It goes without saying — 2024 was a year to forget for Florida State football.

A year ago, the expectations and hype for Florida State football were through the roof. It was a season of get-back, a season of pushing through the adversity of getting snubbed out of the previous year’s playoffs.

And then it wasn’t. An upset by Georgia Tech in Ireland kick-started a season that would become the program’s worst since 1974.

After an offseason of change, both in the coaching staff and in the way talent is acquired, Florida State is looking to get off on the right foot against Alabama on Aug. 30.

Entering his fourth season, Florida State General Manager of Personnel Darrick Yray is also hoping for a better get off from the line.

It is an opportunity for the Seminoles to pass the eye test again and assert themselves in a newly renovated stadium in front of 70,000 fans. But it’s also an opportunity for the Seminoles to impress around 100 elite prospects in attendance.

“It's going to be an exclusive experience, and we want it to be an exclusive experience,” Yray said. “We want to make sure we're attracting the best, not only to showcase here, but also to showcase the great environment that game is going to be against a great opponent in the University of Alabama. The setting is going to speak for itself, being inside a newly renovated Doak, but also having the opportunity to showcase parts of our facility that we'll be able to run tours through on that day for all of our athletes that are going to be here. We'll be pretty close to 100 (prospects).”

And selfishly for Yray and FSU’s recruiting operation, it’s one of the best opportunities that he is going to get all season to show recruits that the Florida State team of last year is gone. Whereas FSU’s marquee openers against LSU were both at neutral sites, Alabama is a true home game that allows Yray and his recruiting staff to do more.

“From the recruiting side and the evaluation side, we can actually have interaction with the recruits on campus to where if it's a neutral site game like it was in Orlando or even New Orleans, we were able to provide tickets and comp admissions, but there's no interaction that could be had,” Yray explained. “So for this game, specifically, (we’re going) to be able to have a collection of talent that's going to be here that we're going to be able to spend time and be deliberate in the time we spend.”

A strong first impression of what the 2025 Seminoles can be would be a game changer for the entire recruiting operation. Florida State has acquired a very respectable pool of talent in its 2026 recruiting class, especially considering the team is coming off a 2-10 season. But there is the sense that a strong start to the season could present opportunities for more.

A close-to-finalized look at the Seminoles’ “football only facility”, or ‘FoF,’ that will be available to prospects during the visit via a hardhat tour, will also be a game changer as the project nears completion.

“The size is the first thing that's commented on — how big it actually is. And it's one thing for them to walk through and see walls and what spaces are going to be. You can throw enough renderings at them till you're blue in the face doing it but to be able to actually see, feel and really to walk through the space and be immersed in that experience, I think that's a game changer for us. Now that graphics are going up, it feels like a football building. Lockers being installed and different items that are in there. I'm excited for it,” Yray said.

A brand new stadium and football facility are nice, of course. But in today’s college football landscape with NIL and the House-NCAA settlement quickly changing how recruiting is done, how much does a true gameday experience and facilities matter?

Yray still believes that all things matter.

“I think this is the hardest thing about recruiting but also the easiest thing, too. No one knows what is going to be the difference,” Yray said. “Even with the settlement and everything that's there with the House case, everyone can offer a sum of money to someone now, right? And before it was if you had a strong collective — now it's ‘Ok, everyone is relatively on the same level playing field.’ So when you're looking at that, what are still going to be the points of differences? Well, it still comes back to you. It still comes back to the investment in the person who they're getting developed by, who they're getting coached by, what the strength staff is, what’s their major, what they want in their life on campus and where they want to live. All of that's going to matter. So game day, the game day experience, and who they're going to do it in front of (also matters). We have the greatest fans in the country. You go out there and you watch Osceola dismount, off of Renegade and throw that spear down. I'll put that up against anyone. Let's get them around our fans and show them what Doak is.”

The results on the field tend to speak the loudest, however, and as much as credit is to be given for assembling a 2023 roster that won FSU’s first ACC Championship in close to a decade, criticism should be (and has been) given for assembling a 2024 roster that could not put the pieces together.

Those results bled into the Seminoles’ 2025 recruiting class, which they had to scramble to salvage. But a strong close on signing day was a triumph that should not be discounted. A relentless focus on talent acquisition recentered Yray and his staff - allowing them to pull through. The off-season's portal transactions also seem to better resemble the edge and physicality that head coach Mike Norvell wanted — at least they do at first glance.

“Anytime you go through tough seasons, and it's not how you drew it up, you evaluate everything. You analyze everything. Why were there misses? What occurred? But also I took it as a challenge to respond. It's not necessarily a sin to get knocked down, but it's a sin to stay down. I’m looking forward to the response of what this year is going to be. I don't have any plans to live through a season like that again, but I'm excited for the response in the football team that we've built for the 2025 year,” Yray said.

The understanding that you can always be a better evaluator and that hindsight is 20/20 is something that Yray understands. He opts to look at his role in the big picture and how he can best be a resource. Staying on top of things, putting out fires before they start and putting those around him in positions to succeed.

There is a relentless attention to detail and perfectionism that is apparent when you speak to Yray. It doesn’t always mean that perfection will happen. Not on the field and not on the recruiting trail. But the goal is to be intensely competitive in everything that they do.

“It's not as simple of a formula as saying, ‘You give the best effort, you're going to get the best player.’ That's not always the way it's going to go. But we want to be consistently in those battles, and we want to win more than we lose. And if it's up to me, I want to win all of them. There's no reason that we shouldn't, right? We're going to give full effort, we're going to have a plan of attack, and we have to make sure that they fit us,” Yray said.

“At the end of it, I'm driven by competition. I want to win at anything I do. That's what I'm driven to do. If we can better young people's lives throughout it and they can have a great experience while coming here while walking out with a degree? Mission accomplished.”