‘A little salt to the wound’ … Louisiana native Keon Coleman (3 TDs) helps lead FSU past Tigers

ORLANDO — Kaylan Coleman insists his younger brother wasn’t too upset about not being recruited heavily by LSU coming out of high school.

Keon Coleman liked the idea of getting out of their home state of Louisiana anyway, Kaylan said. And he greatly enjoyed his first two years of college at Michigan State.

So the talented wide receiver didn’t necessarily hold a grudge against the Tigers when he decided to leave Michigan State earlier this year and enter the transfer portal.

He wasn’t bitter. It wasn’t personal. But he wasn’t particularly interested in what they had to offer.

Keon ended up signing with Florida State over Ole Miss and several other schools in May. He loved what he had seen of the Seminoles’ offense, and he was excited about the idea of catching passes from Jordan Travis.

For the home-state Tigers, it was merely bad luck that they happened to be the first opponent on the Seminoles’ 2023 schedule.

Really bad luck.

The 6-foot, 4-inch Coleman hauled in nine catches for 122 yards and three touchdowns Sunday night in helping lead No. 8 Florida State to a 45-24 upset victory against No. 5 LSU.

“It added a little salt to the wound,” Keon Coleman said of his performance against the Tigers. “That’s the home state. A lot of my family are fans of ’em. But I ain’t so much a fan of ’em. I’m a Seminole now.”

Coleman, who played football and basketball at Michigan State, showed off all of his many skills on Sunday night, while doing his damage early and often.

Midway through the first quarter, Coleman caught a pass over the middle, eluded two would-be tacklers and raced into the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown. Then just before halftime, he out-jumped LSU defensive back Major Burns for a 21-yard score.

Midway through the third quarter, Coleman hauled in a perfectly thrown 41-yard pass from Travis. Then early in the fourth, he caught a back-shoulder fade for his third touchdown of the night.

Because Coleman was playing in his first game for the Seminoles, LSU head coach Brian Kelly was asked if the Tigers were caught off-guard by how prominently he was featured in Florida State’s offense.

Kelly said they were not.

“We knew who he was, and we knew he was a very difficult matchup for us,” Kelly said. “Excellent ball skills. A matchup problem for us. And he presented that kind of problem tonight.”

While few could have expected Coleman to produce such a dominant performance in his first game as a Seminole, his older brother Kaylan was definitely not surprised. Even before Sunday’s game, Kaylan was telling anyone who would listen that Keon would score a couple of touchdowns and rack up 100 yards receiving against LSU.

“Because I know what type of player he is and what type of work he put in,” said the 26-year-old Kaylan, who attended Sunday’s game with several other family members.

While Keon has always been known as a hard worker, his brother said he seemed to take things to an even higher level this summer.

Ever since he committed to the Seminoles, the receiver has been all business.

“After the first few days [at Florida State], he called and said, ‘I’m done with Install 1 already,” Kaylan recalled late Sunday night. “I was like, ‘Already?!’ He said, ‘I’m locked in. I’m ready to go.’”

Then when Keon came back home for a few days later in the summer, he told his brother that he wasn’t merely learning the Florida State playbook for his specific position. He was determined to learn every receiver’s role on every play.

He also would go back on his own and watch full Florida State games from the 2022 season to look for nuances in the Seminoles’ offense.

“He was like, ‘I just want to know everything. I need to know it all,’” Kaylan said. “I was like, ‘There’s nothing wrong with that. Strive … strive to be great.’”

The younger Coleman appears to be on track to doing just that.

Last year at Michigan State, he caught 58 passes for 798 yards and seven touchdowns. After one game at Florida State, he is well on his way to shattering each of those marks.

“He’s a really special player and a special teammate,” Travis said of Coleman. “I always talk about the person before the player — he’s a great teammate to have in the locker room. It’s always good vibes with him. He puts a smile on your face every single day when you walk in there. He always has that energy.

“And you love playing with guys like that. And playing for guys like that. Because he’s a great person. He’s a great athlete, a great player … he works so hard.”

When asked Sunday to reflect on his decision to transfer to Florida State this offseason, Coleman started out by saying he just was grateful that Seminoles head coach Mike Norvell was interested and wanted him to be part of this team. He added that he was grateful to his teammates for making him feel at home and for putting in so much time and effort into their summer workouts and preseason practices.

“Getting to show them that the hard work we’ve been putting in this whole summer is paying off,” Coleman said. “And getting to show a glimpse of what I can do. And not only me, what our whole receiver room and the rest of the team can do.”

As soon as Coleman wrapped up his comment, Norvell made it clear that the Seminoles are just as happy to have him on board.

“I’m grateful for you saying yes too,” Norvell said with a smile.

The receiver nodded and shook his head coach’s hand.

As if to say this was only the beginning.

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

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