Noles News: Isa Torres named finalist for USA Softball National Player of the Year award

Softball

Florida State softball shortstop Isa Torres was named a top 10 finalist for the USA Softball National Player of the Year award for the second consecutive season:

The top three finalists will be announced on May 18 with the winner being announced on May 26 in Oklahoma City. Torres is looking to become FSU’s third National Player of the Year as she would join Lacey Waldrop (2014), Jessica van der Linden (2004) and Darby Cottle (1982).

Torres has put together a season like no other in all aspects of the game. Torres ranks third in the country in batting average (.542), fourth in the country in hits (90), fourth in the country in on-base percentage (.605), sixth in the country in total bases (168), eighth in the country in slugging percentage (1.012) and eighth in the country in total runs (74). Torres also ranks in the top 25 in the country in doubles (18) and triples (6).

Torres set the NCAA record with 16-consecutive hits from March 8-20 and also reached in 23 consecutive plate appearances which was the third-longest streak in NCAA history. Torres is on her way to breaking a plethora of school records as well this season. Torres has already broken the school record for total runs with 74. Torres is also on pace to break the school records for batting average, hits, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.

Torres has also been just as good in the field this year as the junior has just one error in 164 chances this season. Torres’ one error came just last week in the ACC Championship game and had a perfect fielding percentage through 160 chances.

Torres and the Seminoles will be back in action on Friday for the first game of the Tallahassee Regional. The Noles will take on Stetson at noon on ESPNU.

Football

Florida State head coach Mike Norvell and athletic director Michael Alford have added their names to those advocating for a 24-team playoff.

From Noles247:

“Talked a lot about it and we looked at all the different options. There’s pros and cons to every single one you pick,” FSU VP and AD Michael Alford said on Tuesday at ACC Spring Meetings. “But really looking at the data, the analytics behind it, of what gets the most teams the possibility to be in the playoffs. So we looked at the 12 and the 16 and the 24. A lot of people had a lot of different feedback, a lot of different opinions on each one. Gave the commissioner a choice of where we think we should go for him to take back to the other commissioners.”

“The 24-team [playoff] was definitely discussed. I think when you look at the College Football Playoff, the different options, different conversations that are going on, for me — and I think for a vast majority of coaches, I think unanimous in the ACC — it’s about looking at the overall season calendar,” FSU head coach Mike Norvell added at ACC Spring Meetings. “Right now, the length of the season is extreme, and trying to find an opportunity to kind of get our grasp back on the playing season while still being able to provide great opportunity for teams to compete for a national championship, looking at trying to find that ideal number.”

“I personally think 24 is a good number,” he added. “I believe that if you can surround the playing season with the beginning and the end date, I do think that would be a very competitive field. I also think being able to have opportunities, especially for the four power conferences, to have some automatic qualifiers makes sense. Whether it’s half of them, each getting three, and then you still have some at-large spots and the Group of Five option for a team. There are a lot of different discussions going on, but I do think that’s something everybody in college football is discussing, and I think there’s some merit to it.”

“The more the merrier,” Alford shared on where he stands on the concept of playoff expansion. “The more opportunities to get teams in, give them opportunity, student-athletes, you know I’m a traditionalist, I love the bowl games, a little concerned on the expansion of what it does to bowl games, but also understand the future of where we are going with the playoff system and college football.”

The stance is the conference company line, which became apparent at ACC Spring Meetings — from ESPN:

“When you’re leaving national-championship-contending teams out of the playoff, you don’t have the right number,” commissioner Jim Phillips said. “We suffered through it with Florida State when the field was four, and I know other schools have suffered for it, and I’ve said this very directly. Notre Dame was a CFP-worthy team this year.

“If you’re going to ask presidents and chancellors and boards to continue to invest in their football programs, it’s really important that they have hope, that they have an opportunity at the beginning of the season to get into the playoff.”

“Our current playoff is perfect for the mid-’90s, when we had small conferences,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said. “Look at what we’ve done now. We have huge conferences, where everybody can’t play everybody within a conference. We’re going to nine conference games, which means that there’s less interconference action, so you can’t tell is the third team in this league better than the fifth team in that league.

“So, what you have to do is play it out in a playoff. Is it what we all grew up with? No. But it’s a response to the changes that have happened across the national landscape. With the portal and NIL, it’s brought more parity. There are more teams that can win now and compete for a championship now than there have been before. The response to that is a bigger playoff.”

Norvell also touched on his return to playcalling:

When asked about the idea of controlling his own fate as a play caller, Norvell dismissed that narrative.

“I’ve been really good at calling plays throughout my coaching career. I don’t say that in any way other than it’s just true,” Norvell said. “I feel very confident in our ability and who we get to coach.”

Ultimately, Norvell is confident in his ability to get the offense back on track in 2026.

“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t,” Norvell said. “That’s, and you look,  I expect this year to be the best year of my life. You learn lessons. There are times you get knocked down — I’ve been there. Then you get back up and get better through it.”

