Transcript 0:00 [rock music] Hello, and welcome to a Friday edition of the Osceola Seminole Sidelines. 0:43 My name is Pat Burnham, and I am joined today by Rivals national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman. Sam, welcome to the show, man. Yeah. Hey, Pat. Thanks for having me. Well, we appreciate you joining us. Uh, uh, if... 0:55 I don't know if you guys follow Sam on Twitter, but he's one of the busiest men in college football recruiting. He's always, uh, breaking new stuff, and, uh, we've been following each other for the last couple months. 1:05 And it seems like, uh, a lot of the guys he's reporting on, uh, Florida State's involved with in some capacity. So we wanted to have Sam on. And Sam, uh, listen, uh, how's, how's it going out there? 1:16 [laughs] I mean, you've been... I know you were at Under Ar- I believe you were at an Under Armour camp the, uh, this past weekend. There's been several of those. Uh, uh, you got any down... 1:24 We were just talking about this before the show. You got any downtime lately? Yeah. You know, it's like, you know, it's... I, I guess, like, I'm, I'm off because I'm working from home this weekend. 1:33 But, uh, I still got plenty of stuff to do. This, the, like, as you kind of, uh, you know, referenced, you know, official visits are still being set up. Um, offers are still being thrown out. 1:42 It's still, it's still February. It's still, you know, it... Back in the day, this was still the early part of the recruiting cycle. Now things are expedited, where official visits are already being lined up. 1:52 And, you know, you understand that for 2026 kids, um, they're gonna be largely committed by the time their senior seasons s- start. 2:00 Uh, so but that doesn't mean that everything isn't still, you know, pretty busy in between. 2:04 And, um, you know, obviously with, with new offers that come, that come in in January, you gotta get maybe your first or second visit before you make an official visit. So things are still moving. 2:14 Uh, no recruitment is, is really locked up just yet. 2:17 But, um, you know, you're seeing some, some commitments here and there on the recruiting trail left and right, and, and the foundations of a lot of classes are being formed. 2:24 So, uh, yeah, unfortunately recruiting doesn't stop. Yeah. And, uh, listen, February's kind of turning into calendar month, right? 2:32 The c- calendar goes dead, and all these players are starting to fill out their calendars for March and April unofficial visits. 2:38 And, you know, the question I know that you g- you're asking and that we're asking a lot of these players is, "Hey, who you gonna visit officially? When are you gonna visit?" 2:45 And, uh, the one thing that I've seen, Sam, uh, is we're starting to see these kids r- really start these official visits early. Uh, I s- I reported on one kid today. He's, his first official visit's April 11th. 2:58 His last one's in June. Um, I can't remember who that is [laughs] off the top of my head. I've written about so many kids and updated so many notes on so many kids today. But, uh, listen, I think, uh... 3:09 And do you think we'll see more of that with the unlimited official visits? You know, it used to be traditi- you only could take five. That's now gone by the wayside. 3:16 We see a lot of guys, uh, that have already planned five or more for this summer. This particular kid, I think, has got seven planned. I think it's the, uh, defensive lineman from down in North Fort Myers. 3:28 I can't remember. Ja- Johnson? Jackson. Anyway, uh, do you think we'll see more of that as tr- as a trend of kids taking six and seven? 3:36 And I know I talked to Zayden Crimpen, who you're aware of and saw at the Under Ar- Camp, uh, Under Armour Camp. 3:41 And, you know, he told me, he goes, "Pat, I'm probably gonna take eight by the time this is all said and done." Yeah. Well, you know, let's, let's use Zayden as a great example. 3:49 This is a young man who obviously has done a lot of homework in his recruitment already, has made several visits around the country, around the state of Texas, uh, around the Southeast. 3:59 Um, and like you said, if he's, he, he's, like, eight official visits. This is a guy that, um, you know, in his recruitment, you know... 4:06 Yeah, NIL may be a factor, but it's not in his leading group of factors, which is relationship with offensive line coaches. You talk about Herb Hand. 4:14 Herb Hand used to be the, the offensive line coach at the University of Texas. Yep. Uh, so, you know, his ties to, to the state go back, uh, probably before Zayden was... 4:22 When, back when Zayden was playing peewee football, let's put it that way. Um, you know, I think... 