Getty Image / Don Juan Moore
The Florida State Seminoles had a very tumultuous end to the season. Quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending leg injury against Northern Alabama and FSU had to turn to its backup for their Rivalry Week matchup against the Gators and then they had to call on 3rd String QB Brock Glenn for the ACC Championship.
Despite winning both games with backups and going undefeated as a P5 Conference Champion FSU Football was left out of the College Football Playoffs in favor of Alabama. That led to a mass exodus of players announcing for the NFL Draft or hitting the Transfer Portal. Following that, it briefly seemed as if Alabama would poach HC Mike Norvell and then the Noles got hit with NCAA penalties for NIL violations.
Seminoles fans and alums like myself have lived through a roller coaster of emotions but that’s nothing compared to the players in the locker room. How do they hit the ‘reset’ button? FSU crushed it on the recruiting trail, brought in top-tier talent through the Transfer Portal, and Norvell announced an extension after rebuffing Bama. Then, to focus his team, FSU Football head coach Mike Norvell called in SEAL Team 6 legend DJ Shipley to speak to the team.
The actual speech portion of the video is truncated and I can only hope we get to see the full speech at some point. He speaks to the FSU Football team around the 7:22 minute mark of the video, shortly after he talks about having goosebumps being in the hallowed hallways of Doak Campbell Stadium.
DJ Shipley became one of the youngest Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL Training (BUDS) graduates in history and completed the program at 18 years old. He then tried out for Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU / SEAL Team 6) at just 24-years-old and became the youngest person to ever pass green team selection. He is a living legend.
This is the EXACT person you want visiting a team to talk about overcoming obstacles when the reality of the situation is FSU Football is completely loaded and with the right mindset could look to go undefeated again next season. FSU is in rebuilding mode for now but they could still be stacked in a mostly-weak ACC next season even if the Hurricanes have been spending generational wealth on NIL.