Recruiting

With official visits approaching and questions about whether Mike Norvell can land key targets this summer, NoleThruandThru broke down the mid-May landscape for the Seminoles:

All Sports

Curt Weiler profiled new FSU basketball signee Kameron Taylor, a UNC Asheville transfer whom head coach Luke Loucks believes could be the most athletic player in program history:

“Talking to (a UNC Asheville assistant coach), it confirmed what we saw on film, just his explosiveness. Kam might measure out as the most athletic guy that we’ve ever had in Florida State history,” Loucks said last month when discussing his transfer class. “He has an almost 46-inch vertical. But what we really liked is his ability to use his athleticism. He can get in the paint, he has great balance, he can finish through contact.

“We think he’s a better shooter than his numbers indicate, similar to Rob McCray at Jacksonville, his efficiency was a little down because of what he was asked to do. We feel like in our system, similar to Rob, his efficiency is going to get better. We’re really excited about Kam’s potential.”

Front Office Sports took a look at how Florida State is generating new revenue through its partnership with Nocap Sports and creation of the Seminole Business Network:

Under the Nocap model, businesses located anywhere in the U.S. that are owned by FSU boosters or alumni switch to a network of companies in areas like payments, insurance, energy, car rental, software, and aviation. Those providers are willing to offer preferred pricing or discounts because they are promised access to the pipeline of new customers.

When one of those businesses uses a Nocap partner, a portion of the money changing hands in the transaction is shared back with the athletic department.

The first agreement under the Seminole Booster Network was with a donor who owns car dealerships who changed to a Nocap-affiliated payments processing provider. Now, anytime a customer swipes a credit or debit card at any of those dealerships, FSU makes money. In just one year, that deal generated about $125,000 for FSU, which Lord says will be recurring revenue the school can count on. The dealership, meanwhile, is saving roughly $700,000 annually because of lower credit card processing fees, according to Lord.

FSU has long relied heavily on donor and booster contributions to fund athletic operations. Roughly a quarter of its $212 million in fiscal 2025 athletics revenue came from donor contributions, but the total $55.6 million in contributions was lower than the previous year’s  $62.3 million, according to the Tallahassee Democrat*.*High-profile donations, such as those from Mark Cuban to Indiana University or Mike Repole with St. John’s can be program-changing, but there’s no guarantee those contributions will continue year after year as athletic departments face rising costs.

At FSU, any money the program generates is treated as “unrestricted revenue,” not NIL, Seminole Boosters executive VP of development Chris Wilson tells FOS. “It can always go to the greatest need, and the athletic director is always going to decide where the greatest need is.”

Florida State women’s golf punched its ticket to a 10th-consecutive NCAA championship after completing play at the Tallahassee Regional at Seminole Legacy Golf Club:

Florida State track and field opens the postseason at the ACC Championships, scheduled for May 14-16 in Louisville, Kentucky, with standouts including Shenese Walker, Andre Korbmacher and Shamar Reid among the Seminoles’ top contenders:

In his second year at the helm, Matt Kane is looking to build on the success of the indoor season coming off his first ACC title as head coach and the men’s team 15th trophy in program history. The women finished fourth, while the men placed fifth at the 2025 ACC Outdoor Championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

The three-day meet will begin on Thursday at noon with the women’s javelin throw that will feature Alexa Schwartz. The running events will start at 5:35 p.m. with the men’s 200-meters.

Florida State has won a combined 21 ACC Championships, the second most of any ACC team. FSU’s most recent titles came during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

The women’s team holds six times and marks that are seeded within the top eight, including 11 all-time performances this season, while the men enter the meet with 10 top-eight times and marks.

Florida State has won six titles in the 110-meter hurdles, led by Trey Cunningham who won the Bowerman Award in 2022. Andre Korbmacher will look to repeat as the ACC Champion in the event after claiming his first outdoor individual title last year with a time of 13.47. Korbmacher recently set a new personal-best of 13.35 at the LSU Invite to close out the regular season.

Shamar Reid will look to be crowned FSU’s first discus throw champion since 2023 after being projected to finish first in the ACC since the outdoor season began at the Terry Long FSU Relays. Reid recently tossed a personal best and remained second all-time in the event after throwing a mark of 63.10 meters at the Tom Jones Memorial Invite.

Shenese Walker is the favorite to defend her titles in the 4×100, 100 and 200 after accumulating 30 points at last year’s ACC Outdoor Conference Championship. Walker has made noise in her final collegiate season after being crowned the indoor 60 and 200 ACC champion before winning her first NCAA indoor national title in the 60. The Jamaican native competed at the Tom Jones Invitational, placing second behind a massive personal best at 10.80 which stands as the second-fastest time in the world and NCAA this season.

True freshman Schwartz is set to compete in her first postseason championship in the women’s javelin throw, currently standing first in the conference. Schwartz opened her season at the Terry Long FSU Relays on March 26, placing first overall with the third-furthest throw in program history at 55.17 meters.

Nafy Thiam launched a new school record in the women’s shot put at the Tom Jones Memorial Invite on April 17 with a new personal best of 17.30 meters, breaking the eight-year-old mark set by Gleneve Grange in 2017.

Rylee Blade became the second freshman this season to set a new school record, after claiming the top spot in Florida State’s history book in the women’s 5,000 with a personal best time of 15:29.45. Blade erased the time that was set by Lauren Ryan in 2022 at 15:30.00. She now leads the ACC and ranks 15th in the NCAA.