4:27 And then obviously, obviously the strength and conditioning of a, of a, of a, of a college program is critical for Zayden as well as the opportunity to start early, which, you know, yeah, sometimes you gotta get on campus and, and get a look and see what the depth chart looks like, talk to the players inside the locker room, yada, yada, yada. 4:43 It's all part of the equation. But for Zayden, um, you know, you, you love to see that. Uh, you know, you, you, you s- you see that he's open to taking these visits because he wants to be sure. 4:53 He might have a lead group of contenders. He does have a lead group of contenders. Yep. But official visits are, are, what? The red carpet opportunity for these staffs. 5:02 And if they are prepared for the moment, that can either put them right into the mix at the right time or, you know, it kind of, you know, just a visit. 5:10 They swung their shot, um, a, a target on campus that maybe they, they probably wouldn't have also had a chance to get on campus, uh, prior. Yeah. 5:18 And if you're, if you're, uh, listening to us for the first time or, uh, you have not listened to us when we've talked about Zayden before, Zayden is a kid that Florida State has put some energy and effort into. 5:28 Herb Hand, Gus Malzahn, Mike Norvell all did an in-school visit with him in January. Uh, Zayden's gonna come to Florida State this spring at some point, and he's gonna... 5:37 He may add Florida State to his official visit, uh, list, which is already, I think, at five planned right now. Uh, but so that's what, that's why we use Zayden as an example. Uh, let's c- let's go back to yesterday. 5:48 Let's, uh, roll back to yesterday. And Florida State got a big-time commitment from four-star linebacker Kyron Maycock from Miami Central. Uh, what was your take on that, Sam? I... 6:00 You know, when he was on campus, uh, I believe he was on campus January 18th for an unofficial visit. Kinda the rumor there was Miami was leading. It was the clear leader at that time. 6:11 Uh, obviously we're, we're gonna get into the new staff here, uh, the members at Florida State in a second. 6:16 But were you surprised that Florida State, uh, in a lot of ways was able to turn the tide on the Hurricanes and get that commitment early?Yeah. 6:26 Uh, honestly, you know, from talking especially to, uh, to our, our buddy John Garcia, it felt like there was a lot of confidence in Miami would end up keeping him close to home. 6:34 So, um, but listen, Florida State has made inroads in South Florida the past couple of years. 6:39 Mike Norvell's not been, not been shy about going into that part of the state and, and wrestling with, with Miami and Coach Cristobal over, over top kids. 6:47 And, um, hey, this, this is, this is a linebacker who's geared for the modern game, who's super athletic, and he's built like a tank at six foot two and 200-plus pounds. 6:58 And, um, this is a player that, you know, probably sees an opportunity to play earlier at, at Florida State, uh, where there's obviously, uh, opportunities at that position. Yep. 7:08 And, um, he's got the skill set, you know, to be this athletic three down linebacker that, that, that's opportunistic in, in playing in space, darts to the football and covers a lot of ground and, uh, that's what you need in the ACC. 7:20 Yeah. Yeah. If you, uh, if you're not familiar with Karen Maycock, please go to theosceola.com. Uh, we've got two articles on him. 7:28 John Garcia's got his post-commitment, uh, comments about Florida State and why he chose Florida, to commit to Florida State at this point in this process. 7:35 And then I did a film breakdown, and I think you'll really, if you're a football fan, you'll really enjoy watching his film. 7:41 The first thing that, uh, stands out is, uh, he can run and he can hit, and he likes to do both, and he's good at both of them. So I think Florida State really did do well there. 7:51 Uh, I wanna talk to you about overall how they're doing, but before we get there, I do wanna talk to you, uh, about the quarterback situation at Florida State because we're all interested in that. 8:01 It's kind of the position that moves the needle in just about every facet of the game, whether it's recr- uh, recruiting services covering their recruitment, whether it's, um, NIL, where they get the money and they get the attention from the television. 8:14 Uh, but, you know, listen, famously, Brady Smigel, uh, decommitted. And, you know, this was probably in the works the minute Gus Malzahn, uh, stepped on campus as Florida State's offensive coordinator. 8:24 But that certainly, uh, Gus comes with some benefits too, right? [chuckles] He's got, he's, uh, groomed a lot of really good quarterbacks, productive quarterbacks that allow successful offenses. 8:35 And of course, the byproduct of that was as soon as Brady decommitted, Sam, uh, Florida State immediately within minutes, if not hours, of that decommitment had offered Keyshawn Henderson the Houston commit from the Lone Star State, Bo Bentley also from Texas, and then Landon Duckworth from Alabama. 8:53 Uh, what is your take on where Florida State is with each of those three kids? Uh, you know, Henderson can... I think he got offered by Alabama either today or yesterday. I believe you reported that if I'm not mistaken. 