On The Bench: An FSU football podcast network

Florida State’s 41-24 win over Jacksonville State wasn’t a thing of beauty, but it did give us a glimmer of hope. The Seminoles were sparked by Jordan Travis, who has been named the starting quarterback moving forward. With Travis, it appears FSU’s offense has a semblance of an identity now, and that creates reason for optimism.  On The Bench goes over FSU’s easy decision to make Travis the starte...

Florida State earned their first win of the season, and first of the Mike Norvell Era, on Saturday when they defeated Jacksonville State , 41-24. The crew at Noles247 breaks it all down in this Instant Reaction episode. The game kicked off at 4pm from Doak S. Campbell Stadium. FSU got off to a familiar start and was down quickly 14-0 after the first quarter True freshman Tate Rodemaker , who got t...

Think of this episode of  On The Bench  as a therapy session. You've got questions about the  Florida   State  football program, and hopefully we have answers. The gang goes over what happens next at quarterback for FSU, what's not working on defense, and more as we take dozens of listener questions. Plus we do a little airing of grievances as a staff.

FSU fans are vocally calling for a youth movement. Will Mike Norvell do just that? The gang is back together as we sift through the wreckage of an embarrassing loss to Miami and try to figure out where FSU goes from here The pros/cons of a youth movement are weighed, we read into what FSU's updated depth chart means and a tired Sonnone drops a little scoop at the end of the latest episode of OTB.

Florida State  traveled to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. on Saturday to face No. 12/14  Miami , hoping to earn their first win of the season and halt a three-game winning streak by the Hurricanes. Instead, the Seminoles got demolished in every facet of play, losing 52-10. The guys at Noles247 break down the Seminoles performance. It wasn't easy to watch, but we did it. Now we're going t...

On Friday afternoon the Florida State Seminoles landed a major commitment from offensive tackle Rod Orr. The four-star big man from Gadsden County, Ala. announced the big news from his Twitter account. Chris Nee and Josh Newberg of Noles247 are here to break it all down. This is the 'Noles first offensive line commitment toward the 2021 class. At 6-foot-7 and 295-pounds, Orr could be the anchor of...

Florida State heads to Miami Gardens on Saturday to take on No. 12 Miami. The Hurricanes enter the contest as double-digit favorites, and the Seminoles will need several things to break in their favor in they're going to pull off the road upset without head coach Mike Norvell. Inside The U's David Lake joins OTB to give us an insider's perspective on what makes Miami tick, potential areas of weakn...

Mike Norvell tested positive for COVID-19, adding another wrinkle to an already rigorous first year for Florida State's head coach. On The Bench shares what this means for FSU's planning ahead of the rivalry game at Miami. Plus we go over the transfer portal additions (and subtractions from FSU's roster), takeaways from FSU's week off and some very promising recruiting developments. Check it all o...

Bryant McFadden was an all-conference performer while at Florida State, a second-round draft pick, an eventual Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers and is currently an accomplished analyst for CBSSports. He’s succeeded at everything he’s done. But one accomplishment eludes him: Beating Miami. This is missing from the South Florida product’s résumé. McFadden, who is starting his own pod...

What will Florida State do at quarterback moving forward? The Seminoles’ 16-13 loss to Georgia Tech revealed some of the flaws from James Blackman that many around the program hoped were a thing of the past. The offense sputtered for a variety of reasons, but the quarterback’s inability to elevate his team played a major role in the upset loss. On The Bench takes a final look at the GT game while...

Florida State  opened its 2020 season with a 16-13 loss to lowly  Georgia   Tech . The Seminoles squandered a 10-0 lead and fell apart on offense en route to the upset loss. Major issues emerged -- or reemerged -- on offense, and the defense wasn't nearly as dominant as we expected.  What the heck happened?  On The Bench  goes over the game while the wounds are still fresh in our first ever Instan...

Florida State football is days away. It’s surreal, but football is back. With that in mind, On The Bench can finally and confidently lean into a season preview episode in which we go over superlatives, outlooks and give season predictions. Plus a quick look at Week 1 opponent Georgia Tech and take a ton of listener questions.

