FSU’s argument for DBU hinges on producing elite, game-changing defensive backs, even if their numbers are slightly lower. Besides being the alma Since 2000, FSU has sent 25 defensive backs to the NFL, with 16 drafted since 2010. Jalen Ramsey and Derwin James are the crown jewels. Ramsey, a three-time First-Team All-Pro and seven-time Pro Bowler, is arguably the NFL’s premier corner, with 22 interceptions and 99 passes defensed. James, a two-time First-Team All-Pro safety, combines physicality and coverage prowess for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Other contributors like Xavier Rhodes, Ronald Darby, and Lamarcus Joyner have also made significant NFL impacts, with FSU’s eight defensive backs in 2017 grading above 70 on PFF’s scale, including two elite performers.
FSU’s 25 NFL defensive backs have fewer interceptions (around 400 estimated) than LSU or Ohio State, but their high-end talent is unmatched. The Seminoles’ focus on quality over quantity makes them a strong contender, though their lower draft volume is a drawback.
The Verdict
Ohio State earns the DBU title for its unmatched draft volume, recent first-round dominance, and 971 career interceptions by NFL alumni. LSU is a close second, with its star-studded roster and five All-Pros, but falls short in total draftees. FSU’s elite talent, led by Ramsey and James, makes them a quality-driven contender, while Washington’s consistent production and All-Pro performers keep them in the conversation. The DBU debate will rage on, but Ohio State’s numbers give them the edge—for now.
It marks the eighth time in his career that Ramsey has been selected to the Pro Bowl.
James was selected in back-to-back years and for the fifth time in his career.
Burns would be the leader for Defensive Player of the Year if not for Myles Garrett's special season. It will mark his third time being a part of the Pro Bowl and first time as a member of the Giants.
Verse, who was the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year last season, will be making his second consecutive appearance in the event.
The biggest potential snub among Florida State Seminoles in the NFL for this year's Pro Bowl is outside linebacker Josh Sweat of the Arizona Cardinals. He has 11 sacks in 15 games this season, which is tied for ninth-most in the league and fourth-most in the NFC. He was voted as an alternate for the event.
The FSU Board of Trustees met virtually Dec. 22 to approve a Les and Ruth Akers Community Hall within the College of Music as well as the Price Family Team Building, which is the new name of the soccer and softball building – a shared facility between the university’s soccer and softball complexes on campus that is made up of locker rooms and offices.
When it comes to the Les and Ruth Akers Community Hall, the name comes as the philanthropic couple have a total lifetime giving of about $10 million, according to FSU College of Music Dean Todd Queen.
FSU facility bears family name of ‘long-standing giver’
Besides the renaming of the College of Music’s community hall, the soccer and softball building’s new name is a result of the the Price family's $1 million donation to the university, where $500,000 has already been paid while the remaining committed amount will be paid at a later date.
Scott Price, a second-generation FSU College of Business alumnus and Tampa native, received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the university in 1997. He is founder and CEO of Tampa-based A-LIGN, a prominent and award-winning global cybersecurity company.
The Herbert Wertheim Center for Business Excellence.
Florida State University’s College of Business will take a monumental step in advancing its reputation as one of the top public business schools in the nation thanks to a $65 million philanthropic investment from Dr. Herbert Wertheim.
Wertheim is a billionaire optometrist, inventor, businessman, philanthropist and the founder and president of Brain Power Incorporated (BPI), the world’s largest manufacturer of optical tints. He is renowned for his extensive philanthropic and leadership efforts, particularly in public education, health, and the arts, as chairman of his Family’s Foundation.
Wertheim’s commitment includes financial support to endow and name the college the Herbert Wertheim College of Business and rename Legacy Hall, the college’s world-class new building, the Herbert Wertheim Center for Business Excellence. His investment is the largest philanthropic endowment gift in FSU’s history and the second-largest philanthropic gift FSU has ever received.
“My belief in the transformative power of education and healthcare inspires me every day, and I am truly excited to partner with Florida State University to help lift the College of Business to new heights,” Wertheim said. “Together, we will empower students and future leaders to drive meaningful progress, advance innovation in healthcare and business, and create lasting opportunities that benefit our communities and the world.”
“My belief in the transformative power of education and healthcare inspires me every day, and I am truly excited to partner with Florida State University to help lift the College of Business to new heights. Together, we will empower students and future leaders to drive meaningful progress, advance innovation in healthcare and business, and create lasting opportunities that benefit our communities and the world.” — Dr. Herbert Wertheim
Significantly, Wertheim’s remarkable investment comes as the college moves into its new facility, located just south of the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, and celebrates its 75th anniversary as a separate academic unit. Also, college officials expect a record 10,000 students for the spring semester.