9:06 Um, where do you think they sit with those three kids? Because those certainly seem to be the three quarterbacks that Florida State has at least focused in on for now. Yeah. 9:17 Um, obviously they're, they're kind of pl- They're, they're, they, they are playing from behind with, with all three, but, um, with, with Landon's recru- with, with, with Landon. 9:26 With Landon's recruitment and Bo's recruitment, um, it's, it's kind of been a, a slow ride for a 2026. You know, m- a lot of these top guys are, are already committed. 9:37 Um, you talked about Keyshawn Henderson has been committed to Houston for o- over a year. Yep. Um, but that doesn't mean that the recruitments are necessarily shut down. We all know that, you know. 9:48 Um, so for Bo, uh, you know, I, for all of these guys, I, I, I think that Florida State is playing from behind. Having said that, um, there's going to be some opportunities. 9:58 Obviously, all three, um, have some strong connections to Florida State, have visits being locked up either, um, for the spring- Yeah... and also for the summer, if not both. Um, and we can go one by one if you want. 10:11 But, um, you know, I think the most interesting one is, is, is starting at the top is Keyshawn Henderson. Okay. 10:18 He is a five-star quarterback, and he's not only from Houston, but committed early to Willie Fritz, and that staff is pretty, pretty shortly after they arrived, uh, in Houston. And he has stood by that commitment- Yep... 10:31 every step along the way. He was back on campus, uh, last month, part of a big junior day trying to recruit players. You know the whole deal, Pat. Yeah. Um, but of course, 10:43 he still has, like, left the door open, you know. And he's gonna take some official visits. Now, he, he's probably not gonna take eight, I can assure you of that. Yep. 10:51 Um, but he's gonna take some official visits to schools that, um, he l- he laid out some criteria to me a couple of weeks ago that, um, if they, you know, check this box, that box, and the other, he'll t- take a look. 11:04 Florida State was among the schools he mentioned, along with, uh, Oregon and Alabama and LSU, um, and Ole Miss. 11:12 Some of the schools that obviously have a reputation, uh, developing quarterbacks and putting quarterbacks in succe- suc- in positions to have success and be on, uh, some of the college football's most explosive offenses. 11:25 Um, but alth- also, obviously, other things related to, to, you know, off-the-field, uh, situations. Um, so I... You know, K- Keyshawn has to make his way to Florida State. That's gonna be a big first visit. 11:37 Um, I'm not sure if you have dates set up. 11:39 I know that schools are calling about him, uh, every single day out there in Houston, and he's taking this process slow, as you might expect for a five-star quarterback that's already committed. Yep. Um, 11:51 now we talk about Bo Bentley, uh, from, from out here in, in Celina, Texas. Um, obviously picked up an offer, uh, from Florida State, among several others, after just a fantastic junior season over there. 12:04 Ended in a state championship. Um, it's still early. Texas Tech was kinda in on him early. Uh, obviously Joey McGuire is, is from that part of, of the state and recruits the state of Texas as well as any coach. 12:18 Uh, obviously an in-state guy, uh, out there in Lubbock. Um- And now he's gotI lo- I lost your audio for a second. Um Sorry. I said, and now Texas Tech has got the NIL to match up with everybody in the nation. 12:36 Absolutely. They, they've had it, and they, they're, they're not gonna stop. They're... They got, they got more backers behind them. 12:43 Um, but, you know, even though, again, for, for Beau, who is really just seeing his recruitment take off, you know, in the middle of his junior season, it's still super early, and he's still getting his ways round. 12:54 He's been at Oklahoma. They're gonna get him back this spring, so is Florida State, LSU, and Missouri. Um, I think this initial visit this spring is gonna obviously loom large- Yeah... 'cause he's, he's going slow. 13:06 He has no OVs scheduled. 13:07 Um, but Florida State is one of four teams, along with Texas Tech, who's kind of been there, done that with him, um, that are pushing for one of those critical official visits that's gonna loom large. 13:18 And then we go into the case of Landon Duckworth- Yeah... which is really intriguing. Of course, he hasn't been to Florida State. Just picked up an offer. 13:24 Um, but his relationship with Gus Malzahn, um, obviously he was one time committed to South Carolina. Um, and since, he has just taken a very slow, methodical approach to his recruitment. I went to see him last fall. 13:38 Um, I think maybe he visited Auburn and, and Alabama, two in-state schools. I think, I think one, if not both, have finally offered him. Um, but, you know, 13:50 he's, he's l- he left the door open for, for South Carolina after decommitting, talked about UCF and c- because of his relationship with Coach Malzahn- Yep... for months. 