Here we are again. Another year in the books, another year where none of my teams could advance beyond round 1 of the playoffs (despite Orlando holding a 3-1 lead over Detroit and the Lightning also being a Game 7 win away).
When the 2025-26 seasons began for each of these teams, expectations were different. Florida State expected to have a big bounce-back season after its worst season in 50 years, the Buccaneers expected to win the division and return to the playoffs for a 6th straight season, the Magic expected to be one of the top team's in the East after making a splash trade for Desmond Bane and the continued growth and development of their young stars, and the Lightning expected to continue to be a perennial contender primed to get past the first round for the first time since 2022. But as we know now, none of that really panned out...
FSU opened the year with a true stunner defeating perennial powerhouse Alabama by two touchdowns. They would start the season 3-0 and even spent time ranked inside the top 10. But then the drop off ensued, as FSU would lose 7 of its final 9 to finish with a record of 5-7, missing a bowl game yet again.
Similarly, the Buccaneers got off to a hot start, winning 6 of their first 8 and at one point being 1st in the NFC. But then equally similarly, Tampa would collapse in the second half of the season, going 2-7 the rest of the way, including a long string of losses to some pretty bad teams. The Bucs would finish 8-9 and ultimately lose the NFC South division crown to the Carolina Panthers, ending the playoff streak as well.
The Magic entered 2025-26 with the mindset that the rebuild was complete and it was time for them to be a true contender in the East. Things like a 50 win season, a top 4 seed in the East, and ending the 16 year playoff series win drought all seemed possible. But once again injuries played a factor, with Franz Wagner playing less than half the games and Jalen Suggs missing close to a third of the season as well. It was a roller coaster from start to finish, with highs like making the final 4 of the NBA Cup and taking 3 of the first 4 games against #1 seeded Detroit, but there were also some pretty low lows, none lower than choking away a Game 6 that will haunt them all summer. Ultimately, Jamahl Mosely was relieved of his duties and the Magic are currently searching for the franchise's next head coach.
Lastly, the Lightning will spend the offseason wondering WTF happened after the Olympics. Entering the break, the Bolts were the hottest team in hockey and had the best record in the East and second best record in the entire NHL, and seemed primed to make another deep run and compete for a Stanley Cup. But for whatever reason, the team was never the same after the Olympic break, and played like more of an average/middle of the pack club. Still, at the start of the playoffs, it seemed like the stars were aligning for Tampa to make a run. Florida and Toronto were not in the way this time, and the only other real experienced Eastern conference threat was Carolina. Tampa drew Montreal in round 1, and the two teams played an uber competitive series where 4 of the first 6 games went to OT. But the Canadiens would ultimately win a decisive Game 7, a game Tampa probably feels it should have had given it was at home and they outshot Montreal 29-9.
So that brings us to today. In regards to football, my plan is to do things a little differently this year. Since the transfer portal/free agency/the draft are all complete, my idea was just to take a small position-by-position pulse check on both FSU and the Bucs. This will also dive into things like the schedules, the perceived landscape of the ACC/NFC South, and the coaching staffs. For basketball and hockey, this will serve as more of an offseason preview. We'll talk a little bit about Orlando's coaching search, as well as things like roster decisions & possible moves. Lastly, at the very end, there will be some bonus content about some of our secondary teams as well as some things to watch between now and Labor Day. Let's get started.
But First...
Before we get into the position-by-position break down for both football teams, let's do a super quick rundown of what each position does.
Offense
QB - Quarterback. Leader of the offense and often the whole team. Takes the snap from the center on each play and either hands off to the running back or throws the ball to a wide receiver or tight end. Examples: Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, Cam Ward
RB - Running back. Normally lines up behind or next to the quarterback. Receives handoffs from the quarterback and tries to gain yardage by running upfield while carrying the ball. May also catch passes out of the backfield. Examples: Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry.
WR - Wide Receiver. Lines up on the outside. Runs routes and catches the passes thrown from the QB. Examples: Justin Jefferson, Mike Evans, Ja'Marr Chase.
