Overlooked by analysts, Florida State’s new starter brings 4,900 career yards to a high-stakes season. Daniels is primed to silence doubters and lead Norvell’s redemption tour.
Among the variety of questions Florida State quarterback Ashton Daniels fielded at ACC Kickoff on Wednesday, one of them centered around him being left off of On3’s preseason quarterback rankings.
Daniels, standing on a podium in a full black suit complete with a garnet and gold striped tie, said the social media aspects of football is unavoidable because “it’s how the world is.”
“I think separates the best players from the worst is how they handle that kind of stuff,” Daniels said. “You sit there and you look at it and you sulk about it, you’re not going to get anywhere from it.”
Daniels could let the On3 snub consume him and define him as a collegiate passer. I think he will use that snub as motivation to have the best passing season of his career and prove On3 wrong.
“It’s in the back of my mind but I just want to win every single day,” Daniels said. “I want to show up to the facility and give my best every single day. That’s what I’m focused on.”
Using Daniels’s career as a sample size, giving him a snub may have been a glaring error on the part of On3. Daniels has comparable experience and production to some of the players on this list:
- No. 6 Lincoln Kienholz, Louisville: One passing TD as a backup at Ohio State
- No. 7 Steve Angeli, Syracuse: 20 career passing TDs, missed majority of 2025 season with injury
- No. 8 Ethan Grunkemeyer, Virginia Tech: Eight TDs, four INT, over 1,300 passing yards last season
- No. 10 Beau Pribula, Virginia: 21 career passing TDs, 9 INT in 2025
Since 2022, Daniels has seen action in 37 games, and has thrown for 4,900 passing yards, 27 touchdowns and 22 interceptions. Ups and downs, highs and lows, absolutely. Just like every quarterback on this list at some point in their career.
After being named the starter for the 2026 season by head coach Mike Norvell, it was an emotional moment for Daniels. Norvell thinks Daniels is the right man for the job of leading the Seminoles back to gridiron glory. Daniels will have many weapons around him, including 6-foot-6 possession receiver Duce Robinson and elite speed, vertical threat receiver Micahi Danzy.
Last season at Auburn, Daniels continued growth at quarterback took a hit last season as he was the backup to Hugh Freeze’s failed QB1 project Jackson Arnold. But there were flashes of excellence as well.
Against Vanderbilt, Daniels turned in his best game of the season by throwing for 353 yards, two touchdowns and 70 percent completion rate in a six-point loss to the Commodores. In the Iron Bowl, Daniels accounted for 367 total yards and one touchdown in a 27-20 loss to Alabama.
Florida State has been down for the past two seasons, winning just seven games. And to the contrary, Norvell is playing for his job in 2026. So, the only way to go for the Seminoles is up.
Daniels will be chomping at the bit to run out of the tunnel at Doak Campbell Stadium, motivated to prove those haters wrong and put the Seminoles on the war path to victory.
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