If Florida State thought rock bottom was being left out of the College Football Playoff despite being undefeated then getting curbstomped by Georgia in the Orange Bowl, the NCAA just found a way to bring them lower.
The Seminoles are being hit by major NCAA penalties stemming from NIL infractions, Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports reported Thursday. The NCAA confirmed those infractions and penalties.
In a negotiated resolution for multiple Level II violations, Florida State's penalties include a three-game suspension for offensive coordinator Alex Atkins with a two-year show-cause penalty for "impermissible recruiting activity and facilitating impermissible contact with an NIL-related booster." FSU must disassociate from NIL collective Rising Spear for one year and a specific NIL booster for three years.
According to Yahoo! Sports, Atkins allegedly drove a transfer recruit and his parents to meet with a member of the collective, who attempted to use NIL as a recruiting inducement. Collectives cannot engage in recruiting. Atkins also allegedly attempted to mislead investigators about his involvement in the meeting.
The Seminoles will be on two years of probation, have to pay a $5,000 fine and face a financial penalty of one percent of the athletic department's budget, have their scholarship numbers reduced by five over the next two academic years, have their official visits for this year reduced by seven and have recruiting evaluation days this spring reduced by 18. They will also have recruiting communication prohibited for six weeks over the next two years and won't be able to communicate with athletes in the transfer portal from April 15 through the 21st (the spring transfer portal window for football runs from April 16 through 30)
These are the harshest penalties the NCAA has levied over NIL violations since policy changes allowed student-athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness.
NCAA penalties for Florida State put Mike Norvell in tough spot
Where does this leave Mike Norvell, who has been named as a candidate to replace Nick Saban at Alabama?
Norvell himself has not received any penalties. So the Crimson Tide could hire him without any NCAA involvement.
The penalties could give Norvell good reason to jump to Alabama while he has the chance. Even though he has built a strong program at FSU, the Seminoles are simply a less stable program than the Crimson Tide, who aren't dealing with uncertainty around their conference alignment and have been one of the most well-funded and successful programs of the last two decades in college football.
Norvell was tweeting about Florida State landing a new commitment on Thursday afternoon. That prompted speculation that he wasn't pursuing the Alabama job. But you never know. NCAA penalties may change some things.