Noles News: FSU quarterback commit Tramell Jones Jr. showing out at Elite 11 (2024)

Recruiting

2025 Florida State Seminoles four-star quarterback commit Tramell Jones Jr. out of Mandarin High in Jacksonville has had a fantastic showing so far at this year’s Elite 11, the latest being logging the highest score of his peers during the program’s Pro Day drills:

Football

Baseball

Florida State’s unprecedented single-season turnaround came to an end yesterday in Omaha, with the Seminoles falling to the Tennessee Volunteers for the second time in the last week to end their time in the College World Series:

• A season after finishing last in the ACC and missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 45 seasons, Florida State will finish tied for third nationally after a 26-win turnaround from a season ago. The 26-win improvement is double the previous-best year-over-year in program history (+13 wins from 2001 to 2002).
• Daniel Cantu and Alex Lodise hit back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning, the ninth of the year for both. FSU hit back-to-back home runs in consecutive games to end the year and nine times this season.
• FSU’s 131 home runs as a team are tied for the second-most in program history (1982, 74 games) and trail only the 1985 team’s 146 (82 games).
• FSU hit a home run in 19 consecutive games to end the season, the second-longest streak in program history and trailing just the 21-game streak that directly preceded the current streak. FSU had a home run in 40 of the last 41 games and in 61 of 66 this year.
• Lodise ended the season with a 23-game on-base streak, the longest of his career.
• James Tibbs III hit a single in the sixth inning and ends the season tying his career-high 24-game on-base streak.
• Max Williams was 2-for-4 with his 11th double, ending the year with a career-high 11-game hitting streak and 21-game on-base streak. He had 19 multi-hit games, including three in the CWS.
• Senior pitcher Brennen Oxford made his team-high 32nd appearance of the season and third of the College World Series. He threw a career-high 75 pitches.
• Joe Charles made his first appearance of the College World Series. His 30 appearances are a career high and second-most among FSU pitchers. He retired the first nine batters he faced and his 4.2 innings pitched and five strikeouts were both a career high.
• Freshman pitcher John Abraham made his third start of the season and first of the postseason.
• Florida State finishes the season with 49-17 overall record, its most wins since finishing 50-17 in 2012.
• Florida State dropped to 32-48 all-time at the MCWS. The Seminoles were making their 24th trip to the MCWS, the third-most of any school, and their first visit since 2019. The Seminoles were seeking their first title and remain as the only school with more than 15 MCWS appearances to have not won a title yet.
• The Seminoles are 206-134 all-time in 60 all-time NCAA Tournament appearances. Their 206 wins are the second-most in NCAA history, trailing only Texas (257 wins, 63 appearances).
• The Seminoles ended the season with 49 wins after finishing 23-31 last season. The 26-win improvement is the best year-over-year improvement in the Division I this season and the best in program history.
• Head coach Link Jarrett fell to 3-4 as a head coach in the MCWS (2-2 at FSU), having also coached Notre Dame to a 1-2 mark in the MCWS in 2022. He is the 12th coach to lead multiple programs to a MCWS victory.
• Link Jarrett dropped to 18-8 all-time in the NCAA Tournament in four NCAA Tournament appearances as a head coach.
• Link Jarrett is the 16th coach to lead multiple different programs to the MCWS and of those 16, he joins Mike Gillespie as the only man to do it after playing in multiple in MCWS as a student-athlete at Florida State. He is also one of two coaches (Brian O’Connor) this season that has been to the Division I Men’s College World Series as a player and now a coach.
• Florida State has won multiple games in a single trip to Omaha for the first time since 2012 and just the second time in its past six MCWS appearances. The Seminoles went 2-2 in 2012 and had three 1-2 seasons (2010, 2017 and 2019) and one winless trip to Omaha (2008) in the past 20 years.
• With two home runs on Wednesday afternoon, Florida State hit 131 home runs this season, which ranks tied for the second-most in program history (146 in 1985; 131 in 1982). The Noles hit a home run in 61 of the 66 games this season.
