Florida State is off to a disastrous 1-3 start to the 2024 season and injuries continue to pile up as the year progresses. After losing running backs Roydell Williams and Jaylin Lucas and players questionable on the offensive line, the ‘Noles are now having to deal with an injury at the quarterback position, which is forcing younger players to step up.
Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei went down in last week’s loss against SMU and head coach Mike Norvell gave an update on the extent of his injury saying that he will miss this weekend’s matchup against Clemson.
He’s going to be out for this Saturday. We’ve still got some further testing to see what the longevity of that is going to be, but most likely it will be the next couple of weeks.”
The two players behind Uiagalelei are true freshman Luke Kromenhoek and redshirt freshman Brock Glenn. Glenn is the likely favorite to start this Saturday as he filled in at quarterback when Uiagalelei went down.
“I thought he made some good decisions I thought he made some things that we get go back and be able to correct on film. Same with Luke,” Norvell said of Glenn and Kromenhoek after Tuesday’s practice. “(It was the) first day of installation and things that we’re doing for for this week’s plan. I thought all and all it was a solid day.”
Glenn played in five games last season and started in Florida State’s 16-6 victory over Louisville in the 2023 ACC Championship Game. He also started in the ‘Noles’ 63-3* blowout loss to Georgia in the Orange Bowl and has 229 passing yards to two interceptions in the six games he’s played during his career. He will likely be thrust into the fire again against the Tigers. The ‘Noles will have to rally around Glenn this Saturday, and Norvell said that he has earned the respect of his teammates.
“His first start was a championship game; obviously, very difficult circumstances there, even in the bowl game, just for kind of where what that was. We’re probably playing one of the better teams in the country but he’s he’s built for it. I love his energy. His teammates respect that,” Norvell continued. “The work and just the investment he makes. He’s got a great balance to him. I see a lot of similar characteristics there in Luke as well… There’s no question that you know Brock has earned his respect in his time here in Tallahassee.”
Uiagalelei has thrown six interceptions on the year which have been costly for the Seminole offense which has consistently struggled in 2024. Norvell said that the growth of Glenn from game to game will be critical if they want to win against Clemson.
One of the things that I appreciated even in those two games is you saw a big step in the things that he was asked to do,” Norvel said of Glenn. “I saw a big step in improvement. Some mistakes he made in the first game he got corrected in the second game. Overall it’s going to be a huge factor in this game this week. We’ve got to we got to make sure we own the ball.”
The Seminoles and the Tigers are set to kick off Saturday, October 5 at 7:00 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.