In the midst of a spectacular downfall in 2024, Florida State had to scramble to save its recruiting class. While the coaches were able to salvage the class and flip a few blue-chip prospects in the process, the program would be faced with an even bigger challenge in the new year — convincing the next cycle of prospects that improvement was coming.
As if the challenge weren’t daunting enough, Florida State’s reputation on the recruiting trail has become more crystalized in the court of public perception. A six-year sample size of the Mike Norvell era has shown a propensity to come up short on big targets and not close on others even with considerable improvement on the field. Underperformance on the recruiting trail has been a consistent critique of Norvell and his staff given the brand and the perennial expectations that come with it.
With coaching changes in effect and a shake up in the recruiting operation, Florida State has turned around and landing a fringe Top 10 recruiting class a few weeks away from the start of preseason camp - a feat that feels quite remarkable given the circumstances seven months ago. Florida State is ranked 14th and 12th, respectively, in the On3 and 247 rankings and was ranked higher prior to the sudden decommitment of Amari Thomas.
I want to take a critical look at the class and discuss whether or not Florida State got the most it could have out of this cycle given the circumstances. Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way: The 2026 recruiting class is not complete and will change multiple times before the ink dries on Early Signing Day. No recruiting class is perfect and if the question was purely on whether FSU got all their top targets, the answer would obviously be no.
The Quarterback Search
One of the consistent narratives of the cycle was Florida State’s search for a quarterback following the decommitment of five-star Brady Smigiel in January. It was a loss that put Florida State on the back foot to start the year but was ultimately one that was expected (even earlier than it happened).
Florida State was able to flip former Oklahoma commit Jaden O’Neal following his official visit to Tallahassee in June — a take that spurred a flurry of commitments and some much needed momentum on the recruiting trail. Yet O’Neal’s pledge to Florida State felt like it had much more to do with Oklahoma than it did FSU. The relationship between the Sooners and the O’Neal’s had been souring as new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle was publicly pursuing (and eventually landed) Bowe Bentley.
I don’t want to paint the picture strictly as Florida State being lucky that they were the pillow to land on. Quarterbacks coach Tony Tokarz did an excellent job in keeping that relationship warm and striking a hot iron. But in that same breath, the Seminoles couldn’t build any significant momentum with any of their other top options and could have been searching well into the fall had some dominoes fallen another way. Florida State briefly had some momentum with five-star Keisean Henderson (once again thanks to Tokarz) but that flame was quickly snuffed. South Carolina commit Landon Duckworth curiously never made it to campus despite a prior relationship with Gus Malzahn.
O’Neal is a good prospect with a strong arm but there are questions about schematic fit and while it’s a positive result given they had to restart their QB recruiting from scratch in January, it’s hard to feel like they got the best outcome.
Holding on to commitments
It’s an underrated aspect to the class but Florida State did an excellent job of hanging on to its early commitments and fending off pushes from other Power 4 programs during the summer.
Florida State was able to retain wide receiver Darryon Williams after an intense battle with rival Florida. The Seminoles also retained prized defensive back commits Tre Bell and Tedarius Hughes, who saw advances from Auburn and Syracuse, respectively. Offensive lineman Michael Ionata and safety Sean Johnson shut down their recruitments. The Seminoles also staved off Alabama and Syracuse for linebacker Karon Maycock, who we feel is woefully underrated by recruiting services.
The only two departures from FSU’s class that was committed prior to summer official visits were three-star offensive tackle Xavier Payne and composite four-star Amari Thomas. Payne decommitted shortly following his visit to Tallahassee and later committed to Colorado, while Thomas decommitted abruptly on July 18.
Thomas’ departure comes as a bit of a surprise. South Carolina had been pushing prior to official visits but there was a sense that Florida State had survived the initial wave of pressure. Sources have told the Osceola that there was an NIL package being offered by South Carolina that would be close to four times what FSU was offering.
As for Payne, disagreement over his collegiate position and overall fit with the program was the catalyst for Payne leaving the class. Florida State saw him at guard while other programs saw him at tackle (which he preferred). After watching him compete at the Rivals Camp in Miami at tackle, I was left underwhelmed with his lateral movement and thought his future was at guard as well.
Continued struggles at premium positions
Even with a change in coaching staff, Florida State has struck out again at two premium positions in edge rusher and offensive tackle. The Seminoles are back adding to the board at both positions after missing on priority targets that they brought in on official visits in June.
Offensive line coach Herb Hand had his work cut out for him when he took the job last December. Hand will be losing an entire starting line at the conclusion of the season in addition to some senior depth pieces. Some work in the spring portal has helped alleviate some of that pressure and Florida State does have four offensive line commitments. But they are all projected guards with small chances of playing outside.
I’ve generally been pleased with how Hand has hit the recruiting trail, things have just not fallen the Seminoles’ way in securing a pure tackle. With improved play on the offensive line this season, Florida State could find it easier to acquire one.
Defensive line coach Terrance Knighton has done a great job along the interior defensive line, but that has not extended to the edge.
