Update 10/21: Florid State’s official football account shows that the promise letters are still up in the lockers of at least one of FSU’s players.

The date on the letter shows that it is from last season.

Original story

A signed copy of this promise sits in the locker of each Florida State player.

After an awful start to Florida State’s season, Jimbo Fisher took an unprecedented step this week and presented his team with a promise and challenged them to sign it and live up to it.

It’ll hang there the whole season according senior receiver Jesus Wilson who caught seven passes for 48 yards in the 20-19 win over the Miami Hurricanes. Wilson said it’s about playing for each other.

“It was Jimbo’s idea, but we were gonna do it anyway,” said junior defensive end Jacob Pugh, who had five tackles and a sack in the win over the Hurricanes.

“Like coach always says, ain’t no big mistakes, it’s little things. We go back and watch film and it’s like ‘dang, if I had did this, if I had did that it could have changed the game. You never know what play it’s going to be.”

For at least one night, it worked. Florida State, and especially its beleaguered defense played with great effort a week after embarrassing clips of FSU players loafing went viral.

“You cannot say that they did not play hard, that they did not play with fight, that they did not play with guts,” Jimbo Fisher said after the win. “We’re a work in progress but at least that heart and soul is there.”

FSU had an energized week of practice according to Pugh.

“We came out in that mindset. It’s Miami week. It’s rivalry week. We weren’t planning on losing.”

Will the promise carry over as a reminder to not let the mistakes that cost the Seminoles a win at home against North Carolina reoccur? Or was FSU simply juiced up due to playing Miami?

Florida State fans may have to watch a few more games to be convinced, but there’s no doubting Florida State played with tremendous effort Saturday.

With numerous players going down with injury, and in the case of Matthew Thomas, an ejection, Florida State still battled. It played with physicality. And it did not let one poor play snowball into the next.

If FSU can continue to play with great effort, its season can merely be disappointing, as opposed to the disaster it looked like it was headed for a week ago.