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00:00 Hey, DJ.
00:02 I saw an interview with your father,
00:04 and he said that basically Florida State was kind of like
00:06 where you really wanted to go.
00:08 How did you come to that conclusion as you were
00:10 kind of figuring out your future?
00:12 Yeah, no. First of all, man,
00:14 first of all, I want to say, man, I'm happy to be here.
00:16 Happy to be at Seminole.
00:18 Unbelievable place
00:20 since I've been here. Been here for
00:22 probably a month now, a little over a month.
00:24 It's been amazing. The people here,
00:26 the coaching staff, the players,
00:28 just the people that live here in Tallahassee,
00:30 it's been amazing, and I'm happy to be here.
00:32 But yeah, for me, man,
00:34 going through the process again and being in
00:36 the transfer portal, my eyes are set on one school.
00:38 I wanted to be here at Florida State,
00:40 and this is the spot I wanted to be in.
00:42 I'm just blessed and happy that
00:44 Coach Ovelle, Coach Tony, Coach Tokarts,
00:46 and everyone here on staff
00:48 was excited to have me here
00:50 and was able to choose, was able to let me be here
00:52 and let me be able to be here at Seminole.
00:54 So yeah, this is where I wanted to be at,
00:56 and I'm happy to be here.
00:58 Go to Brendan on the left side.
01:00 Hey, DJ. Coach Ovelle said that
01:02 he was really
01:04 something he liked about you was your journey,
01:06 that you haven't had a traditional experience.
01:08 What would you say to your
01:10 time here, getting here,
01:12 what have you learned through your journey
01:14 to get to Florida State, I guess?
01:16 Yeah, like in my past, kind of like my college experience.
01:18 Yeah, like what have you taken away to get here?
01:20 For me, man, I think
01:22 my college experience is unique,
01:24 and I feel like it's something unique that
01:26 God's given me in my journey.
01:28 There's been ups, there's been downs,
01:30 but for me, man, it's been
01:32 it's all been nothing but a blessing for me.
01:34 I think in this
01:36 way of life, in the way
01:38 life is, you know, things aren't perfect,
01:40 and I think God has a way of showing
01:42 like for me, man, like God's
01:44 timing is everything.
01:46 Sometimes timing isn't how
01:48 you want it, God's timing isn't something that
01:50 maybe you want it to be, but it's
01:52 always the right timing. Like everything
01:54 in God's timing works out in His favor,
01:56 and it's worked out for me. Like there's been
01:58 a lot of lessons I've learned through college
02:00 that have been good, been bad, sometimes
02:02 here and there, but it's all shaped me
02:04 into the person I am today, and I'm
02:06 blessed to be able to go on through my journey here in college,
02:08 and I'm excited about my new journey here
02:10 at Florida State. I'm excited to be a Seminole.
02:12 Essam?
02:14 For you, what
02:16 about Mike Narvello offense
02:18 filled you, and how do you fit into it,
02:20 and how do you see yourself playing out
02:22 this year?
02:24 I think Coach Narvello does an amazing
02:26 job on offense. Been a fan
02:28 of what he does for some time now since I've been at
02:30 Clemson. I knew when I put my name
02:32 on the portal, I felt like Florida State
02:34 did a lot of good things on offense. I feel like
02:36 they did a lot of things that would
02:38 highlight what I do as a quarterback,
02:40 what I do best, and for me, man,
02:42 once I met Coach Narvello and got to talk to him
02:44 a lot more, and got to talk ball with him,
02:46 I knew this was the right spot. Even before
02:48 that, because I'd done my homework, looked at the offense,
02:50 looked at what they'd done
02:52 with Jordan Travis, and how they used him,
02:54 and how they developed him as a quarterback, and that
02:56 was one thing I was looking for. I wanted to be able to get developed,
02:58 be able to continue to learn,
03:00 and I wanted to win football games.
03:02 Jordan?
03:04 DJ, your dad called Sione
03:06 your Polynesian brother. Can you just talk about
03:08 your relationship with him, as well as being a Trailblazer
03:10 in the Polynesian community?
03:12 Yeah, man, I wouldn't consider
03:14 myself a Trailblazer, but man,
03:16 my boy Sione
03:18 Nussi, that's my dog, man.
