Florida State quarterback Tommy Castellanos is appealing the NCAA’s decision to deny his waiver for a fifth season of college eligibility.
Castellanos, before spending two years at Boston College and eventually transferring to FSU, began his career with the UCF Knights. In 2022, he appeared in four regular-season games as a true freshman, eventually burning his redshirt in the AAC Championship following an injury to starting quarterback John Rhys Plumlee — who eventually reentered the game after Castellanos took just 26 snaps.
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The NCAA announced in 2024 that it would no longer count postseason games towards a player’s redshirt eligibility.
His attorney, Darrren Heitner, issued the following statement on Twitter:
The facts are straightforward. Tommy’s 2022 participation exceeded the 30% threshold by just one postseason game. It was a conference championship where he played only because of circumstances beyond his control, including teammate injuries and opt-outs. Just weeks after Tommy’s participation, the NCAA issued a blanket waiver allowing future players in his exact situation to maintain their redshirt status. Players today can participate in 4 regular-season games plus a conference championship without losing eligibility. Tommy played in a conference championship game and is being penalized for the timing. Considering the postseason exception that now exists, this case demands a fair resolution. The NCAA should grant this appeal and extend the same consideration to Tommy that countless players have received since December 2022.
The quarterback said following FSU’s season-ending loss to Florida that he hopes “to be here but I don’t know what the future holds,” confirming when asked that he would, in fact, return to Florida State if his waiver was approved.
Castellanos, the first FSU quarterback to start every game since Jordan Travis in 2022, finished his 2025 campaign with 2,760 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and nine interceptions, tacking on 557 yards on the ground and a single-season school record nine rushing touchdowns.
From his FSU bio:
2025:
Started in the win against No. 8 Alabama where he passed for 152 yards and rushed for a game high of 78 yards. He has been recognized as the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Week as well as the Davey O’Brien Great 8 honoree and a Manning Award Star of the Week for his performance against Alabama… completed his longest pass of 82 yards and recorded a total of 237 yards with three touchdown passes in the game against East Texas A&M…Went 10-13 passing for 205 yards and contributed 54 rushing yards with two rushing touchdowns in the win against Kent State…Passed for 254 yards and gained 78 rushing yards, including one rushing touchdown in the game against Virginia…contributed 272 passing yards alongside 57 rushing yards in the game against Miami…Completed 16 of 23 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns in game against Pitt…recorded 242 passing yards on 14 completions and added 33 rushing yards including an eight yard rushing touchdown in the game against Stanford…registered 271 passing yards with 12 completions and two touchdowns in the win against Wake Forest…Recorded 31 rushing yards with 250 passing yards, 23 completions and one passing-touchdown in the game against Clemson…contributed 189 passing yards, 45 rushing yards, two rushing toudowns and one passing touchdown in win over Virginia Tech…Passed for 203 yards with one passing touchdown and rushed for 76 yards in the game against NC State….recorded 240 passing yards with 103 rushing yards and three touchdowns in the game against Florida…BEFORE FSU:
Transferred to Florida State after two seasons at Boston College and one year at UCF…appeared in 21 games with 20 starts for Boston College in 2023-24…completed 288 of 491 passes for Eagles with 33 touchdown passes and 3,614 yards…added 1,307 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns…first player in Boston College history with 2,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in single season…started final 12 games for Eagles in 2023, passing for 2,248 yards and 15 touchdowns with 1,113 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns…third in ACC in rushing yards and touchdowns…started eight of Boston College’s first nine games in 2024, passing for 18 touchdowns and just five interceptions…had at least one touchdown in all eight games in 2024…led Eagles to 11-9 record as starter, including 7-5 in 2023 with win over SMU in Fenway Bowl…was offensive MVP of Fenway Bowl with career-high 156 rushing yards and two touchdowns…five 100-yard rushing games in 2023, including 142 yards and career-high four touchdowns vs. Army…spent freshman season at UCF where current FSU offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn was head coach…completed nine passes for 75 yards and ran 14 times for 120 yards and one touchdown in limited action for Knights…played high school football at Ware County, throwing for 7,710 yards and running for 3,681 yards as four-year starter.
