Mike Norvell explains why he replaced DJ Uiagalelei during FSU’s loss

Florida State scored fewer than 20 points for the fourth straight game in Saturday night’s loss to SMU as its offensive struggles continued. The Seminoles looked like they were figuring things out early after scoring on their first possession. However, the unit only reached the end zone once in its last twelve trips, with plenty of frustration in between.

Starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei completed five of his first six passes for 96 yards and a touchdown. After an interception in the second quarter, he began to falter and entered a stretch where he completed just seven of his next 24 passes for 126 yards and three picks.

READ MORE: Florida State’s offensive struggles worsened in 42-16 loss to SMU Mustangs

After a pick-six in the fourth quarter, Uiagalelei was replaced by redshirt freshman Brock Glenn. On the television broadcast, FSU coaches were seen examining Uiagalelei’s throwing hand after he previously injured a finger on his other hand.

Glenn led two scoreless periods, missing all four shots and getting a few big hits along the way. His first action of the season didn’t do much to fuel the notion that a quarterback change would fix Florida State’s offense.

After the game, head coach Mike Norvell went into detail about his decision to send Glenn on the bench.

“I mean, in reality, DJ obviously did something with his hand on the last shot. His hand got hit in the pass, we’ll see where that is, but the reality is I wanted to make a change anyway to give Brock a chance,” Norvell said after the game. “It’s really easy to make a point” to the quarterback and yes, we all need to get better, but there are a lot of things that DJ has done. I have guys under control in challenging situations. There have been times when there have been deficiencies in our protection, so he thinks he’s protected and we overlook that, and then you get someone who gives you free rein. There were some mistakes from people like, “They’re not doing that, they haven’t done that at the moment.”

“There’s no such thing as, ‘Oh, this is unexpected, we weren’t planning on seeing this tonight,’ so I’d like to say they came up with something really good, but they executed it better than we did.” They did a better job.” “We’re better than we were tonight,” Norvell continued. “This is disappointing and frustrating for me and all of us. Considering we played offensively in the first five weeks, nobody is doing a good job. Whatever that takes, we have to look forward to do our best. What we are and what we can be remains to be seen. I’m doing everything I can and I’ve been doing that all season, but obviously you see who you are, not where we are. That’s where we want to be, so we have to get better.”

Norvell left the door open when asked later in the press conference if he was considering a quarterback change to focus on the future of the position. He also made it clear that he does not believe the current lack of success is solely due to Uiagalelei.

“I’m thinking about everything today and if any of these young guys show that this is going to be the best option and opportunity for this offense…Right now it’s about all the guys and what we do to compete. “We will Be the best we can be,” Norvell said. “I’m at practice every day, I promise you these players and coaches are making every effort to go out and do our best. It doesn’t show, so you have to evaluate it.”

“I don’t care who plays quarterback. Some of the things that came up tonight. As a quarterback, you can have a freshman, you can have any talent in the world, we have to help the quarterback too,” Norvell continued. “Obviously the quarterbacks have to play at a high level and be able to make plays to get the offense going and do some of those things. So, yes, we will continue to pressure and evaluate, but I won’t.” Sit here, I know it’s easy for everyone to point to this one person and that’s part of the position. DJ knows it’s part of the job to be the head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator and we all have to get better because it’s absolutely not good enough.”

It will be interesting to see if any changes are made when Florida State’s next depth chart is released on Sunday.

The Seminoles return to action against Clemson on Saturday, October 5th.

READ MORE: FSU star safety reportedly missed Memphis loss due to July DUI arrest

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