TE - Tight End. Sort of a hybrid between a wide receiver and an offensive lineman. sometimes they block/protect, other times they run routes and catch passes. Examples: Travis Kelce, George Kittle
OL - Offensive line. Consists of 5 positions. From left to right: Left tackle, left guard, center, right guard, right tackle. Left tackle tends to be most important as they protect the QB's blindside. Center snaps the ball to the QB on each play. As a unit, their job is to protect the QB on passing plays and create holes for the RB on running plays.
Defense
DL - Defensive line. First level of the defense. Consists of 2 positions, edge rushers and defensive tackles. Edge rushers play on the edge (as the name indicates) and attempt to sack the quarterback, they tend to be large athletic players with a rare combination of size, strength, and speed. Defensive tackles are larger wider players whose job is to clog the middle, stuff the run, and attract double teams to free up the edge rushers.
LB - Linebackers. Middle level of the defense. Consists of middle linebackers (who play in the middle of the field) and outside linebackers (who play on one side or other of the middle linebackers). Their roles involve a little bit of everything, they stop the run, they blitz, they drop into coverage and defend tight ends.
DB - Defensive backs. Last level of defense. Consists of 2 positions: Cornerbacks (CBs) and Safeties (S). Cornerbacks are matched up 1 on 1 against wide receivers and are responsible for guarding them and trying to prevent them from catching the ball. If the coverage is good enough, the ball may not even be thrown in their direction. Safeties are more of wild cards that can line up anywhere on the field and do a variety of things. They can play in the very back and try to ensure no wide receivers get behind the defense, they can also be moved up towards the line of scrimmage to blitz and/or stop the run, they can also cover wide receivers and tight ends. For both of these positions, they can play man to man (guard a specific person) or zone (guard an area of the field).
Special teams
K - kicker. primary responsibility is to make field goals and extra points. they also typically handle kick off duties.
P - punter. called upon on 4th downs to "punt" the ball to the other team when the offense is too far away to attempt a field goal and too many yards away to consider going for the first down. they want to pin the other team as close as possible to their own end zone, so as to keep them as far as possible from the other end zone.
Ok so now that that's covered, let's break this down more specifically for the Seminoles and Buccaneers, starting with FSU.
Florida State Seminoles
QB - For the third straight season, FSU went to the portal to bring in an experienced QB looking for a new home. Hopefully third time is the charm for this strategy after a swing and a miss on DJU in '24 and a mixed bag at best with Castellanos in '25. This time, they went with Ashton Daniels from Auburn. Similar to Castellanos, Daniels is an athletic QB with great speed and acceleration, but taller and bigger-framed, but could use some polishing as a thrower. It seems like FSU's goal here was to find someone who could essentially be knock-off-brand Jordan Travis, an uber athletic type where FSU can utilize their abilities with their legs to open up things for their arm.
Redshirt freshman Kevin Sperry will serve as the back up QB to begin the season, after showing some flashes of potential in a few moments of action last year. Junior college (JUCO) transfer Malachi Marshall may also be able to compete with Sperry for the back up role. Marshall was the JUCO National Player of the year last season and led Iowa Western to a JUCO National Championship, but remains to be seen if he can make the transition from JUCO to high-level D1 football. FSU also added another small school transfer, Dean DeNobile, for depth purposes to serve as QB4. Incoming freshman Jaden O'Neal will sit out his first season while recovering from a knee surgery.
RB - My expectation is that Texas transfer Tre Wisner and rising sophomore Ousmane Kromah will split the bulk of the carries and form a true 1A/1B punch, with Sam Singleton serving as the RB3 and getting a handful of touches each game as well. Redshirt freshman Zay Parks and incoming freshman Amari Thomas will serve as the depth pieces/next men up.
Wisner led Texas in rushing yards last season, which speaks volumes about his potential considering Texas is a top 5 program in college football these days. Kromah was a top 5 running back recruit in the country in the class of 2024, and thus a player who offers a tremendous amount of upside. As a freshman, Kromah was entrusted with occasional carries and saw an uptick in his usage as the season progresses, but FSU intends to give him a bigger share this season and hopes he takes a big step forward in year 2.