“We are extremely grateful and humbled by the incredible generosity of Dr. Wertheim,” said FSU President Richard McCullough. “This transformational philanthropic investment will propel the college forward and empower generations of future leaders in the global marketplace.”
In addition to naming the college, the philanthropic investment creates several endowed funds to support various initiatives within the college, including faculty development, Horatio Alger scholarships and other scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students, student professional development opportunities, funding to support preeminence and emerging trends, and a new Wertheim Business of Healthcare Initiative.
The Wertheim Business of Healthcare Initiative will train business students to fill critical gaps in the healthcare business workforce and work with leaders in the healthcare industry to solve its most vexing problems.
Dr. Herbert Wertheim (middle) with Dean Michael Hartline and Marsha Hartline.
Wertheim’s investment establishes two endowed chairs: the Herbert Wertheim Chair in Health Systems Operations and the Herbert Wertheim Chair in Healthcare Workforce Leadership. These chairs will support faculty members whose scholarship and teaching are dedicated to the continuous improvement of healthcare operations and systems, as well as workforce modernization in healthcare settings. These efforts align with the university’s bold new FSU Health initiative and its emphasis on healthcare in academic programs, research, and investment, including the Wertheim College’s new MBA major in healthcare administration and its annual Business of Healthcare Summit.
“This initiative will train business students to fill critical gaps in the healthcare business workforce and work with leaders in the healthcare industry and government to tackle pressing healthcare issues now representing more than 17% and $4.5 trillion dollars of the U.S. economy,” Dr. Wertheim said.
Part of the total philanthropic investment will name the college’s new facility, which stands as the largest academic building in FSU’s history. The Herbert Wertheim Center for Business Excellence will host its first classes in January, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony set for January 6.
“Generations from now, we will point to this monumental investment as profoundly pivotal in both the trajectory and impact of the college,” said Michael Hartline, dean of the Herbert Wertheim College of Business. “We will continue to generate innovative research and equip graduates to lead in the global marketplace, knowing this infusion of new financial support will allow us to strengthen our best work while also launching important new initiatives.”
Dr. Wertheim’s $65 million catalytic philanthropic investment is part of $431 million in investments made by the state, private donors, corporations and foundations that will allow the Wertheim College, university and the FSU Health initiative to pursue excellence at the highest level and inspire future philanthropic investments from other donors.
The Herbert Wertheim College of Business and the Herbert Wertheim Center for Business Excellence will serve as lasting tributes to the stature and business prominence of Dr. Wertheim.
Wertheim’s transformative contributions have led to the establishment of seven additional named academic institutions in Florida and California: the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, the Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences and Wertheim School of Music & Performing Arts at Florida International University; the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering and the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology at the University of Florida; the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California San Diego; and the Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of California Berkeley.
A self-made Horatio Alger recipient and Forbes 400 billionaire, Dr. Wertheim holds the conviction that education serves as a means of dismantling societal obstacles, thereby enhancing the overall well-being of the community and humanity. His gifts and benefactions create formal and informal opportunities for the local and global community that help address some of the most pressing healthcare challenges facing society today.
Born into a working-class family, Dr. Wertheim overcame early academic challenges and pursued an education in optometry and optical engineering, driven by a passion for science and an innate curiosity.
In 1971, Dr. Wertheim founded Brain Power Incorporated (BPI), a pioneering company in optical color tints, chemicals and scientific instruments and materials, which has played a critical role in the advancement of eye health for more than 50 years. He is the first doctor to indicate and promote the danger of UV light to the eye and to prescribe his breakthrough invention of UV light absorbers for lenses that has prevented millions from potential diseases and blindness.
Florida State University's College of Business is being named after philanthropist Herbert Wertheim following a $65 million gift.
The donation is the largest philanthropic endowment gift in the university's history.
The new business school building, formerly known as Legacy Hall, will also be named after Wertheim.
As the College of Business and Legacy Hall – a $160 million project – will be named after Wertheim, it comes after the university completed the business school’s new building a few months ago and will open it up to the FSU community for use in the spring.
Wertheim’s investment to FSU is the largest philanthropic endowment gift in the university's history and the second-largest philanthropic gift FSU has ever received.
$15 mil for business school operation, another $50 million towards endowment (largest ever, I believe, or close to it. $15 mil to faculty, $10 mil to undergraduate scholarships, $25 mil discretionary fund college of business).
The first-largest philanthropic gift was made when Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation gifted a record $100 million to the university in 2015, where part of the donation was used to create the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship in downtown Tallahassee in 2018.
