'That's my brother': Mike Norvell, FSU football players react to Jordan Travis' brutal injury

Florida State football's 58-13 win over North Alabama on Saturday will likely be remembered for one play in the first quarter than the victory.

In FSU's final drive of the first quarter, quarterback Jordan Travis was taken down at the North Alabama 49-yard line on a 16-yard keep and would not get up.

Upon video replay, it was apparent that Travis had suffered a severe injury to his left leg.

He'd end up getting carted off the field and into an ambulance, leaving the game. Both the FSU and North Alabama sidelines surrounded Travis when he was being lifted onto the cart.

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FSU head coach Mike Norvell said in the post-game press conference that he does not have an update on Travis, but spoke about the injury and its impact on the team and himself.

"It's hard any time you see any player go down, but obviously, Jordan is so important to this team," Norvell said. "Not just as the quarterback, but just who he is and what he stands for."

"When you see a player get hurt and not really knowing what that's going to be, but obviously it was something that it was emotional, and it was emotional for everybody."

Finishing for 13

Following the injury FSU responded on the scoreboard. The Seminoles were down 13-0 in the first quarter but rattled off 58 straight points for a dominant victory. Norvell said the team battled through adversity and rose to the occasion, but at the same time still felt the impact of losing Travis.

When asked about blocking out what had happened to focus on the rest of the game, Norvell said that he couldn't say that he was able to do that.

"Any time somebody gets hurt, it hurts. It's painful to see. It's painful to have to go through," Norvell said. "You just want so bad for that kid because he does everything right. He really is just a special, special young man.

"I can't say that I did block it out. You go and you coach and you do everything, just like I said earlier, for the players that are out there on the field. I went to them too, but it doesn't lessen anything of the impact of when you have any players that go down."

When asked about Travis his teammates said they didn't want to talk about it, emotional about the topic. Defensive back Jarrian Jones and defensive lineman Dennis Briggs Jr. were the only players to answer questions on Travis' injury saying Travis is " our brother" and he's "our guy".

"I wouldn't say it was difficult to respond, but that's our leader," Jones said. "That's our guy. That's my brother. I don't know how to -- that's Trav, man. Ain't nothing in the world we won't do for him. To see him go through that and while he was on the ground just saying, I'm good, I'm good, like, that's him. That's J. Trav."

"We just had to come back and finish it for J. Trav. I knew what J. Trav would have wanted us to do. I know how he would have felt in the moment. That's really all I have to say about that."

Briggs followed up on the comment saying that the team is forever going to have his [Travis'] back.

Tate Rodemaker steps in at QB

Redshirt junior quarterback Tate Rodemaker entered the game after Travis' exit. He completed 13-of-23 passes for 217 yards and two touchdowns. It was a performance that allowed FSU to come back and take over a game that it was heavily favored in.

Norvell and FSU players were impressed and proud of Rodemaker's performance.

"I thought he [Rodemaker] was great," Norvell said. "There were a few mistakes, a few things that you could tell everything was rolling for him, but he has been preparing all season...Our guys have a lot of confidence in Tate because they watch him practice every day. They know the talent. They know the ability."

"Tate has been here for four years," running back Lawrance Toafili said. "He came in with me. He has been prepping for this. I know he is ready. He is ready to step up to the plate."

Freshman quarterback Brock Glenn came into the game in the fourth quarter, completing 2-of-3 passes for 35 yards and rushing in for a touchdown.

Travis posted a video on his Instagram story, from the hospital, watching the game and congratulating Glenn on his first career touchdown, saying: "Hell yeah @b1glenn congratulation brother".

FSU players and fans have taken to X following the game posting pictures, videos and messages of Travis under the #finishfor13. It's unknown what the severity of his injury is or what his timeline of recovery looks like, but one thing is certain Travis is on the minds of his teammates, coaches and the FSU faithful.

"We've been through a lot. We've been through a lot of adversity," Norvell said. "We've been through a lot of challenges as a team and as a program, but I am very proud of our guys for just the way that they do all things that they do. We're going to continue to push and going to continue to get better."

Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams. 

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU football players, head coach Mike Norvell react to Jordan Travis' injury