Five Coaches With Ties to the Seminoles Participate In Florida State's Mega Camp

Coaches from over 30 programs were in Tallahassee over the weekend for Florida State's Mega Camp, including a few with ties to the Seminoles.

Florida State hosted its third annual Mega Camp under head coach Mike Norvell over the weekend. The camp featured around one thousand players and also included a variety of college programs from all different levels of the sport.

Over 30 teams from the FBS (Akron, California, Coastal Carolina, FAU, Georgia Southern Indiana, Marshall, Middle Tennessee State, Toledo, Charlotte, Western Michigan), FCS (Alabama A&M, Bryant, FAMU, Howard, Jackson State, North Alabama, Prairie View A&M, Tennessee Tech, Virginia Military Institute), D2 (Albany State, Valdosta State, Limestone, Miles College, Mississippi College), D3 (Maryville College, Millsaps College, Wabash), and NAIA (Indiana Wesleyan) had representatives in Tallahassee.

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The crop of coaches contained a variety of familiar faces, including five coaches that either played or coached previously at Florida State. For the second straight year, Indiana offensive coordinator and quarterbacks Walt Bell made an appearance on campus. 

Bell was joined by a couple of other names that might ring a bell for Seminole fans - Appalachian State wide receivers coach Lawrence Dawsey, Marshall offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Clint Trickett, Florida Atlantic safeties coach Derrick Gibson, and Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Stockstill.

The most recent of the bunch to come through Florida State, Bell was with the program for one season in 2018. The Seminoles finished 5-7, snapping their legendary bowl streak before he moved on to UMass for his first head coaching job. Bell 2-23 over part of three seasons prior to being fired. He's entering his second season at Indiana.

Dawsey starred at wide receiver for Florida State from 1987-90 and spent seven years in the NFL. He began his coaching career at USF before returning to Tallahassee in 2007 as wide receivers coach. Dawsey was with the Seminoles for ten years through the end of Bobby Bowden's tenure and the entirety of Jimbo Fisher's time with the program.

He grew into the co-offensive coordinator in 2017 but wasn't retained by the program after Fisher left for Texas A&M at the end of that year. He eventually joined the Aggies as an offensive analyst from 2020-21. Dawsey is gearing up for his second season with Appalachian State.

Trickett began his college career at Florida State from 2010-12. He was forced into an expanded role in 2011 with starter EJ Manuel dealing with injuries. Trickett finished the game against Oklahoma before starting in back-to-back conference games against Clemson and Wake Forest. He eventually transferred to West Virginia to conclude his playing career. Trickett totaled 470/758 passes for 5,837 yards with 32 passing touchdowns to 21 interceptions.

He kicked off his coaching career the following year with a two-year stint at East Mississippi Community College where he was featured on Netflix's Last Chance U. Trickett joined Lane Kiffin at FAU in 2017 as tight ends coach. He was promoted to co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach during his final year with the program in 2020. Trickett landed at Marshall as wide receivers coach before growing into offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach this past season.

Gibson played for the Seminoles from 1997-2000, totaling 213 tackles, nine tackles for loss, two sacks, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, 16 pass deflections, seven interceptions and a defensive touchdown. He played in three national championships during his time in Tallahassee, winning one. Gibson was drafted by the then Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 2001 NFL Draft.

Following his playing career, he joined Miami Central High School as defensive coordinator from 2009-18. Gibson spent two years as the head coach at Miami Killian before being hired by former head coach Willie Taggart at Florida Atlantic. He was retained by current head coach Tom Herman.

Stockstill was a quarterback in Tallahassee under Bobby Bowden from 1977-81. Since then, he's built a long coaching career that has included stops at Bethune-Cookman, UCF, Clemson, East Carolina, South Carolina, and Middle Tennessee State. The Blue Raiders provided Stockstill with his first job as a head coach in 2006 and he hasn't looked back.

The former Seminole has compiled a 109-103 record and led Middle Tennessee State to ten bowl appearances, finishing 4-6. He's guided the program to a 15-11 record over the past two years with victories in the Bahamas Bowl and Hawaii Bowl. Stockstill was at the forefront of the team's blowout win in Coral Gables in 2022 - one of the key reasons Miami didn't finish bowl eligible during its first season under Mario Cristobal.

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