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Yesterday’s Poll Results
Today’s Poll
Which Norvell-era transfer had the bigger individual impact?
🏹 Welcome to The Chief Brief! 🏹
Happy Tuesday, Seminole!
The dead period rolls on, but there's still plenty to dig into.
Sam LeJeune gave Norvell a strong endorsement this week, we're doing a Mount Rushmore of the entire Norvell era for some offseason fun, and Chauncey Wiggins just became the third FSU basketball player in days to land an NBA opportunity.
Baseball is also busy reshaping its roster for 2027, and the offensive line preview reveals just how wide open training camp is going to be up front.
Let's get into it.
📋 In Today's Chief Brief:
🏈 Sam LeJeune's Vote of Confidence in Norvell 🏈 — FSU's top commit explained exactly why he believes in his head coach. The quote is the kind every fanbase wants to hear.
🗿 Mount Rushmore of the Norvell Era 🗿 — Four players who define this stretch of FSU football. The dead period calls for a fun debate.
🏀 Wiggins Signs with the Celtics 🏀 — The third FSU basketball player from Loucks' first roster to land an NBA opportunity in the span of days.
⚾ Baseball: Malamazian Fills the Shortstop Hole ⚾ — An Indiana transfer with 97 career starts addresses a position FSU needed to fill after losing Gabe Fraser to the portal.
📊 Draft Stock Watch: Who's Leaving, Who's Staying 📊 — Wes Mendes, Myles Bailey, and a full breakdown of FSU's roster turnover heading into the MLB Draft.
🏈 OL Preview: Replacing All Five Starters 🏈 — Almost every spot up front is a genuine competition. Here's who has the inside track.
⛳ Around the Program ⛳ — Golf academic honors across both programs and soccer season tickets are officially on sale.
Let's dive in. 🍢
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FSU's highest-rated commit in the 2027 class went into detail this week on why his recruitment ultimately came down to belief in Mike Norvell. For a coach operating under serious external pressure, the words from his top recruit matter.
🗣️ What LeJeune Said
"One thing he always says is, 'I want to coach you.' He doesn't negative recruit or talk bad about other schools. That's why I like him so much. He is a great coach, he was a big part of my recruitment and I just love who he is."
On his own approach heading into Tallahassee: "I'm not going to be like these other fat linemen that go to these schools. 290 lean. I'm coming to play early. I'm trying to play. I'm putting it in." That's a four-star defensive lineman publicly setting the bar for himself before he's even enrolled.
📊 Why He Matters
LeJeune is rated as the 11th-best defensive lineman in the country and ranks 122nd overall in the 247Sports Composite. He's the highest-rated player in FSU's 2027 class, joined only by four-star WR Sean Green among commits ranked inside the composite top 200.
The staff's investment in this recruitment reflects how much they need it to work. Norvell, Tony White, and DL coach Terrance Knighton were all heavily involved. White's 3-3-5 scheme isn't a one-size-fits-all defense, and a versatile, high-usage lineman like LeJeune gives White real flexibility along the front.
Why It Matters: Norvell has landed blue-chip high school talent before during his tenure. Azareye'h Thomas and Blake Nichelson both became multi-year starters. But not every blue-chip recruit has delivered, and that's part of what makes LeJeune's public endorsement carry weight. He's choosing to bet on Norvell specifically, at a moment when plenty of outsiders wouldn't. Now it's on the program to prove him right. 🍢
The dead period calls for exactly this kind of fun debate. Not an all-decade team, just four guys. The ones who come to mind first when you picture peak Norvell football, the ones who'll get argued about at tailgates long after he's gone. Here's how 247Sports' Kolby Crawford carved it.
🏆 The Four
Jordan Travis, QB. Not close, and not up for debate. Travis arrived as a Louisville transfer nobody outside the building was excited about and left as the heartbeat of a 13-0 team that never got its shot at a national title. He finished second in school history in career passing yards and touchdowns, but the numbers undersell what he meant to that locker room. The leg injury against North Alabama still stings to think about. He's the face of the turnaround, full stop.
Jared Verse, Edge. The best pure talent FSU has produced under Norvell. He arrived from Albany, yes, Albany, and turned into a first-round pick two years later. 18 sacks over two seasons, with tape that backs up every bit of the production. He's proof the transfer portal can completely remake a program when you know what you're looking for.
