Seminoles key player Agree Terms To Depart….

Former Florida State football offensive tackle Jazston Turentine has signed with the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) Montreal Alouettes.

The Alouettes wil look to repeat as the CFL’s champion with Turentine possibly making an impact in the trenches. The Alouettes last won the Grey Cup in 2010 and 2009.

Late in the transfer portal process in June of 2022, the Ellenwood, Georgia native made the switch to FSU from South Carolina with one year of eligibility remaining. He played in all 13 games during the Seminoles’ 2022 season while starting in eight of them. The Seminoles went 10-3.

According to 247Sports, Turentine was a three-star recruit coming out of high school as well as a three-star recruit during his time in the transfer portal.

In a tragic but inspiring moment, Turentine was carted off the field after suffering a lower-body injury during the final offensive drive of the 2022 season.

The Florida State squad in its entirety went over to the cart to support him after he played his last collegiate snap in the Cheez-It Bowl. The ’Noles emerged victorious, 35-32 over the Oklahoma Sooners.

Earlier this year, Turentine was selected by the St. Louis Battlehawks during phase 1 of the Dispersal Draft in the United Football League (UFL – XFL and USFL merger).

He was originally selected by the Seattle Sea Dragons in the XFL Draft before the merger.

Turentine and his new team in the Alouettes will open their season against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in June.

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Florida State’s NFL Draft hopefuls are back in Tallahassee this week in anticipation of Pro Day on Friday — the first group of players spoke with the media today, touching on their combine experiences, takeaways from 2023, impressions of next year’s FSU team and more:

Jared Verse on the Orange Bowl, “My reason for opting out was it did not feel right…it felt like the smart idea to opt-out…do I wish I played in it, yes…at the end of the day, it is a decision I made and a decision I stand by.”

Jared Verse, on his emotions at the combine, said, “It is the same kind of mindset going into games. I do not get nervous before games or before meetings. What’s the point of being nervous? You are just going to psyche yourself out.”

TALLAHASSEE — When the mighty SEC came calling for a Florida State football coach, Jimbo Fisher said yes. Mike Norvell said no. You can see a major reason behind their answers through the colors in and around Doak Campbell Stadium.

A red crane. Green cherry picker. Yellow bulldozer. White hard hats. Brown dirt — lots and lots of brown dirt.

“Those are big steps,” Norvell said this week as the Seminoles started spring practice. “They’re necessary steps.”

They’re necessary steps for FSU to continue its climb toward the top of college football, yes. But it’s also not hard to view them as necessary steps to keeping Norvell.

Fisher’s prolonged, awkward move from FSU to Texas A&M in 2017 came down to a lack of alignment between him and the program’s powerbrokers. Their priorities didn’t always mesh, especially when it came to the facilities arms race. Fisher wanted a standalone football complex immediately. FSU wasn’t ready yet.

“You can have the greatest coaches in the world, but if your administration doesn’t see things in the way you see things, and allow you to do things that way, nothing can be achieved,” Fisher said during his introductory news conference with the Aggies. “There’s a oneness to everything you to do be successful.”

Oneness doesn’t guarantee success, as Fisher’s unsuccessful 45-25 tenure showed. But his point was clear: FSU lacked that all-in togetherness.

Not anymore.

A statue of the late Bobby Bowden looks out on a pair of portable trailers and an active construction site. The standalone facility Fisher coveted — the Dunlap Football Center — is on its way. Granted, it took longer than expected; the Seminoles announced their plans to build it on the eve of Willie Taggart’s first game in 2018. But the progress is visible behind the temporary chain-link fence.

And that nine-figure project isn’t even the biggest under way.

Doak looks oddly exposed as it undergoes a renovation that will cost more than $250 million. FSU will shrink its capacity by about 9,000 in favor of roomier, more expensive seats that will boost revenue — a necessary step, especially if the Seminoles can’t immediately leave the ACC.

“It shows investment …” defensive coordinator Adam Fuller said. “You never want the players to feel comfortable with where they’re at. You always want to push them to be better. Well, we as coaches need to do that. We need to do it with our infrastructure. We need to do it with facilities. We need to do it with player development within all things. It falls along the lines of always trying to improve.”

The fact that Fuller is around to witness the investment is another sign of it. FSU is one of only a handful of schools in the nation that returns its entire coaching staff. That, Norvell said, was in part because of his administration’s proactive moves to retain as many of coaches as possible.

The Seminoles made Fuller one of the highest-paid assistants in the country with a raise to $2 million this offseason. All 10 assistants received a $15,000 signing bonus in December. Their collective raises topped $1 million.

New buildings and bigger contracts are the obvious signs of commitment, but there are other, equally important ones that happen behind closed doors. Norvell raved about the technological advancements at his staff’s disposal. For quarterbacks coach Tony Tokarz, that means expanding his position group’s regular use of virtual reality with an upgraded room coming with the new facility.

“You can provide game-like reps without having to put that toll on their bodies,” Tokarz said.

And then there’s Norvell.

Alabama was interested in hiring him after Nick Saban’s retirement. The Crimson Tide could have given Norvell everything he wanted — both personally and for the program. It’s a move Fisher probably would have made.

Norvell didn’t. When he announced he was staying, he thanked the administration’s “amazing commitment into our student-athletes and staff,” from school president Richard McCullough and the board of trustees down.

“We’re all pushing in that same direction together,” Norvell said. “That wouldn’t happen without the administrative support and belief in where we’re going.”