In a recent post, someone suggested that allowing the #1 seed to host the ACC championship football game would help solve the ACC Championship game attendance issues. I thought this was interesting so I went and looked at the attendance records for each of the ACC championship games since the 1st game in 2005. Here is what I found (excluding the 2020 Covid game between Clemson and Notre Dame):
3) The ACC CCG has been played in 4 different venues:
EverBank Field (Jacksonville): 3 games, 73,000 seat capacity (when played) Raymond James (Tampa): 2 games, 75,000 seat capacity (when played) Camping World (Orlando): 1 game, 60,000 seat capacity (when played) Bank of America (Charlotte): 14 games, 75,000 seat capacity (when played)
4) Championship Game Attendance Averages:
When FSU has played (6 times) - 67,500 avg attendance / 90% avg capacity When Clemson has played (9 times) - 63,500 avg attendance / 86% avg capacity When neither FSU/Clemson has played (5 times) - 53,900 avg attendance / 77% avg capacity
5) ACC Stadiums vs ACC CCG Attendance Averages:
Only 3 teams have stadium capacities at or above the 67,500 FSU CCG average: Clemson, Pitt, FSU (Va Tech and Miami are close)
Only 5 teams have stadium capacities at or above the 63,500 Clemson CCG average: Clemson, Pitt, FSU, Va Tech, Miami (Cal, UVA, Louisville are close)
Eight ACC teams have stadium capacities below the 53,900 non FSU/Clemson CCG average: Ga Tech (close), UNC (close), Stanford (close), BC, Syracuse, SMU, Duke, Wake Forest
So .....
1) Playing the ACC CCG at 50% of the ACC home stadiums would automatically result in attendance at or lower than the historical non FSU/Clemson average (53,900).
2) Playing the ACC CCG at 70% of the ACC home stadiums would result in attendance at or below the historical FSU average (67,500).
3) Playing the ACC CCG at three of the ACC home stadiums (Duke, SMU, Wake Forest) would guarantee attendance below this years CCG attendance (41,700 / 55% capacity) which set an all time low attendance figure for the ACC CCG.
Based on Nielsen data for the 2025 regular season, here is the ranking of the top 50 NCAA college football programs by average TV viewership per game. Note that these figures factor in a 12-week season, include available streaming numbers, and count games without reported viewership data as zero (e.g., certain games on SEC Network or ACC Network may not be measured by Nielsen). 24 1 Alabama — 7.01 million 2 Georgia — 6.17 million 3 Texas — 5.78 million 4 Ohio State — 5.68 million 5 Oklahoma — 4.91 million 6 LSU — 4.283 million 7 Michigan — 4.278 million 8 Texas A&M — 3.57 million 9 Mississippi — 3.28 million 10 Notre Dame — 3.20 million 11 Florida — 3.13 million 12 Miami FL — 3.07 million 13 Tennessee — 3.06 million 14 Oregon — 2.96 million 15 Penn State — 2.72 million 16 Florida State — 2.37 million 17 Auburn — 2.23 million 18 Vanderbilt — 2.09 million 19 Georgia Tech — 2.06 million 20 Missouri — 2.01 million 21 Clemson — 1.94 million 22 Indiana — 1.91 million 23 Nebraska — 1.82 million 24 South Carolina — 1.73 million 25 Southern Cal — 1.69 million 26 BYU — 1.66 million 27 Colorado — 1.63 million 28 Iowa — 1.62 million 29 Texas Tech — 1.47 million 30 Washington — 1.46 million 31 Wisconsin — 1.44 million 32 Illinois — 1.40 million 33 Iowa State — 1.31 million 34 Arkansas — 1.25 million 35 Navy — 1.24 million 36 UCLA — 1.18 million 37 TCU — 1.13 million 38 Pittsburgh — 1.07 million 39 Kentucky — 1.03 million 40 Utah — 0.99 million 41 Syracuse — 0.969 million 42 North Carolina — 0.952 million 43 Cincinnati — 0.947 million 44 Minnesota — 0.937 million 45 Virginia Tech — 0.911 million 46 Army — 0.896 million 47 Kansas State — 0.795 million 48 Louisville — 0.787 million 49 Mississippi State — 0.773 million 50 Virginia — 0.762 million
Over the last 5 years, only 12 programs outside the SEC & Big Ten averaged 1M+ đź“ş viewers per game.
Jumping into the Top 10 most-watched teams in college football, Florida State has played in some of the most-watched games of the year. The Seminoles are averaging just under 5 million viewers through Week 13, according to Nielsen.
FSU’s win over Alabama was the program’s most-watched game of the year, averaging 10.7 million viewers in Week 1. The Seminoles’ loss to Miami also brought in 6 million, giving them two of the top games of the year.
