With one good game in the season opener against Alabama, Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos went from a college football afterthought to a potential Heisman candidate.

Castellanos has since fallen out of the Heisman lists he occupied in the season’s first month, thanks to FSU’s three-game losing streak. However, among those tasked with preparing for the Seminoles, the respect for Castellanos as a player has only grown.

With each passing week, it becomes more and more clear: opposing coaches see the dual-threat quarterback as the key to the game against FSU. On some weeks he’s the only Seminole even mentioned by name.

If FSU is going to dig out of its current hole, Castellanos will be the reason why. The defensive struggles could improve some, but the Seminoles can’t bring in any new linebackers to replace the ones currently giving up big plays. If the running backs had fewer fumbles, it would certainly help, but Castellanos would still need to lead those possessions.

It may be too much to ask of a player who got benched around this time last year on a losing team, but Castellanos has to be a superhero for FSU to bounce back. Fortunately for the Seminoles – and unfortunately for their competition – that’s what everyone else thinks he can be.

Week in and week out since his debut in Garnet and Gold, opposing coaches have spent the week leading up to their game against FSU worrying about Castellanos.

Stanford interim head coach Frank Reich began his press conference this week with familiar refrains when it comes to Castellanos.

Reich is typically reserved, and he certainly isn’t prone to hyperbole. But on Monday, he echoed the same platitudes shared by the previous five coaches tasked with preparing for Castellanos.

“He is super dynamic,” Reich said.

Castellanos’s dynamism, Reich went on to explain, is part of what makes FSU so difficult to prepare for. The Seminoles have been one of the best rushing teams in the country this year. As such, their total passing numbers have merely been very good – above average, but nothing record-breaking or gasp-worthy.

But when they do pass, they’re one of the most explosive offenses in the country.

Castellanos leads the ACC with 9.9 yards per pass attempt. He leads the entire country with 15.9 yards per completion. He’s racked up 1,365 yards through the air on only 86 completed passes.

That’s why you can’t load up the box on every play against FSU. Of course, you also can’t drop everyone back in coverage, with the Noles averaging 274.5 rushing yards per game.

And if you balance it perfectly, there’s still every chance Castellanos will just take off running. He’s averaging just under 50 yards per game on the ground, and he’s rushed for four touchdowns.

He’s an every-down threat as it is, but on third downs, he’s a nightmare.

Ahead of Saturday’s matchup in Palo Alto, Reich bemoaned the difficulties in preparing for such a threat.

“You’ve definitely got to stop the run with this team,” he said. “But at the same time, they’ve got good balance. You know they want to run it, and they’re good at running it. They have a quarterback who can be involved in the run game, and he’s dynamic. But they’ve got playmakers on the outside. That’s always the challenge.

“It’ll be a good challenge, and the quarterback is certainly central to it,” Reich continued.. A guy they went out and got, he’s their leader and is a big-time playmaker for them.”

Florida State and Stanford kick off at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN this Saturday.

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