man, 47-year-old Ryan McMinn, who had been then subject of a previous welfare check, fled on foot, the sheriff’s office said.
A short time later, authorities received a call about a man trying to climb on the side of a house in Palm Coast.
Deputies responded and found McMinn near the canal behind the house and when he spotted the deputies, McMinn ran into the canal and started swimming, authorities said.
“What’s your name?” a deputy asks him in the bodycam footage, as McMinn is seen swimming backwards. “You getting tired?”
Officials said McMinn was ordered to get out of the water multiple times but refused, and when he started to show signs of exhaustion, two deputies went into the canal to pull him out.
The video released by the sheriff’s office on Monday shows the deputies wading into the water before a struggle ensues.
Authorities said McMinn tried to grab one deputy’s head to push it under the water, before he tried to grab the neck of the other deputy.
The deputies were able to get control of McMinn and get him safely to shore.
He was hospitalized before he was arrested and booked into jail on two counts of battery on a law enforcement officer.
“Battering a Deputy Sheriff will guarantee you the loss of your freedom and a trip to jail,” Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly said. “These deputies went into the water to rescue this guy, and he responded by fighting them. I commend our deputies for their willingness to get in a canal that usually have snakes and gators and pull this guy to safety before he drowned.”
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