Mike Norvell, FSU football coordinators react to Jordan Travis' season-ending injury
When Jordan Travis hit the turf of Doak Campbell Stadium, Florida State football offensive coordinator Alex Atkins assumed Travis was going to pop right up.
Travis - who is listed at 6-foot-1, 212 pounds - has gone down with injuries throughout the last two seasons, but always pops right back up and keeps going.
But last Saturday was not one of those times.
The redshirt senior's career with the No. 4 Seminoles (11-0, 8-0 ACC) comes to an end after a five-year run following a "hip-drop" tackle from UNA's Shaun Myers with just under two minutes left in the first quarter, Travis stayed down and was eventually taken off on a cart with what appeared to be a severe leg injury.
Travis released a statement Monday morning confirming he was done for the season.
"Sometimes there’s an ignorance to it, like ‘He’ll be alright.’ You know? And then it’s like ‘Oh, this is real,'" Atkins said at his Monday press conference.
"Even then, [head coach Mike Norvell] probably spoke on it when he went out to talk on it, even within that moment, Jordan calmed coach down. ‘I’m alright, I’ll be fine.’ Even in that moment, knowing what was happening, he still had a positive outlook which is unbelievable.
"So I think that touched coach’s heart, too. I think that was my immediate reaction, let’s go see what’s wrong, he might’ve done something simple."
Travis went down following the hard tackle. At first, he looked fine and then he looked at his leg and immediately signaled for the trainers. The looks of shock and sadness overwhelmed his teammates on the sideline so much that some of them got on a knee and started praying.
Norvell was right with the coaching staff to talk with his QB, but instead of Norvell comforting him, it was Travis reassuring his coach.
"With all of the emotions, and you felt the support, you felt the care, the concern for him. He was remarkable. I mean, his composure on the field, in pain, all things, he's just telling me, 'Coach, I'm good. I'm good. Tell my mom I'm OK, and I'm good,'" Norvell said.
Since going to the hospital via an ambulance from Saturday's game, Travis has flooded his Instagram Story with videos of him cheering on his team, an update of his status and a constant flow of teammates visiting.
"Unfortunately Jordan went down there in the first quarter and had a season-ending injury. It was devastating just for him, for who he is, for what he's meant to this program," Norvell said. "The impact that he's made on and off the field, to know that his last play at Florida State has happened, it's hard."
Norvell disclosed that Travis texted him Sunday morning, a message that touched the fourth-year FSU head coach.
"I actually shared it with the team in our meeting Sunday afternoon," Norvell said. "He's a remarkable young man, and his belief in his teammates, his belief in our program and what we do, he's been a living example of it.
"And like I told our team, you never know when your last play is going to be, but the one thing in life that you never want to experience is regret."
The No. 4 Seminoles take on the rival Gators (5-6) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, with the 67th meeting set to be broadcast on ESPN. Florida will be without quarterback Graham Mertz, as he suffered a season-ending collarbone fracture last week against Missouri.
'Got under my skin': How a last second 'scoop and score' became a Seminole statement
Travis leaves a legacy
Travis' sixth and final season - and the fifth as a Seminole - ends with Heisman Trophy contention numbers. He finished with 207 of 324 passing for 2,755 yards, 20 touchdowns and just two interceptions. He also added 73 rushes for 176 yards and seven scores, as well as one reception for two yards and another TD.
He joined the Seminoles out of the transfer portal following the 2018 season - joining then-head coach Willie Taggart, who was fired later in that 2019 season. Travis was here when FSU struggled through the first two years of Norvell, including a loss to then-FCS Jacksonville State in 2021.
Two years later, with FSU knocking on the door of the College Football Playoffs, Travis will finish his career in Seminole lore, joined by former Heisman Trophy winners Charlie Ward (1993), Chris Weinke (2000) and Jameis Winston (2013).
No. 1 in touchdown responsibility (97)
No. 1 in total offense (10,516 yards)
No. 1 in quarterback rushing yards (1,894)
No. 1 in quarterback rushing touchdowns (31)
No. 2 in passing touchdowns (65)
No. 2 in passing yards (8,622)
No. 3 in completions (631)
No. 3 in completion percentage (62.5%)
No. 3 in wins (28)
"When you have one of the elite leaders, one of the -- Jordan will be talked about forever in this program, and what I love is that it's not necessarily going to be just about his playing ability. It's going to be about who he is," Norvell said.
More: FSU football quarterback Jordan Travis provides multiple updates on Instagram after injury
John Papuchis, Adam Fuller react
FSU was down 13-0 when Travis went down with his injury. Players were visibly in shock when the leader of the team went down.
That shock went down to the coaches as well, who had the responsibility of guiding a bunch of 18-23-year-olds to get ready to play again.
"We're not robots. You can't compartmentalize, 'Ok, now it's this, let me go into this mode.' I think you're trained through it just by how you live your life," FSU defensive coordinator Adam Fuller said. "The ups and downs of it all. I hate to say you have a job to do because this is still a game for these guys. As high a level as we play and coach at, you just want to be able to get back to who you are."
Neither Fuller nor special teams coordinator John Papuchis directly coaches Travis.
But Travis was at FSU when the staff joined Norvell in Tallahassee before the 2020 season. As the quarterback, he has gone out of his way to make relationships with everyone on the team.
And even with people not on the team.
"Yeah, speaking for myself, I had a hard time," Papuchis said of his reaction. "I did not block it out. I went about and did my job but there's a whole range of emotions that go and it starts with just being sad for him. First of all, everyone has their vision of how they think their senior day is going to go and that certainly wasn't how it played out.
"Jordan is such a great leader and a great person, on a personal level, the way he is with my son. Every time he sees him, the way he is with my daughter, they always see him after games. The type of person he is, the humility, the kindness, the care. You hate to see things happen to anyone but you certainly hate to see those types of things happen and people who are just great people and so it did it.
"Then not to mention the fact that he's a he's the leader of our team, and he's really the unquestioned leader of our team. So it did, it did hurt it hurt coaches and hurt players. I'd be lying to say it was blocked out because it was still lingering in your thoughts but you do have a job to do and you got to do it to the best of your ability.”
GAME INFORMATION
Who: No. 4 FSU (11-0) vs. Florida (5-6)
When/where: 7 p.m., Saturday, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Gainesville
TV/Radio: ESPN/94.9 FM
Live game updates: www.Tallahassee.com; @Ehsan_Kassim, @jackgwilliams and @JimHenryTALLY on X, formerly Twitter
Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports), Instagram (tlhnolesports) and YouTube channel (NoleSportsTD).
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Jordan Travis: Mike Norvell, FSU coaches react to season-ending injury