03:20 I was just chopping up with him in the locker room right now, but
03:22 first of all, he's an amazing player,
03:24 and most importantly, he's an amazing
03:26 person. I think
03:28 he got to share his journey, and how he
03:30 got here. I didn't 100% know
03:32 his whole full journey,
03:34 about what he's gone through to be able to get here,
03:36 to be able to be here at Florida State,
03:38 be at Oregon State, but I think
03:40 it just shows a testament of how much he cares about football,
03:42 and how much he cares about
03:44 bettering his life, and bettering his family's life.
03:46 I think it just shows that
03:48 for whatever Nussi's doing,
03:50 each and every day, to be able
03:52 to come out here and sacrifice, to be able to be here,
03:54 be a Seminole, and just put his all into
03:56 the game of football, and his all to
03:58 the University of Florida State, I think
04:00 it just shows the type of player he is,
04:02 and the type of person he is.
04:04 Kurt, my brother. Hey, DJ, how's it
04:06 going? How you doing? Doing good.
04:08 You played here before, you played
04:10 at Florida State twice, I guess. When you were
04:12 coaching this, what was your impression of this
04:14 program from afar, and I guess
04:16 how much of that did that play a role
04:18 in the quarter you talked about, how you
04:20 wanted it to be Florida State? Yeah,
04:22 I think Coach Novell,
04:24 he's done an amazing job with the program, since
04:26 he's taken over. Each and every year,
04:28 it's been a steady climb, and he's just
04:30 getting better, and better, and better, and
04:32 that's what I saw. From the first time
04:34 I played Florida State, in 2021, when I
04:36 played, it wasn't the best year,
04:38 but you could tell there was talent on the team,
04:40 and you could tell that there was a coaching staff
04:42 and a belief in the players that
04:44 the ship's going to get turned
04:46 around. Like you've seen last year,
04:48 going 13-0
04:50 through the Carver's Championship,
04:52 it was amazing. You can just tell
04:54 by the belief of the players they had
04:56 with Coach Novell, the coaching staff, the
04:58 fan base, they look like the old
05:00 Florida State when you see them with all the legends
05:02 that have played here, with James Winston,
05:04 and the big dynasty runs that they've had.
05:06 So, for me, that was one thing I saw,
05:08 I was like, "Wow, they're going to get it together," because they got the players,
05:10 they got the staff, and
05:12 there couldn't be a force to be reckoned with
05:14 after I played them in 2022.
05:16 We've got one on Zoom here from Matt Baker.
05:18 Hey, DJ, what in particular did you
05:22 take away from your time last year that
05:24 helped you become a better player?
05:26 For me, man,
05:28 I think being at Oregon State,
05:30 it was amazing.
05:32 Honestly, I thank Coach
05:34 Smith, Coach Lindgren, and all the coaching
05:36 staff there, and all my brothers there. I learned a lot
05:38 from those guys there. It was something
05:40 different that I was doing at Clemson.
05:42 From just a totally different standpoint,
05:44 it was cool.
05:46 I learned a lot from the offense
05:48 that I ran there. It was totally different than anything
05:50 I've done in all my years of
05:52 football, running more of a pro-style
05:54 game. It was fun, man.
05:56 I had a lot of enjoyment there. A lot
05:58 of my teammates were super cool.
06:00 I got to be back on the West Coast.
06:02 I got to play in the Pac-12 for the last year
06:04 of it being existing, which I had no clue.
06:06 For me, being a West Coast guy,
06:08 growing up,
06:10 seeing the Pac-12, being a USC fan,
06:12 and just seeing a lot of the players I looked up
06:14 to playing in the Pac-12, it was pretty special.
06:16 A lot of things I learned,
06:18 a lot of life lessons,
06:20 a lot of things about the game of football,
06:22 to be able to grow my knowledge.
06:24 It was enjoyable. It was a fun time playing at Oregon
06:26 State. I thank them for everything.
06:28 We'll stay on Zoom here with Logan Robinson.
06:30 Hey, DJ.
06:32 During tour duties so far,
06:34 and just you being there for the last couple of months,
06:36 what about this team,
06:38 the targets that you'll have
06:40 in the wide receiver room, running back room,
06:42 everywhere, what kind of excites you
06:44 about this offense under Mike Gravel
06:46 and the targets that you'll be working with?
