Backup QBs enjoying competition, excited for Florida State spring showcase

Tate Rodemaker has been gone through so many spring practices with the Florida State football team, he’s starting to lose count.

“I think it’s [my] third spring, maybe four,” he said with a smile after practice Tuesday. “Three-and-a-half because of COVID.”

Indeed, Rodemaker was an early enrollee at Florida State in 2020 as part of Mike Norvell’s first recruiting class, but that spring was cut short after just a few days due to the pandemic. And that abbreviated preparation time was painfully obvious when Rodemaker was thrown into action early that fall.

He still didn’t have a full grasp of the Seminoles’ offense, and he lacked confidence as a quarterback just a few months removed from high school.

That probably feels like a lifetime ago for Rodemaker, who will be playing in his third spring game this Saturday afternoon at Doak Campbell Stadium. He said he is reminded of that fact every time he looks at current early enrollee Brock Glenn, who is asking a lot of the same questions and making a lot of the same mistakes he made four years ago.

“It’s unbelievable to me,” Rodemaker said. “It’s just a work in progress still. But I’ve come a long way.”

That’s a feeling with which fellow Florida State backup quarterback A.J. Duffy can relate.

Duffy, who was the highest-rated of the Seminoles’ quarterbacks when coming out of high school, is wrapping up his second spring this week. And like Rodemaker, the redshirt freshman said it’s difficult to describe how far he has come since he first started learning Norvell’s offense.

“Oh, it’s way different,” Duffy said of his second spring. “I feel like last year, I was struggling trying to learn everything I can. This year, it’s more calm. I kind of know what I’m doing, can make strides towards that next level and step for the offense.”

While there is no quarterback controversy at Florida State, where the Seminoles return one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in Jordan Travis, the team does enjoy a unique scenario with a proven starter and three capable backups.

In this age of the transfer portal, where college quarterbacks frequently jump into the portal as soon as they learn they won’t be starting, Florida State has three QBs battling to see who could be next in line when Travis departs.

And even though none of them has any outlandish idea of beating Travis out for the starting job this fall, they insist the competition behind him is real.

“The way we prepare, it’s like we all prepare like every snap, every throw is a game,” Duffy said. “So we’ve got to kind of be ready and try to stay ready.”

Rodemaker appears to be the clear-cut No. 2 so far, based on his performance in the spring and the fact that he has seen extensive playing time in games. The Valdosta, Ga., product’s most notable performance, of course, came last fall when he rallied Florida State to a win at Louisville after Travis was sidelined by an injury.

“That game, I got in a rhythm and showed what I can do,” Rodemaker said. “I feel like it gave me a little bit of confidence.”

And he believes he has continued to get better and more confident ever since.

Of all the quarterbacks on the roster, Rodemaker has the most prototypical NFL tools — he’s 6-foot-4 with a powerful arm. And now that he has a much deeper understanding of the offense, and a better feel for what Norvell is trying to accomplish with each play call, the offense moves smoother when he is behind center.

“Just knowing what to do every play,” Rodemaker said. “And having a plan.”

Duffy, a former four-star recruit from California, has impressed with his arm talent and athletic ability, but he admits he’s still working on improving his footwork and other fundamentals.

Glenn, meanwhile, has been one of Florida State’s most promising developments of the spring. The freshman from Memphis has adapted very quickly to the speed of the college game, and he clearly has benefited from being surrounded by three more experienced signal-callers.

“He lives like a room next to me,” Duffy said, explaining that the two get together all the time to talk football and discuss ways they can improve.

Like Rodemaker, Duffy can relate to some of the growing pains Glenn goes through in meetings and practices. Also like Rodemaker, those memories remind Duffy of his own development during the past 12 or 13 months.

This Saturday, all four quarterbacks will get the chance to show Florida State fans how much they have improved over time, and in this spring in particular.

For Duffy, who remembers sitting in the stands watching an FSU spring game as a recruit, it’s an opportunity he will cherish.

“It’s always been a cool atmosphere,” Duffy said. “It will be fun to go out and compete.”

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.

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