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
Florida football injury report: QB DJ Lagway practicing, questionable for Texas
Swampcast discusses Florida football road challenge at No. 5 Texas
The Sun’s Kevin Brockway and David Whitley discuss Florida football’s first matchup with Texas since 1940 with David Eckert of the Austin American-Statesman
Florida football freshman quarterback DJ Lagway has taken limited reps in practice this week and is listed as questionable on the SEC availability report for the Florida Gators game Saturday at No. 5 Texas (noon, ABC)
Lagway was carted off the field with a hamstring pull during the second quarter of UF’s 38-20 loss to Georgia on Saturday in Jacksonville.
“He’s trying,” Florida football coach Billy Napier said. “He’s a competitor. You think about him, he’s going back to his home state. He wants to try to find a pathway to make this work. Obviously, it’s touch and go.”
A native of Willis, Texas, Lagway earned Gatorade High School Player of the Year honors at UF, where he’s made an impact as a true freshman. The 6-foot-3, 239-pound Lagway took over as UF’s starting quarterback when Graham Mertz went down with a torn ACL on Oct. 13 at Tennessee and has passed for 1,071 yards on the season with six TDs to five interceptions.
If Lagway can’t go, Florida will turn to third-string quarterback Aidan Warner, who went 7-for-22 for 66 yards and an inteception in relief of Lagway against the Bulldogs.
“He’s gotten a little more comfortable,” Napier said of Warner. “He’s obviously taking a few more reps than he normally does.”
Also listed as questionable on the SEC availability report are running back Montrell Johnson Jr., who has been out since Oct. 13 with a leg injury, and cornerback Dijon Johnson, who left the game against Georgia in the third quarter with an undisclosed injury.
Starting cornerbacks Jason Marshall Jr. (shoulder) and Devin Moore (knee) both have been ruled out for the Texas game.
Florida football WR Eugene Wilson shelved for the rest of the season
Florida wide receiver Eugene Wilson will sit out the remainder of the 2024 season after undergoing surgery this week.
“It’s a genetic hip issue that got to a point to where we had to clean it up,” Napier said. “So, we exhausted all resources. You know, he’s been in and out of the lineup. Can take a few days off, feel like a million bucks then can go work really hard and have to sit back. I think we made the best decision in his long-term career.”
The 5-foot-10, 181-pound Wilson, who was expected to be a playmaking threat in UF’s offense this season, finished the year with 19 catches for 266 yards and a TD. By appearing in just four games, Wilson could take a redshirt in 2024 and return to UF as a redshirt sophomore with three more years of eligibility. Napier said the recovery time for the surgery is four months.
“They got to the root of the problem, and we sent him to Chicago probably 10 days ago to see the best hip doctor in the country,” Napier said. “Got done everything we could do to try to help him.”
Also, according to a report from Swamp 247Sports, running back Treyaun Webb underwent surgery to repair a fractured tibia and will miss the rest of the 2024 season. Like Wilson, Webb appeared in just four games and can take 2024 as a redshirt year.
Florida football availability report
Out
— CB Ja’Keem Jackson
— CB Jason Marshall Jr.
— CB Devin Moore
— WR Eugene Wilson III
— WR Kahleil Jackson
— RB Treyaun Webb
— QB Graham Mertz
— S Asa Turner
— OL Devon Manuel
— DL Jamari Lyons
Questionable
— QB DJ Lagway
— RB Montrell Johnson Jr.
— WR Elijhah Badger
— CB Dijon Johnson
— OL Dameion George Jr.
— DL Cam Jackson
Texas football availability report
Out
— DB Derek Williams Jr.
— RB CJ Baxter
— RB Christian Clark
— RB Velton Gardner
— DL Vernon Broughton (first half)
Questionable
— DB Andrew Makuba
— DE Colton Vasek
Probable
— WR Isaiah Bond
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1
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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