Jermaine Johnson II, Edge. He did it first. Before Verse, before the 2023 breakout, Johnson arrived from Georgia and turned one season into a unanimous All-American campaign and a first-round pick of his own. 12 sacks, 18.5 tackles for loss, numbers FSU hadn't produced from an edge rusher in years. He's the blueprint every transfer swing since has been measured against.
Keon Coleman, WR. One season, that's all he gave Tallahassee, and it was enough. The Michigan State transfer was the alpha receiver that offense needed, the guy who'd go up and take the ball away from a corner who had no business losing that rep. 50 catches, over 600 yards, 11 touchdowns, then a second-round pick months later. His highlights are essentially the highlight reel of that undefeated regular season.
🥈 Honorable Mentions
Renardo Green, Braden Fiske, Trey Benson, Fabien Lovett, and Jaheim Bell all merit consideration but didn't make the final cut.
The Bigger Conversation: What's notable about this list is how many of the four are transfers rather than high school recruits. Travis came from Louisville, Verse from Albany, Johnson from Georgia, Coleman from Michigan State. That's the model Norvell built his peak years on. Whether the LeJeune-Green-Miles class of high school recruits can join this Rushmore someday is exactly the kind of question this program needs answered. 🍢
FSU forward Chauncey Wiggins has signed a Summer League contract with the Boston Celtics, making him the third member of Luke Loucks' first FSU roster to land an NBA opportunity in a matter of days, joining Lajae Jones (Warriors) and Robert McCray V (Lakers).
📊 What He Did at FSU
The 6-foot-10 Atlanta native transferred to FSU from Clemson last spring and started 30 of 32 games as a senior, averaging 13.3 points and 3.9 rebounds in 27.9 minutes per game. He shot 48.1 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from three, an efficient combination for a player his size.
His free throw shooting stood out at 85.1 percent. His best game came in the regular season finale against SMU, where he posted a career-high 31 points with nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
🏀 What's Next
The Celtics open Summer League play Friday, July 10th against the Toronto Raptors. A strong showing in Las Vegas could turn into a more concrete NBA opportunity beyond Summer League.
On the Hardwood: Three players from one roster landing NBA chances within days of each other is not a coincidence. It's a direct reflection of player development under Loucks in year one. The pitch to future recruits writes itself, and it just got a third data point. 🍢
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Florida State baseball landed Indiana transfer Cooper Malamazian, addressing the shortstop spot vacated when Gabe Fraser entered the portal earlier this month.
📊 What He Brings
Malamazian is a 6-foot-2, 200-pound right-handed hitter out of Nazareth Academy in Clarendon Hills, Illinois. Over two seasons at Indiana, he started 97 of 106 games played, with 84 of those starts at shortstop.
As a freshman, he earned Second Team Freshman All-American honors from Perfect Game and was a Big Ten All-Freshman Team selection, hitting .320 with a .394 OBP and .512 slugging percentage. This past season he hit .301 with a .389 OBP and made all 51 starts at shortstop, posting a .922 fielding percentage.
For his career, he owns a .310 average, .867 OPS, and a .932 fielding percentage. He's also trending the right direction at the plate, lowering his strikeout rate by roughly six percent and increasing his walk rate by over three percent from his freshman to sophomore seasons.
Why It Matters: Link Jarrett needed a proven defensive shortstop after losing Fraser, and Malamazian arrives with two years of starting experience at a Power Four-caliber program and defensive numbers that should translate immediately. The improving plate discipline is the encouraging long-term sign. 🍢
247Sports' Brett Nevitt put together a comprehensive offseason roster tracker following FSU's 40-19 season and Tallahassee Regional exit. With the MLB Draft 12 days away, here's where the key names stand.
🎯 The Likely Departures
Wes Mendes is projected early-to-mid second round after a season that saw him expand to a five-pitch mix and win ACC Pitcher of the Year. His athleticism and now-complete arsenal make him one of the better southpaw prospects in this class.
Myles Bailey is the more complicated case. A seven-figure bonus slot is realistic if his medicals check out following injury, and the expectation is he won't turn that down even with FSU pursuing a strong NIL retention push. His underlying metrics, exit velocity, hard-hit rate, chase rate, were elite before the injury.
Brayden Dowd projects in the 3rd-5th round range. The bat-to-ball skills and swing decisions draw Steven Kwan comparisons, with more raw power than Kwan flashed in college.
Trey Beard, Bryson Moore, and John Abraham all land in the 4th-6th round range. Abraham in particular was lights-out before an oblique injury, with a fastball that runs into the mid-90s and what could be viewed as a starter's full pitch mix.
