TALLAHASSEE – Florida State will send quarterback Tommy Castellanos, defensive lineman Darrell Jackson Jr., defensive back Earl Little Jr. and offensive lineman Richie Leonard IV with head coach Mike Norvell to the ACC Kickoff event on Wednesday, July 23.
 
All 17 ACC football programs will take place in the annual media event July 22-24 at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown in Charlotte, North Carolina.
 
Castellanos, a senior transfer from Boston College, will make his second consecutive appearance at the event after representing the Eagles last season. The Waycross, Georgia, native made 20 career starts for the Eagles over the 2023-24 seasons, passing for 33 touchdowns and 3,614 yards and rushing for 15 scores and 1,307 yards. He became the only player in Boston College history with 2,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a season in 2023, passing for 2,248 yards and 15 touchdowns and rushing for 1,113 yards and 13 touchdowns. He capped that season as MVP of the Fenway Bowl after rushing for a career-high 156 yards and two touchdowns against SMU. Last season, Castellanos was responsible for 20 touchdowns and accounted for at least one touchdown in all eight games he played.
 
Jackson, from Havana, Florida, has started Florida State’s last 13 games, including all 12 in 2024. The redshirt senior recorded 32 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks, one pass breakup and one forced fumble last year en route to All-ACC honorable mention recognition. At No. 6 Miami, Jackson had four tackles, including a career-high 2.0 sacks and a forced fumble against his former team. Over 38 games in his career, Jackson has 83 tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.
 
Little, from Fort Lauderdale, played all 12 games last year for the Seminoles, finishing with 15 tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss and 1.0 sack. After switching from the nickel position to safety midway through 2024, Little had a career-high six tackles at Miami, including four solo stops. He added three tackles in the season finale vs. Florida and two tackles against North Carolina. His sack came in FSU’s home opener against Boston College and was the first of his career. He was named FSU’s Special Teams Newcomer of the Year.
 
Leonard played in four games with three starts before a season-ending injury halted his progress in 2024. A redshirt senior offensive lineman from Cocoa, Leonard was FSU’s starting left guard against Georgia Tech and Boston College and earned the start at right guard against Memphis. For his career, Leonard has 17 starts over 35 games, including starting all 12 games in 2023 at left guard for Florida. He played a team-high 755 snaps that season for the Gators.
 
Norvell enters his sixth season as Florida State’s head coach, a year removed from earning the Dodd Trophy and Bryant Awards as the nation’s best coach in 2023. That season, Norvell also was named ACC Coach of the Year, joining the legendary Bobby Bowden as the only FSU coaches to earn the conference’s top coaching honor, and the AFCA Regional 1 Coach of the Year. The fifth-longest tenured active head coach in the ACC, Norvell placed a program-high 30 members on the All-ACC Academic Team a year ago. For his career, Norvell’s teams are averaging 34.7 points per game, the fourth-most among head coaches active each year from 2016-25.
 
Florida State will open the 2025 season in the renovated Doak Campbell Stadium on August 30 at 3:30 p.m. against Alabama. The contest will air nationally on ABC.