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Mike Norvell hasn’t even coached a game at Florida State since the ‘Noles scooped him up from Memphis back in December, but things have gotten off to a rather abysmal start for the 38-year-old in Tallahassee.
Following the death of Georgy Floyd, Norvell stated that he “went back and forth individually with every player,” but team captain Marvin Wilson was quick to call him out on social media for allegedly lying and that the team wouldn’t be taking the field until further notice.
Just as that situation between Norvell and his players has seemed to cool off, now he’s being accused of lying to players yet again, this time in regards to the handling of the coronavirus and health and safety protocols.
On Wednesday night, wide receiver D.J. Matthews tweeted out that he had tested positive for coronavirus before quickly deleting the tweet. On Thursday morning he sent out a rather straight forward tweet, writing “All the Lies smh.”
All the Lies smh
— DJ Matthews (@2nineee) August 13, 2020
Shortly after Matthews’ tweet, sophomore wideout Warren Thompson posted a letter to Twitter alleging that he and his teammates have been “lied to multiple times about the conditions of other players’ health as well as mine” while calling out FSU’s football program and its lack of leadership.
https://twitter.com/Warrenj11__/status/1293910729335029763?s=20
It’s not only players calling out Norvell on Twitter, however, parents are getting involved too.
Tamorrion Terry’s mom, Cindy Rewis, called out the program and Norvell demanding answers about what exactly is going on.
https://twitter.com/TheMomToAngel/status/1293915702869602304?s=20
Norvell did speak with the media on Thursday and explained that the program has been “transparent” about the situation at hand, but pointed out that he won’t be publicly releasing testing numbers.
#FSU coach Mike Norvell said he's not going to release any numbers as it pertains to positive COVID-19 test results.
He added that camp is completely voluntary for the players.
— Matt Murschel (@osmattmurschel) August 13, 2020
#FSU coach Mike Norvell on comments made from several players about how the school has lied about health concerns.
“Disappointed to see or to hear about the message put out there but we’ve been very transparent throughout this process."
— Matt Murschel (@osmattmurschel) August 13, 2020
Having some of your top players, and their parents, calling you out on Twitter is a less than ideal situation for any program.