After a tumultuous two seasons at quarterback, how should FSU approach 2026?

Last Friday, Florida State officially turned the page on the quarterback position.

Head coach Mike Norvell, after weeks of hinting the Seminoles were looking to bring back Tommy Castellanos if possible, confirmed the quarterback did not have his waiver for another season of eligibility granted. Though Castellanos will go through the appeals process, Norvell stated FSU will “move forward,” saying its “what we believe is the best for the competitive aspect of our quarterback position.”

While Castellanos’ return would have provided stability to the position, as the Seminoles appear to be starting their fourth different quarterback in their last four seasons, it is the right decision for Florida State to move on.

In a review of Castellanos’ season, he brought much-needed intangibles to a Florida State roster desperate to galvanize around someone and lacking in confidence. The Boston College transfer’s boisterous personality led the Seminoles to believe they could roll through Alabama — and they did. On the field, during select spurts of the season, Castellanos cashed the checks his mouth wrote, and he finished with an overall offensive grade of 87.1 this season, according to PFF, the highest mark of his college football career.

But, outside of those two categories, leadership and advanced metrics, the Castellanos experience did not produce the intended results. In his best season at Boston College, Castellanos completed 57.3% of his passes with 15 touchdowns. In his lone season at FSU, the quarterback completed 58.3% of his passes with 15 touchdowns. On the ground, Castellanos only averaged 4.1 yards per carry in 2025, compared to 5.2 yards per carry and finishing as a 1,000-yard rusher in 2023. He became a slightly improved passer from his time at Boston College, mainly because of Duce Robinson, but lacked the dynamic rushing ability that made him a coveted quarterback in the first place, because his slender frame broke down as the season went along. As a full-time starter at BC in 2023, the Eagles went 6-6, and this season, Florida State went 5-7. After four seasons of college football, Castellanos is who he is.

It is time for a change at the quarterback position.

The first decision Norvell needs to make at quarterback is not whether to promote someone in-house or go to the transfer portal, but who will be their position coach. Quarterbacks coach Tony Tokarz has been under fire after another season where the man under center either regressed or stagnated. In 2023, Tokarz’s first year as QB coach, Jordan Travis had the same completion percentage, threw for fewer yards per attempt and rushed for 2.7 yards per carry fewer than in 2022. In 2024, DJ Uiagalelei became a shell of his former self, and neither Brock Glenn nor Luke Kromenhoek was ready to play. His recruiting has also been hit-or-miss with decommitments in FSU’s last two classes (Trammel Jones Jr. and Brady Smigiel), a transfer in Luke Kromenhoek, a misfire on Brock Glenn and a question mark in Kevin Sperry.

Now, according to public records requests, Tokarz’s contract expires in February 2026. Norvell already got rid of one position coach with an expiring contract this offseason and unless the administration does not want to pay more money to a lame-duck coaching staff, there are not many signs pointing to why Tokarz should be retained. The Seminoles do not have a quarterback committed to their 2027 class nor a surefire starting quarterback on their roster — now, more than ever, Florida State can cut ties with minimal consequences and try and hire someone new as they attempt to throw a Hail Mary and save the administration in 2026.

After the position coach debate gets decided, the conversation shifts to who should be under center and lead Florida State. For this argument, it seems best to decide between Sperry and a transfer, as Glenn fell behind the 2025 signee very early on in the season and appears to have a limited future in Tallahassee.

Sperry became a desperation play for FSU’s 2025 recruiting class after Jones Jr. flipped to Florida in November of 2024, but it seemed to be a blessing in disguise for Florida State. During spring practice, players and coaches alike lauded Sperry, describing him as someone who does not play like a freshman and whose speed makes him a difference maker. Sperry played in garbage time against East Texas A&M and Kent State early on in the year before relieving Castellanos in the 4th quarter against Stanford and orchestrating a drive to put the Seminoles on the one-yard line as time expired. He perfectly fits the Malzahn offense as a dual-threat quarterback and someone who can withstand the physicality of a season, standing at 6-foot-1 and 208 pounds.

What appears to be likely, though, is that for the third straight year, Florida State will go back to the portal to find a quarterback. There are one-year success stories — take a look at what is going on at Indiana or even how Carson Beck became an impressive game manager for Miami — but as the Seminoles have seen first-hand, there are major risks.

While it’s hard to imagine the staff trusts a true sophomore with jobs on the line in 2026, it still feels shortsighted to once again rely on a transfer. Marketing the 2026 team around a quarterback who chose to be at Florida State out of high school and a plethora of players with family ties to the program will bring fans on board much quicker than another crop of transfers that rarely pans out.

Since Travis’ departure, the Seminoles have been lost at sea at the quarterback position. But as Florida State changes its financial approach in football, it should stop throwing good money after bad and see what it has in Sperry. If the decision blows up, all the coaches will be fired anyway, but if he works, he could be the reason they save their jobs.