06:48 I think it's super exciting.
06:50 I mean, seeing the targets last year
06:52 and then the guys coming back this year
06:54 and the new additions we've added,
06:56 I think they're great. From the top to the bottom,
06:58 I think the receiver list is
07:00 going to speak for itself.
07:02 I'm excited to get out there, throwing with a lot of the guys.
07:04 This is in the offseason right now,
07:06 out there in the indoor
07:08 and different stuff on the field.
07:10 I'll work with the running backs and go into tour duty
07:12 and be able to see the guys and see how athletic they are,
07:14 how fast, quick.
07:16 It's a good group. It's a very good group of guys.
07:18 I think the biggest thing, they're hungry,
07:20 they're eager, have a chip on their shoulder
07:22 and they're ready to play. That's one thing I look forward to.
07:24 Chris?
07:26 Thank you, Jay. Last month working with Tony Tocco,
07:28 what has it been like?
07:30 You used his playbook and also the vocabulary
07:32 that he uses as a team.
07:34 It's been great. I think Coach Tony,
07:36 he's an amazing coach,
07:38 a very smart coach.
07:40 He really cares about his players,
07:42 his quarterbacks, as he does.
07:44 He takes a great pride in
07:46 coaching us, coaching us hard
07:48 and being able to let us know the offense,
07:50 be able to understand it. It's been great, man.
07:52 He's a great dude. He's a great coach.
07:54 It's been great to learn from him
07:56 each and every day. I'm excited about
07:58 going into the spring.
08:00 Obviously you can't have team practices yet,
08:02 but how quickly do you start
08:04 working with the receivers to get a
08:06 feel with them and just start working with them?
08:08 How quickly do you get in the room with them?
08:10 Yeah, I think we've had a couple
08:12 walk-throughs now. We had tour duty and then
08:14 we throw on our own. So the biggest thing
08:16 coming into the winter
08:18 before the spring is be able to
08:20 get some camaraderie,
08:22 be able to get some connection with the receivers,
08:24 be able to throw, get timing down, just a little
08:26 bit here and there. Be able to fill out the guys
08:28 with all the quarterbacks because
08:30 I have a new quarterback. We have Luke, that's a new quarterback.
08:32 Trevor, that's a new quarterback.
08:34 We also have new receivers that come in here from the
08:36 portal, freshmen.
08:38 A lot of us, you want to be able to get our feet wet
08:40 before going into spring ball because
08:42 you don't want it to be like a chaos out there
08:44 where it's just the first time throwing with everybody.
08:46 But it's been good so far. I mean, the receivers
08:48 are great. They come to work. They come ready
08:50 to work each and every day and it's been fun.
08:52 Kirk?
08:54 I don't know, I guess, what kind of
08:56 relationship you have with
08:58 Jordan Travis. Sounds like he didn't need to be sold
09:00 on Florida State. I guess, did you talk to him at all
09:02 about what kind of Florida State was recruiting you and what
09:04 did he tell you and your relationship with him?
09:06 Yeah, no.
09:08 Yeah, I got to talk to him
09:10 before I took my official visit. I talked to him
09:12 two days beforehand. I just had a couple
09:14 questions I wanted to ask him because
09:16 for the most part, I knew a couple players that played here.
09:18 I knew Micah, I knew Johnny,
09:20 I knew AJ and just a couple
09:22 other guys playing against him. I kind of had my
09:24 thoughts on what I knew about Florida State, about the
09:26 coaching staff. But, I also wanted to ask
09:28 Jordan because he played in this offense
09:30 for some time now and he was right there in the thick
09:32 of it with Coach Norvino and Coach Tokart.
09:34 So, I wanted to ask him a couple questions
09:36 about the program, how are they as coaches,
09:38 off the field, how are they as men.
09:40 He had nothing but great things to say.
09:42 And that comes from starting quarterback
09:44 for a couple years now. I mean, that's all
09:46 you need to hear. So, when I heard that,
09:48 it kind of proved all my points that I had.
09:50 I thought about Coach Norvell
09:52 and all the other coaches here. It kind of just
09:54 solidified it then.
09:56 There's no one else I really need to talk to.
09:58 We'll go back on Zoom here for Andrea Adelson.