• FSU has now hit a home run in 19 straight games, dating back to a May 11th contest at Pitt. The 19 game HR streak is the second-longest streak in program history, trailing only the 21-game HR streak earlier this season.
• Additionally, the Seminoles 78 home run improvement from last season is the largest improvement in the country, passing Austin Peay’s 71-HR improvement from a season ago.
• With only one walk on Wednesday, Florida State had drawn 63 walks in this year’s NCAA Tournament, the most of any team in this year’s field. Additionally, the Seminoles had drawn 23 walks in Omaha.
• Despite not scoring in the third inning today, Florida State had outscored foes 89-30 in the third inning this year, including 9-1 in Omaha and 16-1 in its last eight games.
• Florida State’s 29 runs were its most through four games at the MCWS (24th appearance) (Previous high was 28 in 1999). The Seminoles 29 runs scored were also the second-most of any ACC team after four games in the MCWS, trailing only Clemson’s 30 runs in 1996.
• Florida State’s 87 runs in seven games this NCAA Tournament (9.6 per game) are the second-most runs per game of any team this season in the tournament, trailing only Tennessee’s (9.9 runs per game) Florida State and Tennessee had entered the game as the only other teams averaging at least 10 runs per game in the postseason.
• Max Williams finished the day 2-for-4 with a singles and a double to extend his on-base streak to 21 straight games and his hit streak to 11 consecutive contests. His two hit day was part of his 19th multi-hit game of the season.
• Marco Dinges finished Wednesday with a 1-for-4 showing at the plate, extending his on-base streak to 18 straight games.
• Max Williams and Marco Dinges’ 16 hits in this year’s NCAA Tournament are tied for the second-most by any player in the tournament this season, behind Tennessee’s Blake Burke’s 17 hits.
• James Tibbs III pushed his active team-leading on-base streak to 24 straight games after blooping a single into center in the bottom of the sixth inning.
• Despite not recording a hit on Wednesday, Cam Smith finished the season ranked second nationally behind Tennessee’s Christian Moore (109) with 106 hits this season.
• Daniel Cantu opened the scoring for the Seminoles in the bottom of the seventh inning, blasting his ninth home run of the season into the right field bullpen.
• Alex Lodise followed with his ninth home run of the season with a 359-foot solo shot to right. It was the ninth time this season that Florida State has recorded back-to-back home runs in a game.
• Daniel Cantu and Alex Lodise’s back-to-back home runs were just the fifth time players have hit back-to-back homers at the MCWS since the move to Charles Schwab Field Omaha in 2011 (Florida State’s Jaxson West and Max Williams in 2024, Florida’s Wyatt Langford and Jac Caglianone in 2023, Ole Miss’s TJ McCants, Calvin Harris and Justin Bench in 2022 and Florida State’s Quince Nieporte and Cal Raleigh in 2017). Florida State has been responsible for 3 of the 5 instances of back-to-back home runs in the MCWS since the move to Charles Schwab Field Omaha in 2011.
• Back in 2017, Florida State’s Quincy Nieporte and Cal Raleigh hit the first back-to-back homers in stadium history when the did it in the 9th inning vs. LSU (they actually did it on back-to-back pitches).
• John Abraham made just his third start of the year, falling to 5-2 overall after allowing three runs on two hits in 0.1 innings pitched.
• John Abraham becoming the fifth Florida State starting pitcher to record one of fewer outs in the MCWS and the first since Brandon Leibrandt in 2012 vs. Arizona. This was the third time in the 2024 MCWS that a starting pitcher has recorded one or fewer outs in a game (Tennessee’s Chris Stamos vs. FSU, 0.1 IP & Kentucky’s Dominic Niman vs. Florida, 0.1 IP).

All Sports

Rising Florida State swimming senior Maddy Huggins advanced to the semifinal of the women’s 200 breast at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday:

In prelims, Huggins led from start to finish in heat two, touching first with a time of 2:29.17, which was her personal best after being seeded at 2:30.85. Carrying the lead into the circle seeded heats, Huggins ended up with the ninth-fastest time overall, advancing to the semifinals.

Working in the second heat, Huggins touched eighth, just shy of the final (2:29.03).

