Norvell makes additions to FSU football staff

Seminoles.com

Florida State has hired Nate Andrews and Sabbath Joseph to its football staff and promoted Cooper Williams, head coach Mike Norvell announced last Friday.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to have Nate, Sabbath and Cooper in these roles on our staff,” Norvell said. “Each of them brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience that will benefit our student-athletes and staff. Nate won a national championship here and understands what it takes to reach the highest levels of success. Sabbath’s resume as a player and coach at one of the top programs in Miami is unmatched, and his passion is going to be fantastic for our program. Cooper has been with us every year that I’ve been a head coach and I’m looking forward to the positive impact he will have in his new role.”

Andrews, who helped FSU win a national title in 2013 and advance to the first College Football Playoff in 2014, will work as a graduate assistant on defense. He returns to Tallahassee after three seasons as a graduate assistant at Tennessee. He earned Freshman All-America and third-team All-ACC honors as a true freshman while helping FSU win its third national championship.

Andrews led the team in interceptions and forced fumbles in each of his first two seasons, and his four interceptions in 2013 ranked fifth in the ACC. The Fairhope, Ala., native appeared in 55 games with 20 starts and finished his FSU career with 189 tackles, 4.5 for loss, eight interceptions, 13 pass breakups, five forced fumbles and two sacks. He was named defensive MVP of the 2017 Independence Bowl in his final game for the Seminoles.

Joseph will serve as a defense analyst for the Seminoles. The former University of South Florida standout linebacker was linebackers coach at Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens last season after a seven-year stint coaching at Miami Central High School. 

As defensive coordinator, recruiting coordinator and linebackers coach, Joseph helped lead the Rockets during a run of four consecutive 6A state championships behind a defense that produced more than 40 Division I scholarship student-athletes, 20 all-state honorees and three Under Armour All-American linebackers.

As a player at USF, the Miami native accumulated 124 tackles, including 12 for loss with three sacks, three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one interception and seven pass breakups in 48 games played. He was a 6A first-team all-state selection his senior year at Miami Central and was ranked as the 10th-best senior prospect in Miami by the Miami Herald.

Williams was a two-year letterman on the offensive line at Memphis and will be a graduate assistant on offense. After redshirting in 2014, he saw action in 2015 and 2016 and helped the Tigers reach a bowl game each of his three years.

Williams also earned recognition for his work in the classroom, including being named to the inaugural American Athletic Conference All-Academic Football Team. He was a student assistant for the Tigers in 2017 and moved into an analyst role for Norvell in 2018 and 2019. Williams, a native of Memphis, served as an offense assistant last season on Norvell’s first staff at FSU.