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Yesterday’s Poll Results
Today’s Poll
Should FSU have pooled all sports into one jersey patch deal instead of going sport by sport?
🏹 Welcome to The Chief Brief! 🏹
Good morning, Seminole! Jack Whaley keeps rolling at the U.S. Amateur, FSU basketball just landed the program's first-ever jersey patch deal, and there's a real case that Rylan Kennedy needs to become the pass-rusher this defense hasn't had in years. Baseball had a loaded summer too, so there's a lot to get through today.
📋 In Today's Chief Brief:
⛳ Jack Whaley Rolls Into the Semifinal at the U.S. Amateur ⛳ - Two wins from a national title.
🏀 FSU Basketball Lands the Program's First Jersey Patch Deal 🏀 - But football is still waiting on one of its own.
🔮 FSU Commit Jaxon Holly Flips a Game With One Play 🔮 - A pick-six that changed everything.
⚾ Baseball's Busy Summer: 16 Seminoles Across Four Leagues ⚾ - The standouts from the Cape and beyond.
🎯 Rylan Kennedy Has Never Been 'The Guy,' and FSU Needs Him to Be 🎯 - The numbers behind the JACK linebacker buzz.
🏆 Hughes Lands on Ray Guy Watch List, Plus NFL Preseason Results 🏆 - A punter's honor and how the alumni fared.
📊 Where FSU Stands: A National Rankings Check-In 📊 - Three new measuring sticks, one familiar verdict.
📝 Recruiting Notebook 📝 - A big-name OT offer and more.
Let's dive in. 🍢
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FSU rising senior Jack Whaley needed just 14 holes to dispatch his quarterfinal opponent Friday, and he's now two wins away from a U.S. Amateur title, taking on No. 8 Carter Loflin in Saturday's semifinal.
🏌️ A Dominant Day at Merion
Whaley won three of his first four holes to jump 3 Up early, then extended the lead to 4 Up with a birdie on No. 8 and again on No. 11, closing out the match 5&4 on the 14th hole without conceding a single hole to No. 29 Adam Bresnu.
The win pushes Whaley to 4-0 in match play, a run that includes wins over a Florida Gator in a 22-hole marathon, a former Arizona State golfer, and now a Texas Tech standout.
📺 What's Next
Whaley faces No. 8 Carter Loflin Saturday at 2 p.m., with coverage on Peacock starting at 3 p.m. and simulcasting to NBC at 4 p.m.
A win would put him into Sunday's 36-hole championship match, capping what's already the best individual tournament run by a Seminole golfer since Whaley arrived on campus a year ago.
Why It Matters: Whaley has climbed over 200 spots in the World Amateur Golf Rankings since arriving at FSU, and reaching the U.S. Amateur final would be one of the biggest individual achievements by a Seminole golfer in recent memory. 🍢
ReliaQuest will become FSU men's basketball's official jersey patch partner starting this season, the first commercial patch sponsorship in Florida State athletics history, but the deal also raises real questions about football's place in line.
🤝 What's in the Deal
The Tampa-based cybersecurity firm, founded by 2000 FSU grad Brian Murphy, has sponsored FSU athletics since 2023 and become the university's official cybersecurity partner in 2025.
Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the ReliaQuest logo debuts on Seminole uniforms this season under second-year head coach Luke Loucks, marking the first commercial jersey patch in FSU athletics history following the NCAA's rule change this year.
🤔 Why Football Isn't Included
Most programs nationally, including Ohio State and Notre Dame, have pooled their entire athletic department into a single jersey patch deal to maximize value. FSU instead is negotiating sport by sport, and ReliaQuest was reportedly the presumed fit for football before talks are said to have stalled.
It's the latest example of a broader pattern for athletic director Michael Alford, who directed department resources toward stadium renovations and a new football facility as the rest of the sport shifted spending toward the roster itself.
Why It Matters: A basketball-only patch deal is a real win for a Loucks-led program building momentum, but the absence of a football deal, FSU's most valuable inventory, is a reminder of how far behind the department remains on the revenue side of the new NIL landscape. 🍢
Roswell trailed 14-0 and was staring at more before FSU EDGE commit Jaxon Holly turned a Walton drive into a 66-yard pick-six, and the game was never the same.
🏈 A Signature Performance
Holly finished with three tackles, five tackles for loss, a sack, and multiple quarterback hurries in Roswell's 32-20 comeback win, living in Walton's backfield most of the night after his interception return flipped an 18-14 halftime lead.
Holly remains firmly committed to FSU and has only one game-day visit scheduled this fall, for the Seminoles' Aug. 29 season opener, though Georgia and Virginia Tech have stayed in contact.
Why It Matters: FSU doesn't have a single commitment in the 2028 class yet, which makes holding on to a 2027 difference-maker like Holly, especially one delivering performances like this, even more important. 🍢
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FSU baseball spent the summer scattered across the country, with 16 players logging time in four different summer collegiate leagues, nine of them in the prestigious Cape Cod League.
🔥 The Standouts
Right-hander Rhett Vaughn had the best summer of any Seminole, posting a 0.81 ERA and 0.67 WHIP over 22.1 innings for the Y-D Red Sox, with 27 strikeouts against just five walks and three wins. Lefty Payton Manca was nearly as sharp for Brewster, striking out 27 in 24.1 innings with a 1.48 ERA in his second straight Cape summer.
Incoming freshman Ben Kuglitsch turned heads in the Northwoods League, hitting .306 with an .894 OPS and going 9-for-9 on stolen bases for Fond du Lac, while JUCO catcher Marvin Montenegro slugged his way to a .920 OPS in the same league.
📋 The Full Ledger
Catcher Kaden Frommelt hit .354 with 10 doubles and four homers in the Prospect League, and outfielder Ty Peeples drew 20 walks for a .388 on-base percentage on the Cape.