She also swam the 100 breast on Sunday, touching 27th with a time of 1:09.81, which was just off her best (1:09.58).

Incoming freshman Logan Robinson also saw a big time drop, earning a spot in the semifinals of the men’s 200 fly.

Seeded 37th with a time of 2:00.04, Robinson clocked 1:58.37 in prelims, tying for the last spot in semifinals. Working out of lane eight, Robinson swam faster and moved up to place 13th with a time of 1:58.08.

Lleyton Arnold also competed in the men’s 200 breast, touching 41st at 2:15.18, which was just off his best (2:14.47).

Mason Herbet will compete in the 100 fly to close out U.S. Swimming Olympic Trials while Samantha Vear (3-meter) and Katrina Young (platform) are set to compete at U.S. Olympic Diving Trials.

Florida State track and field athlete Adriaan Wildschutt was selected to represent South Africa for the 2024 Olympic Games:

Wildschutt qualified for Paris, after lowering his own South African national record in the 10,000-meter at The Ten in San Juan Capistrano, California with a time of 26:55.54 in March of 2024.

In May, he competed in his first ever Diamond League meet in the 5,000, clocking a time of 12:56.67 to become the only South African to hold two national records.

Wildschutt represented his country at the World Championships in the summer of 2022 and 2023, placing 18th in the 5,000 in 2022 and 14th in the 10,000 in 2023. He also placed fifth in the 10,000 at the Commonwealth Games in 2022.

During his time at Florida State (2021-22), Wildschutt accumulated seven All-American honors in his career after joining the team in January of 2021.

Wildschutt was the ACC Performer of the Year in 2021 in cross country where he won the ACC and NCAA South Region titles before finishing sixth at the NCAA Championships. Wildschutt was a two-time USTFCCCA Men’s South Region XC Athlete of the Year, being the only Seminole in school history to earn the honor multiple times.

After COVID-19 pushed most of the cross country season to 2021, Wildschutt finished second at the NCAA Championships in March, days after placing fourth in the 5,000 at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

In the fall, he won five races throughout the season, tying the school record set by Herb Willis in 1981.

Wildschutt holds the outdoor program record in the 10,000 (27:38.54) and indoor 5,000 school record (13:09.30), which is the second-fastest time in NCAA history.

Wildschutt is the 56th Seminole with ties to FSU track and field to compete in the Olympics. He is the first to represent South Africa. FSU has had a representative in every Games since 1972.

Cristobal Del Solar has become Florida State men’s golf’s first-ever Olympian after qualifying to represent his home country of Chile:

Of the 60 qualifying golfers based on the two-year calculation of the Olympic Golf Ranking, Del Solar finished 46th.

The top-15 world-ranked players are eligible for the Olympics, with a limit of four players from a given country. Beyond the top 15, players are eligible based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two eligible players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top-15.

Del Solar has produced solid numbers during his stay on the Korn Ferry Tour, owning five Top 10 finishes in the 2023-24 season. Of the 14 events played this year, he has made 11 cuts. Recently, he finished third at the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX, shooting 19-under.

Del Solar has one lone PGA TOUR appearance this season, making the cut and tying for 48th at the Mexico Open at Vidanta on Feb. 25.

The Seminole Alum will compete as one of 60 players at Le Golf National in Guyancourt, which is just outside of Paris, from Aug. 1-4. The Olympic tournament will consist of four 18-hole stroke-play rounds, just like on the PGA TOUR, and the Top-3 finishers in the 60-player field will be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals.

While at FSU, Del Solar put together an outstanding career. He was a 2017 third-team All-American and won the Irish Creek Collegiate in that same season, capping his career with his lowest stroke average at 71.06. He was also a two-time All-ACC selection.

Among players who competed all four years at FSU, Del Solar ranks seventh all-time in lowest career stroke average at 72.10. He also has 11 career Top 10 finishes in college.

Perhaps his biggest splash was made on Feb. 8, when he became known as Mr. 57 after shooting the lowest professional golf round in history in the first round of the Korn Ferry Tour’s Astara Golf Championship.