Alex Mastromanno had traveled but never to the United States. His first trip here was when he moved more than 10,000 miles from Australia to Tallahassee to come to Florida State and be a student-athlete. Adjusting to college life in a new city is a challenge for many freshmen. Mastromanno was moving a world away from his hometown of Melbourne,…
Camren McDonald isn’t just intent on setting goals, a list of what he wants to do after graduation and what he’d like to achieve in life. He’s driven to make a difference now. The Florida State junior tight end decided in 2020 to start a non-profit, the Making Change Foundation, with the intent on serving pizza and food to those…
Amari Gainer is Florida State’s leading tackler. He also has more tackles for loss than any of his teammates. But the tackles that have endeared him to Seminole fans are those he’s made way down the field after others have given up. Those effort tackles define No. 33. “Run to the ball,” the highly-recruited linebacker said. “That’s a little thing…
Sue Semrau treats her players like they are her daughters. After 24 years of putting her Florida State family first, sacrificing time with her mom and dad, it was time for Semrau to return home to help care for her mom, who is battling cancer. Semrau announced in September that she would take a one-year leave of absence from coaching the women’s…
Kenneth Crawford recalls watching Lawrance Toafili play his first snaps of JV football at Pinellas Park High. It was clear the freshman would soon be on varsity. “First game he touched the ball six times — he scored six times,” said Crawford, Pinellas Park’s varsity head coach. “He’s faster than people think. You double that with his vision. But probably…
Growing up in a small suburb east of Evansville, Ind., Jessica Nunge had a very competitive upbringing. Not only were her parents former collegiate athletes, but her older brother and sister are also collegiate athletes. So, when the entire family is home, one could imagine the level of petty remarks that get flung around the dinner table. The ones that…
Keyshawn Helton is a ‘Yes, sir. No, sir’ kind of kid. A diminutive 5-foot-9 and 171 pounds, the lightly recruited Pensacola native is a fierce competitor who draws upon an inspiring work ethic and burning passion to have become a collegiate playmaker. What’s more, Helton is the kind of kid who leaves you feeling a little bit more hopeful about…
Some of Jaelin Howell’s earliest memories are of playing soccer. And, looking back, Howell can laugh about how she didn’t love the sport. “I played a lot of sports,” Howell said. “First couple of years I didn’t love it. I wasn’t that good at it and I continued to pursue it just because of the teams I was on. By…
Amari Gainer grew up in Tallahassee, in a football family, the son of a Florida State player. Many of his fall Saturdays included trips to Doak Campbell Stadium, and one of his good friends was Trey Fisher, Jimbo’s son. When the time came to make a decision on where the Chiles High star would attend college, Gainer was torn. He…
“The higher they climb, the harder they fall” is a proverb used to describe the challenges celebrities face when life breaks bad. But former Florida State running back Sammie Smith is living a life that proves “The harder they fall, the higher they can bounce, too.” Blessed from birth with an abundance of physical and intellectual gifts, as well as a…