In all, six Seminole pitchers logged time in the Cape Cod League, the sport's top summer showcase, giving FSU a wide look at pitching depth heading into the fall.
Why It Matters: A productive summer circuit is one of the clearer signals of who's trending toward a bigger role this spring, and Vaughn's and Manca's Cape Cod numbers in particular are the kind that get NCAA-wide attention. 🍢
Kennedy has played in 37 college games, all in the SEC, but always as a rotation piece behind NFL talent at Texas A&M. Now, with Jalen Anderson at the other JACK spot, FSU is counting on him to be the pass-rush centerpiece his defense didn't have last season.
📊 The Numbers Behind the Buzz
Kennedy posted 14 pressures and 3.5 sacks on 72 pass-rush snaps for the Aggies last season, an 11.9 percent win rate that was actually lower than what since-departed edge James Williams managed at FSU. Anderson, a JUCO transfer, posted 9.5 sacks over two years at Pearl River but is making a level jump. Edges coach Nick Williams said Kennedy "studies the game" and "wants to be great."
For his career, Kennedy has just 3.5 sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss, modest production for a player about to be handed a starting role. "Sacrifice and strain," Kennedy said of his offseason. "I feel like my growth, like eating the right stuff, communicating to the younger guys... it's been a big growth from January all the way to this month now."
🔍 It Might Not Have to Be Him
FSU's pass-rush plan doesn't necessarily need to run through an edge. Sophomore Mandrell Desir, who led the team in sacks a year ago as a true freshman, has drawn the most consistent praise of anyone on the defensive line this fall.
Desir has the athletic profile at 6-foot-4, 270 pounds to play multiple spots, and if he takes the leap quarterback Ashton Daniels has publicly predicted, his interior pressure could be what frees up Kennedy and Anderson on the edge instead of the other way around.
Why It Matters: Whether it's Kennedy, Anderson, or Desir, Tony White's defense ranked No. 67 in points per drive last season in part because it never had a pass-rusher offenses had to game-plan around. FSU doesn't need all three to break out, just one. 🍢
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A watch-list nod for FSU's new punter and a look at how the Seminoles' NFL alumni fared through Friday's slate.
🦵 Daniel Hughes Joins Elite Company
The senior punter, a Ray Guy semifinalist last season at New Mexico before transferring in January, is one of six returning 2025 semifinalists on this year's preseason watch list. Hughes averaged 45.4 yards per punt last season with 13 boots inside the 20 and a long of 64 yards.
The award, presented by the Augusta Sports Council, will be announced Dec. 10 during the Home Depot College Football Awards on ESPN.
📋 How the Alumni Fared
Tatum Bethune was the standout of the night Thursday, racking up six tackles and a 10-yard sack for the 49ers. Joshua Farmer matched him with a sack of his own for the Patriots.
Not every score went smoothly. Colts-Patriots ended in a rare 13-13 tie, with Derrick Nnadi adding a pair of solo tackles and Roydell Williams getting three carries for the Colts. A full Saturday slate, including Jashaun Corbin and the Cowboys, still remains.
Why It Matters: The Ray Guy nod is real validation for a specialist FSU is counting on to flip field position all season, and the NFL results are an early measuring stick for the Seminoles still fighting for roster spots around the league. 🍢
Three more national measuring sticks dropped this week, and they all land FSU in roughly the same spot: talented, but unproven.
📈 The Numbers
Bill Connelly's final preseason SP+ rankings have FSU at No. 35 with the 34th-hardest schedule in the country, while ESPN's David Hale slotted the Seminoles into Tier 10, "It has to get better. Right? Right?!?," alongside Florida, South Carolina, Oklahoma State, and Syracuse, five programs all trying to rebound from disappointing 2025 seasons.
CBS Sports' Top 150 player rankings included two Seminoles, Duce Robinson and Mandrell Desir, the only two FSU players to crack the list.
Why It Matters: The consensus outside view hasn't moved much: real individual talent, a roster still trying to prove it belongs, and a schedule that won't make it easy to find out. 🍢
📝 Recruiting Notebook 📝
The No. 21 overall prospect and No. 3 tackle in the 2028 class, and the No. 1 junior in California, picked up an offer from position coach Herb Hand Friday. Attalah already named Texas, Texas Tech, and USC as his early frontrunners, but FSU has yet to land a 2028 commit and will look to get him to Tallahassee for a game this fall.
2028 defensive line twins Mohamed and Baganley Donzo will visit Tallahassee on Oct. 3, part of a fall slate that also includes Wake Forest, Penn State, Virginia Tech, and Ole Miss. California edge Nasir Walker, who's already visited FSU for a camp, has an October trip planned as well, and Ohio linebacker Brydon Feister said FSU is "recruiting me really hard." In Georgia, edge Steven McClendon has FSU on his schedule for the Aug. 29 opener.
Five-star 2028 wing Myles Hayes, whose older brother Jarvis already has FSU in his final four, praised Luke Loucks directly: "He's a great dude. He came from the NBA and stuff, he likes wings and length and he knows a lot about the NBA and that developmental process." The brothers say playing together isn't a given, but it's a name worth tracking regardless.
Why It Matters: Attalah is the marquee name today, a top-25 national prospect FSU wasn't previously in on, and continuing to add 2028 offers at multiple positions is exactly the volume-building the staff needs before the class starts to take shape. 🍢
And that’s a wrap!
Thanks for reading today's edition, Seminole! Between Whaley's run at Merion, Kennedy's chance to become a difference-maker up front, and a loaded recruiting day headlined by a five-star tackle offer, there's a lot of momentum across the department heading into the final two weeks before kickoff.
Go Noles,
– The Chief Briefers