🔮 The Incoming Class
High school commits Kaden Waechter and Landon Thome are both currently expected to be drafted and signed rather than make it to campus. Waechter is a polished right-hander in a similar range to Mendes. Thome has risen up draft boards since flipping from Tennessee and brings legitimate pull-side power as a left-handed hitter.
Donovan Thiery, Genson Veras, and Brayden Harris are all signability-dependent. Veras in particular offers elite power but significant swing-and-miss risk, drawing comparisons to a younger Bailey profile as a right-handed hitting outfielder.
Reality Check: FSU has had a 40-win season for the third straight year and is once again staring down significant roster turnover via both the draft and the portal. That's the price of running one of the sport's most productive pipelines. The Malamazian addition and continued portal activity suggest Jarrett is already building for 2027 regardless of how the draft shakes out. 🍢
Florida State is replacing every starter from a 2025 offensive line that ran the ball effectively (11th nationally in rushing yards per game) but never felt like it could take over a game. Almost every spot is a genuine open competition heading into fall camp.
🏗️ The Picture Up Front
Left tackle is the one settled spot. Redshirt senior Xavier Chaplin, a 6-foot-8, 350-plus pound Auburn transfer who started 12 games in the SEC, is the unquestioned anchor. Redshirt sophomore Jayden Todd, who made national headlines this week for an entirely different reason, is in line as his primary backup.
Left guard looks like a real competition between redshirt junior Andre Otto, a homegrown player finally getting his shot in year four, and Troy transfer Paul Bowling, who impressed as a true freshman before jumping to the Power Four level.
Center features Purdue transfer Bradyn Welch-Joiner, who started 12 games last season and is the favorite to win the job, against redshirt junior Sandman Thompson, an unheralded recruiting success story who impressed as a redshirt freshman. Whoever loses center likely starts at guard instead.
Right guard looks like Bowling Green transfer Nate Pabst's job to lose. The redshirt senior earned second-team All-MAC honors and started 38 games in his career, with enough size at 6-foot-7 to potentially kick out to tackle if needed.
Right tackle is FCS transfer Chimdia Nwaiwu's spot after a strong spring camp, though redshirt sophomore Jonathan Daniels, a Pensacola native who stayed in the program despite limited snaps, will push for the job.
Why It Matters: The biggest position battles on the entire roster before fall camp are at guard and center. Whether FSU's homegrown developmental players (Otto, Thompson, Daniels) win jobs over the wave of transfers will say a lot about where this program's recruiting and development model actually stands. Either way, continuity is the priority after replacing the entire group from scratch. 🍢
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⛳🏆 Around the Program 🏆⛳
A few shorter items to close the week.
⛳ Golf Academic Honors Across Both Programs
Men's golf juniors Tyler Weaver, Wilmer Edero, and Carson Brewer all earned All-ACC Academic Team honors. Weaver's season was particularly notable: a 69.58 scoring average, the fifth-best in program history, joining Luke Clanton, John Pak, and Daniel Berger as the only Seminoles ever to finish a season under 70 strokes. He also earned First Team All-America honors from Golfweek and was a Ben Hogan Award semifinalist.
Women's golf saw juniors Sophia Fullbrook and Layla Pedrique earn the academic honor. Fullbrook posted a 71.16 stroke average, tied for the eighth-lowest single-season mark in program history, with three individual tournament victories and Second Team All-America recognition from both Golfweek and the WGCA.
Season tickets for the defending national champion soccer program are officially on sale. Reserved seats are $200 (including a $50 Seminole Athletic Fund contribution) and general admission is $50. New this year: tickets will be required for all fans at every home game at the Seminole Soccer Complex, a change from previous seasons.
The home slate includes ACC opponents NC State, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Duke, and Virginia Tech, with Notre Dame coming in as a 2025 No. 1 seed and Duke fresh off a College Cup appearance. FSU students get in free with their FSUID as always.
The Bigger Conversation: Academic honors across two more programs and a soccer ticket announcement might not make headlines, but they're part of the same story as everything else this week. Florida State athletics is still producing across the board even while football works through its rebuild. 🍢
And that’s a wrap!
As always, thank you for making The Chief Brief part of your Tuesday.
Sam LeJeune believes in Norvell. Three Seminoles have NBA opportunities this summer. The offensive line is wide open heading into fall camp. There's a lot happening even in the dead period, and we'll keep tracking it all. See you tomorrow.
Go Noles,
– The Chief
