FSU football: Give Josh Storms His Flowers
Florida State players are doing quite well at the NFL Combine. Strength and Conditioning Coach Josh Storms and his staff are a big reason why.
It is no secret that Florida State had quite a few NFL-caliber players on their 2023 roster. From known quantities like Jared Verse to less heralded players like Renardo Green, every draft eligible player for the Seminoles aimed to make what would likely be their last season in the Garnet and Gold count. They followed through with Florida State’s best season in ten years.
Now those same players are testing at the NFL Combine, and they are blowing the scouts and NFL fans away. Multiple FSU players are testing in the 80th and 90th percentile across multiple categories tested by the NFL Combine. Braden Fiske in particular has raised his draft stock significantly with eye-popping testing numbers coupled with a standout performance in the Senior Bowl.
How are these FSU players producing such eye-popping numbers? The players themselves are naturally gifted with God-given ability, and they deserve all the credit in the world for buying into the process of Mike Norvell’s program. However, there is one component of all this success that should not go unnoticed. That component is a man named Josh Storms.
Who is Josh Storms? Josh Storms is the Director of Strength & Conditioning (S&C) for the Florida State football program, and was the first coach that Mike Norvell brought with him when he arrived from Memphis. Why does that matter? Every elite college football coach will tell you the most important hire a first time head coach makes is the S&C coach.
The S&C coach spends more time with the players than any other coach, even the head coach. The NCAA limits how many hours Coach Norvell and his assistants have access to the players. Coach Storms does not have those same restrictions as he is running the workouts and off-season conditioning programs for the players.
The S&C coach sets the tone and the culture the head coach wishes to establish for the program. It is vital that the head coach trusts his S&C coach to execute his vision of what he wants his program to be. It is safe to say that Coach Storms has done his job and then some to establish the program Coach Norvell wants.
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Exhibit A is this tweet from Jaheim Bell. Coach Storms has done an outstanding job of developing a program that helps players get stronger and maximize their athletic ability to its fullest potential. The success of a college football strength and conditioning program lies with buy-in, and it’s easy to buy-in when you have a coach as credentialed as Josh Storms.
Coach Storms earned the Master Strength and Conditioning Coach certification in 2018 as awarded by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCa). This is the highest honor in the S&C coaching profession. Coach Storms is in the company of the elite S&C coaches like Oklahoma State’s Rob Glass and Ohio State’s Mickey Marotti by holding this certification.
The performance of our players in the NFL Combine will have many in the coaching profession taking notice of Coach Storms and his team. It would not shock me at all if programs or franchises start showing serious interest in him to lead their S&C program. When compared to other S&C coaches in terms of salaries, it can be argued that Coach Storms is grossly underpaid. Storms is ranked 31st in salary making $420,000 a year.
For comparison, Florida’s recently demoted S&C coach Mark Hocke made $750,000 yearly. I believe that the Florida State administration needs to rework Coach Storms’ contract to reflect that he is one of the premier S&C coaches in college football.
As long as Coach Storms and his team are in Tallahassee, the Florida State football team will have their full athletic potential maximized. I am confident that his development of the players in this NFL draft class will pay dividends for future recruiting classes.