Florida State released its depth chart today, so it feels like the perfect time to run down each position to preview the 2020 season. It’s game week -- finally -- and On The Bench has you covered with an in-depth look at the roster and the depth chart. Plus we go over the Friday-night performances of some FSU recruits, update you on a few injuries and more.

You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. On The Bench takes dozens of listener questions asked on our message board and goes over each of them ahead of Florida State’s 2020 football season. Topics include how early on-field winning can impact recruiting results, debunking a few narratives, feelings on the offensive line, skimming past Sonnone’s insecurities (again) and more.

Florida State coach Mike Norvell announced James Blackman as the starting quarterback to open the 2020 season. He also added some insight into how Blackman won the job, as well as how FSU’s reserves factor into the rotation now that a starter has been declared. And we also have some scheduling news for the upcoming season. So the developments made it appropriate for us to put together a quick, eme...

What would happen if you took Florida State’s roster and divided it into two teams to go through the 2020 season? That’s the hypothetical at play here as Chris Nee and Brendan Sonnone each pick 22 starters and 3 reserves from the roster to field their own team. Commissioner Josh Newberg keeps the GMs on track as they go back and forth to fill the rosters for the Box Checkers and the Landing Sticke...

On The Bench celebrates the hard work of two walk-ons turned scholarship players, provides the latest intel coming out of Florida State’s camp and takes listener questions in the latest episode. Also, Newberg, Nee and Sonnone explain the scholarship situation -- as they see it -- for FSU after Deonte Sheffield and Wyatt Rector were placed on scholarship.

Florida State held its second scrimmage of preseason camp on Saturday, and by all accounts, it was a banner day for the defense. Which means that wasn’t the case on offense. On The Bench goes into the details coming out of FSU’s scrimmage, what we’re hearing about the struggle on offense and more in the latest episode. Plus we go into FSU’s scholarship situation and if there’s room to take on a la...

The start of the week proved to be newsy, as expected. Florida State coach Mike Norvell addressed injuries to QB Chubba Purdy and TE Jordan Wilson, and also seemed to finalize last week’s storyline stemming from the Warren Thompson social-media post. On The Bench lends insight into these developments in its latest episode, plus we go over some updates from the recruiting trail.

Mike Norvell and his coordinators met with media to recap Florida State’s scrimmage on Saturday evening. We breakdown what they shared with us, and add some intel we received as well to give you the inside scoop on how the scrimmage went in the latest episode of On The Bench. Plus we update the situation with Warren Thompson and go over the details of FSU’s latest commit, WR Malik McClain.

FSU coach Mike Norvell discussed several topics relating to the concerns voiced on social media by a player and parent regrading safety protocol and testing. The press conference is played in its entirety in this episode of On The Bench.

A roundtable discussion between governor Ron DeSantis and Florida State representatives was held the other day to discuss pushing forward with football amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. On The Bench reacts to what was discussed at the roundtable and the response to FSU’s discussed protocol. During the recording of the podcast, several associated with the program expressed concerns over their safety an...

We’re not sure how many more practices there will be given the state of college football, but we’ll share with you what we’ve learned about the Seminoles through three days. Chris Nee and Brendan Sonnone go over some of the storylines and insights from camp so far, plus Nee explains his thoughts on the dark forecast for football in 2020. Brendan wants bourbon. We sing Happy Birthday to Newberg.  E...

Florida State’s 2020 schedule is clear now, with dates and all 11 opponents determined. There was a mixed bag on what to like, and what not to like, for the Seminoles. But much like pizza, any football is good football. On The Bench goes over the schedule, what we like and don’t like for the ‘Noles. Plus a game of Ws and Ls, a breakdown on Newberg’s pickleball skills, recruiting scoop and more. Th...

OTB wraps up the Camp Memories series by going over the initial highs of the Willie Taggart Era...and the swift decline. Whether you want to call it a momentum-based approach gone awry or just smoke and mirrors, the results are the results. We look at what went right, and then what went wrong.  Then we take a quick look at how Mike Norvell operated recruiting camps at Memphis to conclude the serie...