10:01 TJ, you mentioned your journey earlier.
10:05 I'm wondering where you feel like you've grown
10:07 the most since your freshman year
10:09 and all the plays that you've done.
10:11 I would say
10:13 the most I've grown since my journey
10:15 in football is probably me as a man.
10:17 Obviously, I've grown a lot in football.
10:19 My knowledge of football and as a player,
10:21 I've grown and I feel like I've gotten better
10:23 each and every way. But I feel like as a man,
10:25 I feel like God, he's put me through
10:27 a test of my faith.
10:29 And I feel like my faith has gotten a lot stronger
10:31 since I've been in the game of college football.
10:33 And it's tested it. But at the end of the day,
10:35 man, God's given me,
10:37 each and every day,
10:39 he's given me a day to live.
10:41 And I've just been blessed through the whole journey
10:43 to be able to play college football.
10:45 Today, I woke up. I thanked him
10:47 for waking me up today. To be able to walk,
10:49 be able to talk, be able to be in this room
10:51 with everybody here. And it's just been a true
10:53 blessing. And I've just been thankful for the journey
10:55 that he's given me.
10:57 When you were here
10:59 for that game a couple years ago,
11:01 I know when you're on the other sideline,
11:03 it's probably not that thrilling to hear
11:05 some of the things you hear.
11:07 Have you envisioned what it's going to be like
11:09 to be part of that?
11:11 And have you interacted with many fans
11:13 that you've been with? I haven't interacted with
11:15 too many fans since I've been here.
11:17 But for me, man, yeah, I have envisioned it.
11:19 For me, this is my favorite place to play.
11:21 All the places I've played.
11:23 At Oregon State,
11:25 Clemson,
11:27 this is my favorite away game I've ever played.
11:29 When I played here in 2022,
11:31 the stadium was rocking.
11:33 For me, I've always grown up
11:35 a James Winston fan. I've seen Florida State.
11:37 I know the tradition here that they have with winning.
11:39 The tradition of great players.
11:41 I grew up during James real well.
11:43 Just to be able to see the whole
11:45 Tomahawk Chop with all the fans,
11:47 that was always one thing I've seen growing up
11:49 watching Florida State that I was excited to see
11:51 going into the game. Seeing that thing live,
11:53 seeing all the fans, it was amazing.
11:55 Seeing the Seminole
11:57 right on the horse, it was crazy.
11:59 For me, I'm excited, man.
12:01 I'm excited about the fan base.
12:03 Excited about playing here.
12:05 I'm just excited to be here.
12:07 DeJay,
12:09 your new teammates have called you a lead-by-
12:11 example type of guy, a laid-back guy.
12:13 Can you just talk a little bit about your personality
12:15 and your leadership style?
12:17 I guess that kind of just,
12:19 for me, I'm a Cali kid.
12:21 I grew up in Southern California, the IE.
12:23 I guess maybe that's kind of where the laid-back
12:25 comes from. For me,
12:27 my leadership style, I want to be there.
12:29 For me, I want to be able
12:31 to earn trust. Trust isn't something
12:33 that's just given out. It's something that
12:35 has got to be earned by your teammates.
12:37 You've got to be trusted. You've got to be able
12:39 to show it. For me, I just want to lead by example.
12:41 Come here each and every day,
12:43 put my hard hat on, and just go to work, man.
12:45 Just put my head down and just continue
12:47 to grind. That's kind of how I treat things.
12:49 Brenda?
12:51 You mentioned earlier that you thought
12:53 your skill set would fit in well with some of the
12:55 research you did at Florida State's offense.
12:57 What specifically do you think you do well?
12:59 Follow up to that, what are you
13:01 trying to work on and build on in your game
13:03 this season at Florida State?
13:05 For me, I feel like what I do well,
13:07 I feel like I bring a great mentality to the team.
13:09 I feel like I bring
13:11 great leadership. I bring
13:13 a dog mentality. Come out here ready to work.
13:15 On the field, I feel like I do
13:17 really do. I feel like I push the ball down the field
13:19 really well. It's something I want to do.
13:21 Throw the rock. I feel like I can
13:23 create plays inside the pocket, whatever that's getting
13:25 out, or making people
13:27 miss inside the pocket and making
13:29 throws down the field.
