Since Mike Norvell took the reins, the Florida State Seminoles football program has become synonymous with producing productive pass rushers from the transfer portal who have dominated the college football scene before earning first-round NFL Draft capital.
The 2024 season projects to be no different, with Marvin Jones Jr. set to make a name for himself this fall.
‘Very Talented’ Marvin Jones Jr. Set for Breakout Season Under Mike Norvell at Florida State
Jones arrives in Tallahassee after spending two seasons with the Georgia Bulldogs, where he garnered one start and one national championship ring. He’s a former five-star high school prospect who was highly recruited and landed in the SEC. Jones now finds himself preparing for the season opener as a Seminole, treading a transfer portal path made appealing by evidenced success.
Since head coach Norvell joined the program in 2020, picking up the fragile wreckage of a program tainted by the Willie Taggart experiment and with the glowing embers of the Jimbo Fisher era beginning to fade, two things have become a consistent theme: Winning, and plundering the portal to find pass rushers who can produce on the highest stage, to the highest level.
Jermaine Johnson II has already trodden the same path as Jones. He went from being a bit-part player for the Bulldogs to a national phenomenon at Florida State, with Norvell and his coaching staff extricating every ounce of his talent. His standout 2021 season, which featured 18 tackles for loss and 12 sacks, led to a 26th overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Jared Verse landed in Tallahassee in 2022 and immediately took the college football world by storm. During two years with Norvell and Florida State, he racked up 29.5 tackles for loss and 18 sacks, transforming himself from a productive FCS pass rusher to a world-beater on the FBS stage and an eventual first-round pick of the Los Angeles Rams.
Norvell has the blueprint for utilizing the transfer portal to find diamonds in the rough. Once they’re through the door of the Florida State facility, he has the tools for polishing them into the finished product. It’s a phenomenal formula that has transformed the Seminoles into a consistent winner and lucrative landing spot for pass rushers in the portal. Now, Jones is next.
“I’ve got high expectations for Marvin,” Norvell explained to Pro Football Network CEO Matthew Cannata following practice for the season-opener against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland.
“It won’t be his first college game he’s played, he’s got experience, but it will be his first time here for him to get a chance to play for this team. He was born rocking Garnet and Gold, and to see him back here is really special.”
Jones’ transfer to Florida State is a little more than a talented player landing at a program now famed for producing top-tier programs.
A Florida native who starred at American Heritage High School, this is a homecoming of sorts. More than that, he’s the son of FSU Athletics Hall of Famer Marvin Jones. When Norvell says he’s born to be a Seminole, it’s not hyperbole.
There’s no denying the talent, however, as Norvell explains.
“He’s at a very high level, he’s very talented. He just needs to go be Marvin Jones Jr., and if he’s that, I’ve every confidence in where he’ll go and what he can be.”
A 6’5″, 255-pound ball of high-octane energy with the explosiveness and twitch to get the job done down after down, Jones has every bit of the potential to walk the path carved out by players like Johnson and Verse under Norvell.
While being quick to praise his new pass rush weapon, the Florida State head coach also knows that he has a deeply talented cast of defensive line characters this season that can help the Seminoles continue their dominance in the ACC.
“Him, Pat [Patrick Payton], all these guys. We’ve got guys who’ve put a lot into their careers, and some guys are now in new roles; they’re in leadership opportunities.”
Jones himself recognizes that he’s just a part of a bigger picture when it comes to terrorizing opposition offenses this fall. Talking during spring practice, the new Florida State phenom was enthused about the possibilities for the Seminoles’ defensive front this fall.
“I think quarterbacks always have to worry about one of us on each side. You can’t double-team both of us, so I think if we keep working, we’ll raise hell for a lot of quarterbacks for sure.”
It’s easy to compare this crop of Florida State defensive standouts to those before them. It’s also easy to see how with his talent and the coaching staff led by Norvell, Jones can become the next first-round Seminoles pass rusher.
However, the head coach quickly points out that holding yourself to another standard isn’t necessarily the best way to maximize potential.
“They don’t need to be any of the past leaders. They don’t need to be any of the past players. I just want them to go be themselves. You work and prepare for an opportunity, and if they do that, I’m confident in who I coach, and I know what they’re capable of, so that’s all I ask of these guys is that.”
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Florida State opens the 2024 college football season in Dublin, Ireland, with an all-ACC clash against Georgia Tech. Jones may be about to announce himself not just on the national stage but on an international one.
It could be the start of another pass-rush portal success story for the Seminoles under head coach Norvell.
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