Terry pushes through pain to help Seminoles
Florida State receiver Tamorrion Terry says a conversation with coach Mike Norvell helped him refocus after the redshirt junior struggled to meet high expectations while coping with personal challenges.
“He said a lot of things to me. A lot of great things and a lot of things I needed to hear,” Terry said of the talk he had with the Seminoles’ first-year coach a few weeks ago.
“The things he told me, I just need to be that man that he wants me to be and be that leader. I took all that in and I took it to practice and it showed up on game day.
“All the things he told me and we talked about, I felt where he was coming from and I took it and ran with it.”
Terry finished with a season highs in catches (9) and receiving yards (146) during FSU’s 42-26 loss at Notre Dame Saturday night. The highlight was a 48-yard touchdown catch at the end of the first quarter.
The standout receiver has struggled much of this season, dealing with a knee injury that limited him during the team’s loss to Miami. He also lost his grandmother, who died right before the Georgia Tech game on Sept. 12.
Terry said despite the adversity, he’s been trying to do whatever he can to help the Seminoles this season.
“For me, myself, I haven’t been playing like I was supposed to play because I’m going through a lot right now and it’s hard for me, but a lot of people don’t understand that and a lot of people don’t know where I’m coming from right now,” said Terry, who is coming off a season in which he became the first FSU receiver with at least 1,000 receiving yards since Rashad Greene in 2014.
“I’m trying to give it my all and try to help the team out however I can and however I can do that, I’ll always do that.”
Receivers coach Ron Duggans has tried to provide Terry with a shoulder to lean on.
“It starts early on in the process,” said Dugans, who is in his second season coaching the Seminoles’ receivers. “As far as showing your guys that you really care about them, that starts with not only giving them tough love and being demanding and holding them accountable, but it’s also celebrating when they do right.
“That led to the point where Terry had a few things he was going through off the field and maybe a few struggles on the field. You just take him under your wing and you tell him let’s focus on what we can control.”
Dugans, who spent four years at FSU from 199599, credits his former coach Bobby Bowden for helping him when he was struggling.
“He told me, ‘Don’t pray for a lighter load. Pray for a stronger back.’ Myself, I was going through some things on and off the field. Some struggles,” Dugans said.
He said he’s leaned on his personal experience to help him earn players’ trust.
“Once you show that you can be trusted by young men and then they’re willing to do what you say,” he said.
Dugans said Terry’s newfound focus on the practice field has caught the attention of the other receivers.
“All the guys sitting together at the dinner table, communicating, having fun and having a good time,” said Dugans. “Then at practice, guys seeing him do the little things. Guys seeing that he’s finishing, blocking downfield, giving great effort. Other guys see it and they want to do the same thing.
“I always tell guys, that’s contagious.”
Terry knows his performance on the practice field can inspire his teammates.
“I felt like if I’m practicing good and I’ve got something going on for myself, I feel like the receivers, all the young guys look at me too. So if I’m practicing good and I’m not showing that weakness or anything like that, then I feel like everybody is going to come together,” Terry said.
“If I keep that energy and that momentum going, then I feel like we’ll be good.”
Travis practicing
Norvell said quarterback Jordan Travis participated in practice Tuesday despite appearing to injure his right hand late in the fourth quarter against Notre Dame Saturday.
Travis said after the loss he needs to work on avoiding punishing hits.
“I’m learning I have to get down and protect myself a little bit,” said Travis, who accounted for 300 yards and two touchdowns during the team’s loss to the Fighting Irish. “I have to do a lot better because there were hits out there that were unnecessary that I didn’t have to take and I could have gotten down. So I just have to work on that.”