Florida State, Alabama War of Words Continues: ‘Disrespect Will be Addressed’

The Alabama Crimson Tide travel to Tallahassee to play the Florida State Seminoles on Aug. 30, in one of the headline games in Week 1 of the 2025 college football season — and there has been plenty of chirping from Florida State’s starting quarterback.

Speaking about Alabama earlier this offseason, Florida State quarterback Thomas Castellanos said he couldn’t see the Crimson Tide “stopping” him and that “they don’t have Nick Saban to save them” — not to be mistaken with Prospector telling Woody “that silly Buzz Lightweight can’t help you” in “Toy Story 2”; Saban retired following the 2023 season after 17 years at the helm and winning six national titles at Alabama.

A video surfaced earlier this week of Castellanos saying that he “just wanted to instill some confidence” in his team. Nevertheless, Alabama defensive lineman Tim Keenan III had a direct response when asked about Castellanos.

“Disrespect will be addressed,” Keenan said at SEC Media Days on Wednesday, according to AL.com.

Last season, Keenan, who stands at 6-foot-2 and 335 pounds, totaled 2.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss and 40 combined tackles. Keenan is entering his redshirt senior season at Alabama, with whom he has spent his entire collegiate career (2022-present) and started the past two seasons.

As for Castellanos, the senior quarterback transferred to Florida State after two seasons at Boston College (2023-24) and one season at UCF (2022). Last season, Castellanos totaled 1,366 passing yards, 18 passing touchdowns, five interceptions and a 163.4 passer rating, while completing 61.5% of his passes in eight games. The year prior (2023), he posted a 121.0 passer rating, completed 57.3% of his passes but also rushed for 1,113 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Both Alabama and Florida State are coming off underwhelming seasons but in vastly different contexts. Alabama went 9-4 (5-3 in SEC play), the most losses it has recorded in a single season since going 7-6 in 2007 in what was Saban’s first season as Alabama’s head coach, in what was Kalen DeBoer’s first season as head coach.

Meanwhile, Florida State, which went 13-1 in 2023 and had many clamoring for its inclusion in the College Football Playoff after going 13-0 before bowl season, finished the 2024 season at 2-10 (ACC-worst 1-7 in conference play). It was the Seminoles’ lowest win total since winning just one game in the 1974 season.

Thomas Castellanos helped Boston College get a Week 2 win on the road against Florida State in the 2024 season. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

This will be just the sixth time that the Crimson Tide and Seminoles face off, with Alabama winning the last matchup between the two teams in 2017, 24-7, in what was a neutral site game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, GA.

Each of their last two matchups came at a neutral site, with the upcoming Week 1 matchup being the first time that they’ll play on a college campus since 1974 and the first time Florida State will host Alabama. The Crimson Tide are 3-1-1 in the all-time head-to-head matchup.

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