Thomas Castellanos hasn’t taken a snap under center for Florida State football yet, but he’s confident in what he can do in his first year in the Seminoles’ quarterback room.
That confidence included taking a shot at the Seminoles’ first opponent of the 2025 college football season — Alabama — in an interview with On3’s Pete Nakos.
“I’m excited, man,” Castellanos told Nakos. “People, I don’t know if they know, but you go back and watch every first game that I played in, we always start fast. I dreamed of moments like this. I dreamed of playing against Alabama. They don’t have Nick Saban to save them. I just don’t see them stopping me.”
One can’t question Castellanos’ confidence, but that’s also quite the shot toward the Crimson Tide and second-year coach Kalen DeBoer, who took over for legendary head coach Nick Saban.
The first-year Boston College transfer is expected to be named Florida State’s starter for this upcoming season. The 5-foot-9 quarterback announced his decision to transfer to Florida State on Dec. 11, 2024 after he abruptly departed the Eagles following a benching by Boston College coach Bill O’Brien. The Seminoles are coming off a 2-10 season.
In his two seasons at Boston College, Castellanos completed 58.6% of his passes for 3,614 yards, 33 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. His best rushing season at Boston College came in 2022, when he finished with 13 rushing touchdowns and 1,113 rushing yards. Castellanos began his collegiate career at UCF under now-FSU offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.
Both the Crimson Tide and Seminoles will have new starting quarterbacks in their season opener, as former Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the third round of the NFL draft.
Florida State and Alabama are scheduled to open up the 2025 college football season on Aug. 30 at 3:30 p.m. ET at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee — the first meeting between both programs since 2017, when they were ranked as top-three teams in the country.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU QB Thomas Castellanos: Alabama doesn’t have ‘Nick Saban to save them’ in opener
Reporting by John Leuzzi, USA TODAY NETWORK / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