13:31 Not scared of contact.
13:33 I'm not shy away from contact at all.
13:35 I'm a big guy, so I'll go out there
13:37 and play with the best of them.
13:39 For me, I feel like
13:41 my leadership style and my
13:43 knowledge of the game is something I bring to Florida State.
13:45 I feel like it's really well. I feel like I understand
13:47 the game. I have a lot of experience
13:49 playing football at the college level.
13:51 I feel like I've learned a lot and I've grown a lot.
13:53 I've been through some adversity
13:55 in my time in college, so I feel like
13:57 that shows a lot of who I am as a person.
13:59 I feel like I let that show
14:01 as I play the game. The things I want to work
14:03 on, each and every year, there's
14:05 other things you want to work on.
14:07 There's a lot of stuff I want to continue to get working on.
14:09 Am I perfect? No. Not from it.
14:11 Far from it. But each and every day, I want
14:13 to get on the field. I want to strive to be able to be
14:15 perfect in each way I work.
14:17 From the times of just being in tour of duty
14:19 to times of lifting and just throwing
14:21 receivers and being up on the board.
14:23 There's a lot of things I want to continue to work on. Footwork,
14:25 different stuff, accuracy, pushing the ball
14:27 down the field. I feel like for me,
14:29 there's not just one thing I'm working
14:31 on right now. For my whole game, I want to continue
14:33 to get better at.
14:35 Matt?
14:37 It seems like you kind of fit in with the team
14:39 right away without skipping a beat.
14:41 What does that say about you, and what has
14:43 made that transition so easy?
14:45 For me, man, I just
14:47 try to be myself.
14:49 Try to be my most authentic
14:51 self. For me, man, I'm DJ
14:53 Uyongle. I'm not going to
14:55 change for nobody. I'm not
14:57 trying to sound mean or anything, but
14:59 that's just who I am. I'm going to be myself.
15:01 Be a
15:03 caring person. I'm going to be a trustworthy teammate.
15:05 For me, man, I just want to
15:07 be able to be honest with people and be able to
15:09 just go to work. I want to let my
15:11 work show for itself. I want to go
15:13 out there and put my hard hat on and just go
15:15 to work, man. I don't want to be nobody special.
15:17 I don't want to be a superstar, man.
15:19 I'm just a regular player,
15:21 man. I'm just one length of the offense and just
15:23 another person on the team, man.
15:25 I don't want to be looked at
15:27 anything differently than just a guy
15:29 next to all the teammates in the locker.
15:31 You got time for a couple more?
15:33 DJ, the staff
15:35 decided to bring on a
15:37 couple quarterback prospects for visits during
15:39 the recruiting cycle there.
15:41 For you, what was that wait like
15:43 for everything to kind of settle down for you to finally
15:45 get the offer? I guess how much is that going to motivate
15:47 you to come in here and play your best?
15:49 Yeah, it was good for me, man.
15:51 I was just trusting God's
15:53 word. I was just trusting what He had planned
15:55 for me. Just praying about it. I knew
15:57 this is where I wanted to be.
15:59 Just trusting Him. I'm like, "Hey, God, if this is where you want me
16:01 to be at, like if Florida State's the school for
16:03 me, then you'll show me the way.
16:05 You open up that door for me." And He
16:07 has. God's opened up so many
16:09 doors in my life.
16:11 For me, man,
16:13 I always want to be on... Like I said,
16:15 I talk about God's timing. Yeah, maybe
16:17 I wanted it to happen a little earlier. Maybe I wanted to be
16:19 at Florida State a little faster. But you know what?
16:21 Things don't work out like that because it's always
16:23 on God's timing. And God's timing is
16:25 always right. It's perfect timing.
16:27 Everything worked out how I
16:29 wanted it. Everything worked out to what God wanted
16:31 me to do. So I was just blessed to be able to be
16:33 here. I'm thankful to be a Seminole.
16:35 [inaudible]
16:37 Coach Trevelle, I think over the
16:39 weekend, talked about on your visit, he sat
16:41 down with you and I think went through three of your
16:43 games last year with you where you had kind of
16:45 varying levels of success. Was that something unique
16:47 that you kind of hadn't seen before? I know you've been through
16:49 recruitments plenty. And I guess what did that
16:51 tell you about him? Yeah, I think
16:53 it told me a lot. For me, I told him
16:55 I don't need to see the facilities.
