FSU’sMike Norvell doesn’t defend DJ Uiagalelei against criticism

Florida State head coach Mike Norvell spoke highly of super-senior transfer quarterback DJ Uiagalelei all offseason.

He had praised his experience and smooth pickup of the offense, and many took that as a sign that Florida State would once again be a College Football Playoff contender.

The bad, horrible, no good, awful news for FSU is that the Seminoles are 0-2 with losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College before Week 1 even officially wrapped up. It’s been a terrible start for FSU, and the critics are out.

Uiagalelei, who has been suboptimal in both losses, has been a prime candidate for those unhappy with the Seminoles. It was so much so, in fact, that fans at Doak Campbell Stadium were chanting for backup quarterback Brock Glenn during Monday’s loss.

After spending all summer praising Uiagalelei, Norvell didn’t do much to defend his quarterback in his postgame comments. Notably, he didn’t pull the veteran in favor of Glenn, a redshirt freshman, but he also just came out and said that criticism is part of the gig when you’re a big-time college football quarterback.

“That’s part of the game. At the end of the day, I mean, there’s — everybody’s gonna have an opinion on what it is. And obviously, you know, it’s playing quarterback, being the coach, being, you know, being a part of a great, great university, great program with high expectations, I mean, it’s our job to go and to play to a high level. And there’s times that you might hear things that you don’t want to hear,” Norvell said, according to On3’s Griffin McVeigh. “You might have to go through, you know, hard and challenging situations and those are all — it’s all part of it.”

Challenges are part of being a quarterback at a place like Florida State, but nobody could have predicted the challenges the Seminoles have faced through two games.

Losing to an up-and-coming Georgia Tech program is one thing, but then following that up with a 28-13 loss to Boston College at home? There’s something seriously wrong in Tallahassee, and it’s more than just the quarterback.

Case in point: The Seminoles were outrushed by Boston College, 263-21.

Still, along with Norvell, Uiagalelei is the face of this current Florida State iteration, and he’s not done anything to help the Seminoles pull out of this hole just yet.

He completed just 21 of 42 passes against Boston College for 272 yards, one touchdown and one interception.