Florida State wrapped its Jacksonville trip Friday, took Saturday off, and tonight goes back inside Doak Campbell Stadium for the second and final scrimmage of fall camp. Twenty days sit between this team and the Aug. 29 opener against New Mexico State. Mike Norvell will talk to reporters on a virtual call around 9:30 p.m. after it's over, and what he says tonight will tell us more about the actual depth chart than anything else that happens in the next two weeks.
The first scrimmage, back on Aug. 4, answered the biggest question. Ashton Daniels ran the offense with the kind of command Norvell has been waiting to see, and the head coach used the word "confidence" afterward, the warmest public praise he's given his quarterback since Daniels was named the starter coming out of spring. The starting job is settled. Tonight is about everything behind it, and that's where it gets interesting.
Start with the backup quarterback spot. Malachi Marshall didn't participate Tuesday because of an injury, and Norvell said at the time they were hopeful to get him back this week. This week is now down to tonight. If Marshall goes, he gets one live scrimmage to make his case against Kevin Sperry for the QB2 job before the staff starts scripting practice reps around a firm two-deep. If he doesn't go, Sperry probably backs into the job by default, and that matters for a program that has watched starters get banged up in September before.
The running back rotation has its own subplot. Tre Wisner came in from Texas as the lead back and nothing out of camp has changed that. The noise is behind him. Ousmane Kromah has drawn raves going back to the offseason program, and Samuel Singleton Jr. has too much experience to pencil in as an afterthought. Scrimmage reps tonight, the situational stuff like third downs and red zone work, will go a long way toward deciding who gets the second series on Aug. 29 and who gets mop-up duty. I'd still take Kromah for that role, but tonight is the last big piece of evidence before the staff decides for him.
Then there's Jasen Lopez. The freshman out of Chaminade-Madonna has been the buzz name of camp, and he's doing it in a receiver room that didn't obviously have space for him. Duce Robinson and Micahi Danzy are locked in at the top, Tae'Shaun Gelsey keeps stacking good days (he was one of the players made available to media in Jacksonville on Friday), and Jayvan Boggs is being managed back toward full participation with the staff saying he's on track for Week 0. Lopez playing well tonight doesn't move him past any of those guys. It does force a conversation about how many true freshmen dress on Saturdays, and coaches hate burning a year on a kid who's already ready to help.
Defensively, the evaluation is simpler. Tony White's second-year group has drawn steady praise all camp, and the transfer class keeps producing the headline moments, Chris Jones in particular. The Southern Miss linebacker got tagged as a "heat-seeking missile" by people around the program, and a live scrimmage is exactly where that kind of reputation either grows or dies. Mikai Gbayor, like Boggs, has been worked back carefully but is expected to be full go for the opener. What White wants tonight isn't highlight plays. It's clean substitutions, lined-up-right football, and fewer of the pre-snap busts that burned this defense a year ago.
One scheduling note worth circling before kickoff. Thursday's practice on Aug. 13 includes a brief media viewing window, one of only two all camp, so whatever two-deep comes out of tonight gets its first outside eyes in four days. Game week for New Mexico State starts Aug. 23. The auditions basically end tonight, and by the time the public sees this team again, the jobs will already be handed out.