16:57 I don't need to see
16:59 the nutrition, where we eat at. I've been
17:01 through the fluff of recruiting. That stuff
17:03 doesn't really matter to me anymore.
17:05 For me, I don't really care what the
17:07 facilities look like. All I just need is a football.
17:09 And that's about it. And some shoulder pads
17:11 and a helmet, I'll be good to go. And a playbook.
17:13 So for him to be able to sit down with
17:15 me and watch three games of everything,
17:17 have his thoughts about how I played,
17:19 things where I can get better at, things I did well.
17:21 And me being able to
17:23 talk to him, asking him,
17:25 "Hey, how would you do this?" "What is this play?"
17:27 "Would you run this in the offense?" "What do you guys think
17:29 about this?" He would ask me, "What was
17:31 your read here? How do you guys see the defense?"
17:33 Or, "How do you guys read this play?" Something
17:35 similar in their offense. It was cool.
17:37 Because for me, that's all I want to do. I want to
17:39 continue to keep getting better as a quarterback, continue
17:41 to learn. And Coach Norvell,
17:43 he's an extremely smart coach.
17:45 And for me, that was a big reason why
17:47 I wanted to be here. I wanted to learn from him and
17:49 be able to get developed under him.
17:51 - I think Luke
17:53 said his locker's near yours, and he
17:55 said he's looking forward to learning from you.
17:57 How much are you
17:59 enjoying that process of being around these young quarterbacks
18:01 and maybe sharing some of your wisdom
18:03 with them? - Yeah, no. Yeah, Luke, he's right
18:05 next to me in the locker room. I think, first and foremost,
18:07 he's a great quarterback. I think he has
18:09 an amazing future, and he's going to be a really special
18:11 quarterback and a really special person.
18:13 I think he has a tremendous
18:15 amount of talent. I got to see him throw.
18:17 He has a great
18:19 work ethic. He's out there in the weight room working
18:21 tour duty each and every day.
18:23 And it's going to be fun, man. He brings a lot of
18:25 joy to the game.
18:27 That's always good, man. You have quarterbacks
18:29 that bring joy to the game and be able
18:31 to show their personality.
18:33 But for me, I'm excited.
18:35 I think every single quarterback on the roster,
18:37 from Trevor to Brock
18:39 to D-Mac to
18:41 everybody on the squad
18:43 to Mike, that
18:45 every single one of these quarterbacks is good
18:47 and they show their talents in each
18:49 and every way, and they got a different personality
18:51 about them. I think that's the cool part about being
18:53 on the team, being in the quarterback
18:55 room, that we're tight, and
18:57 each and every one of us is different, but we all come
18:59 together to be friends and be able to be a close,
19:01 tight-knit group. And I know that's what Coach Tokars
19:03 wants. - Can I ask something for the last one?
19:05 - After last year's success
19:07 at Oregon State, playing in the Pac-12,
19:09 did you ever consider going to NFL Draft?
19:11 And if
19:13 not, what do you want to work on
19:15 before you try next year?
19:17 - For me, man, I was just
19:19 worrying about the season last year.
19:21 Obviously, it was always the thought, maybe I go
19:23 to the draft or not, or if I come back for another year.
19:25 For me, I had
19:27 no clue until after the last
19:29 game and thought about it. I thought the
19:31 best thing for me was to be
19:33 able to hit the portal and play another
19:35 year in college. So, that
19:37 was my thought on that last year. I think
19:39 things I want to continue to keep working on,
19:41 I feel like is continue to keep improving
19:43 in completion. I think turnover ratio
19:45 is obviously things I continue to, I can
19:47 control myself. And
19:49 I feel like I continue to keep growing my knowledge in the
19:51 game of football and continue
19:53 just playing under Coach Norvell.
19:55 I think he's going to do a lot of those things for me.
19:57 And I think be able to learn
19:59 from him, being able to play with Coach Tokars
20:01 as my quarterback coach. I'm excited
20:03 about the journey with those two, and
20:05 just want to continue to keep getting better and learn from those guys.
20:07 Awesome. Thank you, TJ.
20:09 I appreciate everybody. You guys have a good one.
20:11 Thank you.