Three-star Kamron Wilson was a top target that committed to Syracuse in March. And while Florida State does consider him a take, they were never considered to be the team pushing the hardest to change his mind whenever I spoke to people more familiar with his recruitment.
The messy end to the recruitment of composite four-star Cam Brooks by FSU was another memorable storyline from this spring. Brooks surprised many with a commitment to California after Florida State was considered a leader. And while losing a local prospect to a lesser football power is concerning, it was a relationship that had been souring. These are still recruitments that you’d like to see FSU win.
Five-star edge Tristian Givens abruptly cancelling his official visit to FSU and traveling to Washington instead flew a bit under the radar by comparison but might even be more concerning considering how highly FSU valued him.
FSU has genuinely struggled to recruit these positions. They have not had an offensive lineman taken in the first two rounds of the NFL draft in over a decade. The lack of development in recent years has been evident. But even with bulletin board success at defensive end with Jermaine Johnson, Keir Thomas and Jared Verse, they still cannot lure in talent. They seem to undervalue these positions at the prep-level and would prefer to go to the portal rather than spending a premium on prospects that haven’t played a single snap of collegiate ball. That’s fine and dandy (and in some ways logical) but it puts greater stress on evaluations and banks on culture fits from the portal — which we have seen examples of that working and disastrously failing in back-to-back years.
Eventually, if Florida State is going to win, they have to find money for program changing high school prospects at these positions.
An excellent wide receiver class
One premium position that FSU had done extremely well at is wide receiver. Apart from the defensive back class that Patrick Surtain has built, Tim Harris’ wide receiver class should be considered as the best on the team.
Florida State entered the year with one goal in mind for its wide receiver recruiting and that was to find speed and versatility. They got that with flying colors on route to some impressive recruiting wins.
Flipping legacy Devin Carter away from Auburn was a resounding win and is a showcase of Norvell’s greatest attribute on the recruiting trail - persistence. It was a relentless approach from Norvell. Though credit should also go to Harris and Gus Malzahn, as their prior relationship with Carter is what got the gears turning on a flip to begin with.
Besting Miami in a head-to-head battle for Chaminade Madonna slot receiver Jason Lopez was an impressive victory. A tip of the cap is needed to FSU basketball head coach Luke Loucks for the assist (pun intended). Adding Brandon Bennett to the class while retaining Darryon Williams provides multiple options with home-run hitting speed.
For what Florida State needed and the talent that they were able to acquire at a major position of need, Florida State couldn’t have done much better at receiver apart from landing a Calvin Russell or Madden Williams.
The Elite Talent
The word “elite” gets thrown around a bit carelessly in the recruiting industry. As a descriptor, it can change depending on the context. No matter the context, Florida State wasn’t in it with many this cycle. And with those that they were in on, they often weren’t true contenders.
That doesn’t mean Florida State didn’t land some quality prospects. You don’t get to a Top-15 class in the country without landing nice pieces. Five-star defensive back Chauncey Kennon is an elite player. Earnest Rankins and Xavier Tiller are exciting blue-chip talent that they will certainly need to battle to hang on to. FSU legacy Jay Timmons is one of my personal favorite additions.
But the conversation is about “elite” players. Derrek Cooper, Xavier Griffin, Deuce Geralds, Trenton Henderson, Calvin Russell, James Johnson, Tristian Givens and Kaiden Prothro, for example.
Out of all of the examples above, Xavier Griffin was your most likely addition and even then FSU was a clear third in that recruitment. Some of these prospects Florida State misplayed; others simply lost interest after a 2-10 season. To that end, it’s hard to bash the Seminoles for not being more serious players in these recruitments following last season’s results on the field, especially with their reluctance/lack of ability to get involved in bidding wars at the prep level. But this is the caliber of prospect that just a decade ago the Seminoles were consistently in on and it is the standard (unfair or not) that you need to tap into.
Conclusion
Criticisms being what they are, this is an incredibly healthy recruiting class. Florida State has landed a lot of quality blue-chip talent including flipping multiple legacy prospects. There is a good mix of high-ceiling guys and some lesser recruited prospects that you feel good about. Were they out on some of the elite kids that they should be in on? Sure, there were quite a few that slipped the net. But in terms of building a class after having your worst season since 1974, they certainly could’ve done much worse. And that’s really the nucleus of this exercise.
That does not apologize for or make an excuse for some blatant issues in Florida State’s recruiting operation. They seem to undervalue premium positions at the prep level and instead opt to fill those needs in the portal. I’m beginning to buy more stock in the idea that FSU is limited in what they can do due to NIL and the revenue sharing house settlement played a role in this class coming together. I think that this staff has trouble at times reading the pulse of different recruitments. Some recruits have told me that they are getting overwhelmed. Others have told me that they don’t hear from their position coach more than once every two weeks. The Seminoles’ struggles at quarterback, edge rusher, linebacker and offensive tackle are extremely concerning. The evaluation and bad hit-rate of the 2021, 2022 and now the 2023 classes are becoming an uncomfortable narrative.
But focusing on this class in a capsule, it’s hard to think that Florida State could have done much better this summer given the circumstances and credit should be given for building a quality class in adverse circumstances. Now to just hold onto it.
