Florida State Quarterback Reaffirms Stance on Alabama

Bulletin board material for Alabama football's season opener against Florida State was placed over two months before the game even kicks off.

On June 23, Florida State quarterback Thomas Castellanos said that the Crimson doesn't "have Nick Saban to save them" and "I just don’t see them stopping me."

Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson said during SEC Media Days last Wednesday that he "won't forget" what Castellanos said and defensive lineman Tim Keenan III's one-liner was "all disrespect will be addressed accordingly."

Nevertheless, Castellanos spoke at ACC Media Days on Wednesday morning, exactly one month following his comments, and reaffirmed his stance with a slight twist.

"We stand on what I said," Castellanos said at ACC Media Days. "I said what I said, we stand on that. I don't mean no disrespect to none of the guys at Alabama or anything like that. It's just I have confidence in my guys and the work that we've been putting in, the preparing and the preparation we're putting together. That's all that was. No disrespect to those guys but we stand on what I said."

Despite the fact that these two schools haven't met since 2017 and were closely intertwined in playoff talks during the 2023 season, Castellanos has managed to take over the narrative surrounding this year's game. He's a confident, unapologetic player, something Lawson seems to understand.

"Obviously, people are going to say what makes them feel the most confident," Lawson said. "We'll see when the game gets here. And we'll prepare and make sure we're ready for August 30. And we'll see him when he gets here."

The contest is important to the home side for reasons beyond being the season opener. Florida State was 2-10 last year. Castellanos himself needs a statement performance early to establish himself as the cornerstone of the team's rebuild. If he wanted to paint a target on his own back as a precursor to attempting to make such a statement, he couldn't have done much better.