Florida State football had an incredible season this past year all thanks to the hard work and dedication of the coaches and players who made it happen. I got the opportunity to sit down and chat with FSU defensive back Jaden Floyd, who gave me some insight into what it’s been like for him playing football for FSU.
Her Campus (HC): What made you want to play football? How did you get your start?
Jaden Floyd (JF): My dad [William Floyd] played football for Florida State from 1990 to 1993. He was a first-round draft pick by the San Francisco 49ers, played there for four years, and then went on to play for the Carolina Panthers for an additional three years. Growing up, my family was a big football family. My great-uncle played at Michigan State and my dad played at Florida State, so I was born into it. I really wanted to play growing up.
HC: Do you think your dad’s career played a big part in your decision? Were you pushed into it, or was it something you’d had your heart set on?
JF: My dad’s always been the person to say “I just support you and whatever you do, and there’s never any separation between us.” But growing up and watching his old highlights, what he did for the university — winning the national championship and then the following year winning the Super Bowl with the 49ers — it was a no brainer for me to want to play this game.
HC: Is there any advice Coach Norvell has given you that’s stuck with you?
JF: One of the biggest lessons I learned from Coach Norvell is “How you do anything is how you do everything.” At first, I didn’t really know exactly what that meant. But the more I’ve been around him and the team, I’ve grown to know that it means that if you can do something right, then you can do everything right, and if you can do something wrong, you can do everything wrong.
We also have this thing called Climb. The “L” in climb stands for “little things.” We make sure we do the little things right so we can get to the big things and achieve our big goals.
HC: What’s your favorite pre-game ritual?
JF: Before the game and before we warm up in full pads, we’ll go out in our pride pack [a sleeveless hoodie and some shorts], walk around the field together as a team, and then we’ll pray with each other. And then after that, we’ll warm up together. It’s just soothing to get a feel of the atmosphere before it even starts.
HC: Is there anything interesting that goes on behind the scenes or in the locker rooms that you’d like to share?
JF: The locker room is filled with a bunch of fun, you know? Just being around the guys, having conversations about life, football, us doing a little shadow boxing game, just dancing and playing music before and after the game — it’s a good time. The team really gels together. We’re a family, and I feel like that’s one of the most important things with any football team.
HC: What’s a core memory from a game that really had an impact on you?
JF: My favorite game was definitely in 2022 when we played against the University of Florida. It was the first time we’d beat them in five years at that point. I remember the last play of that game where it was fourth down and we needed a stop to win the game. I could just hear the Doak crowd erupting. As soon as the ball came out of the quarterback’s hands, you could hear the crowd stop for a second. Once it went incomplete, you just heard [people] going crazy. It was awesome. And then when everyone stormed the field at the end of it, it was icing on the cake.
HC: What’s your favorite thing about playing football for FSU?
JF: The atmosphere. The tradition of Osceola planting the spear at midfield and the band playing the war chant in front of 80,000 people, it doesn’t get any better than that. Since I was five years old, I’ve wanted to play football at Florida State in that environment I saw growing up. The atmosphere now exceeded my expectations.
HC: Are you involved with any other activities at FSU?
JF: I’m involved in Seminole Productions. I’ll work different sporting events, so sometimes they’ll have me on camera or sometimes they’ll have me in the control room, helping out with the lighting for the cameras. It’s like my outlet outside of football, just working with media and things like that. I even have my own YouTube channel where I post things about my daily life and things about the team, and I’ve just really enjoyed doing that. I really take pride in school spirit and going to cheer on the other sports because of the amount of work that we put in, they put in just as much work for their sport, so I feel like it’s important to go support them.
HC: What are you most excited about for the upcoming season?
JF: I’m excited to see which strides we make compared to the last season. Obviously, last year was a milestone year for us, so I feel like it’ll be really important for us to come out with that same fire. It’ll be really interesting to see how we respond compared to last year.
At the end of our conversation, I asked Floyd if there were any fun facts about himself that he wanted to share, to which he seemed eager to answer:
- He is 25 percent Asian.
- His favorite food is seafood.
- He likes to line dance (especially to “I See Country” by Ian Munsick and “Raised Like That” by James Johnston).
To keep up with Jaden Floyd, you can follow him on Instagram and subscribe to his YouTube channel!
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