The 2019 Florida State Seminoles football team represented Florida State University during the

2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2019. The regular season began on August 24, 2019, and end ...

. The Seminoles played their home games at

Doak Campbell Stadium Doak S. Campbell Stadium (in full Bobby Bowden Field at Doak S. Campbell Stadium), popularly known as "Doak", is a football stadium on the campus of Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. It is the home field of the Florida State Semi ...

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

, and competed as members of the Atlantic Division in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Florida State was initially led by second-year head coach Willie Taggart. On November 3, 2019, Taggart was fired after losing to Miami (FL) and falling to 4–5 on the season and 9–12 overall. Defensive line coach

Odell Haggins Odell Haggins Jr. (born February 27, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He is the associate head football coach and defensive tackles coach at Florida State University. Haggins has coached at Florida State since 1994 and has s ...

was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season, for the second time during his tenure with the program. The Seminoles ultimately finished the season with a 6–7 record, completing consecutive losing seasons for the first time since the

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phil ...

seasons. This was the first season since 1976 that Florida State was not ranked in either of the major polls. Running back Cam Akers went on to be selected in the second round of the

NFL Draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

Previous season

Florida State finished the 2018 season 5–7, 3–5 in ACC play, to finish in fifth place in the Atlantic Division. The Seminoles had a losing record for the first time since

and missed a bowl game for the first time since

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major off ...

Preseason

Coaching changes

In December 2018, the school hired Kendal Briles to be the new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, replacing

Walt Bell Walter A. Bell IV (born June 7, 1984) is an American football coach and former wide receiver. He is the offensive coordinator of the Indiana Hoosiers football team. He played college football at Middle Tennessee for coach Andy McCollum from 20 ...

, who left to take the head coaching job at UMass. Briles spent the 2018 season as offensive coordinator at

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

. In January 2019, the school hired alum Ron Dugans to coach wide receivers. In February 2019, the school fired offensive line coach Greg Frey and hired Randy Clements to the same position; Briles and Clements previously worked together on the Houston staff.

Player news

Quarterback

Deondre Francois Deondre Francois (born February 12, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Orlando Guardians of the XFL. He played college football for Hampton University and Florida State University. Early life and background When Francois was ...

was dismissed from the team in February 2019 after Francois' girlfriend posted a video to Instagram which alleged domestic abuse. Francois had been the starting quarterback for the Seminoles during the 2016 and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

seasons (an injury sustained in the first game of

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

sidelined him for most of that season), and was set to be the starter again as a senior. In March 2019, former

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

quarterback

Alex Hornibrook Alex Hornibrook is a former American football quarterback. The West Chester, Pennsylvania, native attended Malvern Preparatory School and originally committed to the University of Pittsburgh before attending Wisconsin. On March 10, 2019, Hornibro ...

announced that he was transferring to Florida State for his final season of eligibility as an NCAA graduate transfer. In August 2019, Jordan Travis, a transfer quarterback from

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, was granted a waiver by the NCAA to be immediately eligible to play.

Recruiting

Florida State's 2019 recruiting class consisted of 21 recruits. The class was ranked 21st in the nation and second in the ACC according to the 247Sports.com Composite. This represented the lowest-ranked class for the school since 2007.

Spring game

The 'Garnet and Gold Game' was held on April 6 with the Gold team, led by

James Blackman James Blackman (born November 14, 1998) is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football at Florida State and Arkansas State. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent following the 2023 NF ...

, victorious over the Garnet team by a score of 27–21.

Preseason media poll

In the preseason ACC media poll, Florida State was selected to finish third in the Atlantic Division. Wide receiver Tamorrion Terry and defensive tackle Marvin Wilson were named to the preseason All-ACC team.

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Schedule

Florida State's 2019 season was set to begin with a non-conference neutral site game at

TIAA Bank Field TIAA Bank Field is an American football stadium located in Jacksonville, Florida, that primarily serves as the home facility of the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL) and the headquarters of the professional wrestling prom ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, against Boise State of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

, though the game was relocated to Tallahassee due to

Hurricane Dorian Hurricane Dorian was an extremely powerful and catastrophic Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, which became the most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas, and tied for strongest landfall in the Atlantic basin. It is also rega ...

. In ACC play, the Seminoles played the other members of the Atlantic Division as well as

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

from the Coastal Division. To end the year, Florida State played on the road against rival

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC).

Game summaries

vs. Boise State

Louisiana–Monroe

at Virginia

Louisville

NC State

at Clemson

at Wake Forest

Syracuse

Miami (FL)

at Boston College

Alabama State

at Florida

vs. Arizona State (Sun Bowl)

Honors

All-ACC

The Seminoles had six players selected to the All-ACC team, with four defensive selections and two offensive selections. * Marvin Wilson (First Team) * Cam Akers (Second Team) * Tamorrion Terry (Second Team) *

Hamsah Nasirildeen Hamsah Nasirildeen (born January 17, 1999) is an American football linebacker who is a free agent. He played college football at Florida State. Early life and high school Nasirildeen grew up in Concord, North Carolina and attended Concord High ...

(Second Team) *Asante Samuel, Jr. (Third Team) * Stanford Samuels III (Honorable Mention)

Personnel

Roster

Coaching staff

Players drafted into the NFL

References

{{Florida State Seminoles football navbox

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...

Florida State Seminoles football seasons

Florida State Seminoles football The Florida State Seminoles football team represents Florida State University (variously Florida State or FSU) in the sport of American football. The Seminoles compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Col ...