The incoming quarterback transfer for the Seminoles broke his silence on Gus Malzahn choosing to retire, right before Daniels leads the offense.
Ashton Daniels transferred to Florida State with the intention of running the Gus Malzahn offense. Both shared an Auburn connection and Daniels looked ready to execute FSU's RPO (run-pass option) scheme.
But Malzahn won't be calling plays after abruptly retiring Monday. Did this decision catch Daniels off guard?
The quarterback addressed the media Wednesday about the sudden change in offensive coordinator.
“For this offense, we just keep moving,” Daniels told reporters. “Obviously, Coach [Mike Norvell] is going to do a great job with the guys that we have on this offense."
Daniels added: "Coach [Tim Harris] is going to do a great job."
Harris has been elevated to offensive coordinator -- relieved from his passing game coordinator role to have a lot more control with the offense. Still, Norvell will be the one calling the plays once the Seminoles return to the field for the 2026 season.
"I think we’re off on the right foot, just with the way they’ve come into the offensive meetings and approached the mindset we’re going to have for this season and for this offseason," Daniels said. “It’s really promising for this offense."
Those are welcoming words from the former Tigers and Stanford QB. He originally sat down with Malzahn to go over the type of system he was going to run.
Norvell and Harris won't scrap that offense. The head coach is a past RPO coach himself through previous stops at Memphis and Arizona State.
Daniels, though, still needed to sort through the "introductory stuff" amid the departure of Malzahn.
"Obviously, finding out what guys in our offense do best and kind of building an offense around that has been a big thing for us. At least for this past week," Daniels said.
Like the tempo Malzahn aimed to hit defenses with, things are moving rapidly for Daniels and FSU.
"Obviously, things are happening really fast, and there’s a lot of moving parts to it, but I think going back and looking at some of my film is what I’ve been doing," Daniels said. "Trying to pick things that I do really great and also things that I need to work on for this offseason and trying to build something around that.”
Daniels joins Dean DeNobile of Lafayette University as incoming QBs via the portal. Daniels, thought, is no stranger to the Atlantic Coast Conference -- as he played for Stanford during its transition to the ACC in 2024.
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