Norvell has historically used a plethora of running backs in his rotations, but this is a season where he should ride his two main horses, especially if they are as good as advertised and stay healthy.
WR - FSU was able to retain star wide receiver Duce Robinson, which may have been the biggest win of the offseason. Duce could have been an NFL draft pick, or transferred to a different program, but FSU invested heavily into bringing him back. This gives FSU a true alpha wide receiver, something it hasn't had since Keon Coleman in '23. There's a lot to love about Robinson's game, big physical receiver with a wide catch radius and strong hands who wins lots of 50/50 balls but also offers perfectly fine speed and route running. Needless to say, FSU will make it a priority to try to force feed Robinson the ball.
On the opposite side, we know WR2 will be Micahi Danzy. Danzy is a true speed demon (he is also a sprinter on the track team) that FSU likes to get the ball in a variety of creative ways. One in particular that worked well last year was a little reverse play (hand off to RB running one who flips it to Danzy running the opposite direction) which they scored off of multiple times.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Lightning
Orlando Magic
Everyone Else
Tennessee Titans
It's an exciting time in Nashville. Cam Ward is no longer a rookie, and the organization is hoping to see him take a step forward in year 2. They're hoping using the 4th overall pick on Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate will help that cause, and give Ward a true alpha pass-catcher. The Titans also overhauled the coaching staff to lead this new era of Tennessee football. Former New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh was hired and tasked to improve a young Titan defense while former Giants head coach Brian Daboll was hired as the team's new OC to help guide Ward, Tate, and this young developing offense.
New York Giants
Similar to Tennessee, there seems to be a sense of hope and direction for the Giants that has been lacking for the past decade. Much of that can also be attributed to a QB looking to build off of a successful rookie year in Jaxson Dart. Much also can be attributed to the hire of longtime Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. New York will also get star wide receiver Malik Nabers back from an ACL tear that sidelined him most of 2025 and added two more talented prospects by virtue of having two top 10 picks in the draft in edge rusher Arvell Reese (5th overall) and offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa (10th overall).
FSU Basketball
It was a good first season for new head coach Luke Loucks. The team really rounded into form the 2nd half of the season and was contending with the country's best teams. Unfortunately, too much damage was done in the first half of the season to receive a March Madness invite, but if Loucks can parlay that experience and lessons learned from the 2nd half of his rookie coaching season, bright days are ahead for FSU. For the second year in a row, it will be pretty much an entirely new roster. But the good news is Loucks landed just about every major target of his and also brings in a strong recruiting class of incoming freshman, some of whom may be instant contributors.
FSU Baseball
The tournament begins May 29 and FSU finds themselves just inside or just outside the top 10 of the rankings depending on which poll you use (they rank between 8 and 11 in all). The team is hoping to make another run at Omaha (the destination where the final 8 teams go) after coming up just short last season. The team will miss Myles Bailey, their best power hitter who suffered a season-ending injury back in March, however they've been able to weather the storm and still be a top 10 team the rest of the season. I wouldn't consider them one of the favorites, but they're at least in the mix.
Tampa Bay Rays
They're...good?? Like really good?? Maybe great?? We're only about a quarter of the way through the MLB season, but as it stands the Rays are 29-14. That puts them in 1st place in AL East, a division that includes the World Series runner up Toronto Blue Jays, the perpetually great New York Yankees, and the big spending Boston Red Sox. That record also puts them 1st in the AL, and 2nd in the entire MLB (behind only the Atlanta Braves).
PGA Tour
The PGA Championship, golf's second major of the season, is ongoing at the time of writing this. The biggest storyline remaining this year will come at the US Open on Father's Day weekend as Scottie Scheffler attempts to become the 7th person ever to complete the career grand slam.
World Cup
Soccer only peaks my interest once every 4 years when the World Cup comes around, but this one feels a little more exciting and important given the event is being hosted in the US for the first time since 1994 (with Canada and Mexico each taking a few games as well). When it comes to soccer, the US still finds itself behind the big European countries as well as Brazil and Argentina, but anything is possible in a single game. It's been a long time since the US made a deep run or at a World Cup or earned a marquee victory over one of the big boys, but with the tournament on home soil this time both feel possible.
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