Mike Norvell, Josh Storms provide promising update on FSU WR Winston Wright

The latest on Winston Wright prior to the Seminoles opening spring practice on Monday.

Florida State's roster is deep at a multitude of positions as the team prepares to begin spring practice next week. 

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One position that will elicit a lot of competition over the next couple of months are the wide receivers. The Seminoles are bringing back their leading receiver from a season ago alongside multiple other experienced options and a five-star true freshman.

With that being said, Florida State has a wild card in the fold that could take the unit to the next level - Winston Wright. After transferring into the program last offseason alongside Johnny Wilson, Mycah Pittman, and Deuce Spann, Wright was expected to be a significant contributor.

Instead, he suffered a leg injury shortly after the team began spring practice during a car accident in which Wright was a passenger. There was hope he would return at some point in 2022 but that never came to fruition despite him clearing hurdles in the rehab process.

On Thursday morning, the Georgia native put together a promising workout during Florida State's final Tour of Duty session of winter conditioning. At multiple points, Wright cranked up the gear to top speed while also going through a variety of cuts and lateral movements. He didn't appear to be limited or favoring the leg as we saw at times last fall.

Following the session, head coach Mike Norvell dove into Wright's progress, calling him one of the standouts during Tour of Duty.

According to Norvell, Wright will enter the spring without any limitations and his explosiveness is beginning to return.

"It’s great having Winston back out and working, just some of the things that he’s done," Norvell said on Thursday morning. "Just that story in general.”

"He has gotten to the point where it's just like everyone else. Where he's out there and he's working, he's pushing himself. There's always going to be things that, just like guys, anybody that's ever had an injury, there's gonna be some things that we make sure we're doing all that we can to help him be his best but there's not a limitation with him," Norvell continued. "Now it's just about getting better in all things. He didn't play this last year. There were some things we wanted to see, feel that explosiveness, see that end, you know, I'm starting to see that. I saw that, you know, a lot of time here within this Tour of Duty workouts, but I mean, he was active and rolling in everyone of them and there's some things that we were smart with just, you know, just with him as we're continuing to build that endurance, but I mean, he's been remarkable."

Outside of the head coach, there aren't many positions as important on staff as the Director of Strength & Conditioning. They spend as much time alongside the player as anyone and are crucial to the development of college programs on and off the field. 

Florida State has a good one in Josh Storms, who understands the push and pull between pushing players to their limit and maximizing their ability.

Storms says that Wright has made "remarkable" progress over the last year and credits that to his mindset.

"That's been a long, hard path for him. But if there's any kid who is ever cut out to face that adversity and come out on top of it, it's Winston Wright," Storms said. That kid's mindset is a different mindset than most young men his age and that's a guy who came in every day, nose to the grindstone, pouring into that rehab process, trying to maximize everything until he's full go again in the weight room. To the point now where he's kind of back full go across the board."

"There's still some steps in front of him of managing the workload, us keeping an eye on the data and things like that but from what he went through basically just shy of a year ago to where he's at now, he's been nothing short of remarkable."

These are certainly the most positive updates that we've received from the coaching staff in over a year. Wright's return could prove to be a big boost alongside Johnny Wilson, Mycah Pittman, Kentron Poitier, Darion Williamson, Ja'Khi Douglas, and Deuce Spann as the Seminoles look to replace Ontaria Wilson and Malik McClain.

FSU is also bringing in a pair of newcomers this spring, Hykeem Williams and Vandrevius Jacobs.

While Wright didn't play for the Seminoles last year, he was extremely productive during three years at West Virginia. He caught 129 passes for 1338 yards and seven touchdowns on offense while returning 50 kickoffs for 1,236 yards and two touchdowns. 

That included a career-high 63 catches for 588 yards and five receiving touchdowns in 2021. He also averaged 26.9 yards per kick return that season and brought one back for a score.

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