13:59 Never pulled the trigger, um, despite multiple visits to Orlando. Um, that we know that relationship is critical. I think right now you're looking at a team like Ole Miss being the team that has a leg up. 14:10 They just got him to campus last month. They're gonna get him back to campus again next month as well. Um, but again, you talk about this relationship with Coach Malzahn. 14:20 You know, you could, you could make the joke that if, uh, you know, obviously they're in a Power Four conference, but if UCF was in the ACC or the, or the Big Ten, uh, maybe he would've already committed. 14:31 But, you know, UCF has a reputation of, you know, just being a, a group of five school prev- a group of, you know, whatever school at this point. Uh, that's not the case anymore, so the joke doesn't really last. 14:42 Um, but, um, you know, now that he is situated at Florida State, not only does, does his relationship with Coach Malzahn matter, um, everyone knows that Mike Norvell has a way with, with top quarterbacks. 14:53 I think personally knowing, uh, the two of them, I think that their, their personalities are gonna sync really, really well. 15:00 Um, and I, I would expect Florida State to potentially join this very short list of contenders for Duckworth if that all kind of falls into place. Yeah. And I, I got this question for you, and I've got my opinions on it. 15:11 I think I've already expressed them, uh, if not in writing, certainly on this show before. 15:16 But, you know, I do think one of the reasons that Brady left, outside of, uh, maybe the change from Mike giving up play calling to Gus taking it over, I know that's what he stated publicly to the ri- to Rivals after he was done, uh, well, after he decommitted. 15:31 Um, how much do you think, uh, getting in on Henderson, Bentley, Duckworth or really any other high quality or high- highly sought after quarterback will be dependent on how Florida State does in in-season, and in particular, 15:48 how much of this is gonna be predicated on the offensive line imp- and being improved? 15:53 Because I do know in talking to, uh, at least one quarterback's father, uh, that their f- their issue, uh, or concern when it came to Florida State was their s- ability for the offensive line to protect their son. 16:07 Uh, so do you think that... 16:08 Do you think that Florida State might be able, even if they didn't, maybe weren't a leader going into the start of the season with one of these three, with improvement on the field, could that help their status, uh, with either a Henderson, Bentley, or a Duckworth? 16:25 Yeah. I think if you ask Coach Norvell or, or Coach Malzahn, I think they'd like to have their quarterback committed before their, their season takes off. Will that be the case? You know, to be determined. 16:36 Um, and I think that, you know, for the most part, if, if not all, most will be committed before they start their senior seasons. Yep. 16:46 Now, as we saw last year with Kevin Sperry, that doesn't mean their recruitment is nec- necessarily finished. Right. 16:52 Um, I think, you know, getting these official visits and these spring is critical so that those questions you just referenced, they get a, their first hand look at. They don't have to ask the coaches. 17:04 I mean, they're asking those questions now. 17:06 No one's making their, their way to, to Tallahassee on, you know, with the, with the, you know, without knowing what's on that roster and what this coaching staff is able to do, which they showed they could be a playoff team already. 17:17 Um, I think that getting that firsthand look and getting the official visit, um, though that looms really large because they're gonna say something, and then your point's gonna come to f- to fruition. 17:29 Um, you know, c- is this offensive line as good as they kinda looked in, in the, what we saw when we were on campus, and what, you know, Coach Hand has been telling us, uh, you know, in, in, in the offensive meetings sitting down with him and Coach Malzahn and Coach, uh, Norvell? 17:47 I, I wish, I wish I could see it. And then if that does come to fruition, that might be enough to, to potentially flip one of these guys. 17:55 Like I said, you know, Florida State could pull ahead at, with, with, with any one of these three, if not another quarterback, at any point in this process. At this point, though, I do think they are playing from behind. 18:07 One is already committed. Yep. Uh, and two have, uh, other schools that are, that are also kinda trending, if not above, but, but on level footing with, with Florida State going into these, this wave of visits. 18:19 So, um, if, if they, if they can't land them in, uh, in, you know, June, July, and August, maybe if those... if what the, the... if their promises come to fruition, they can make noise in November and December. Yep.Yep. 18:32 All right, uh, so last week Nick and I played this game where we were putting a percentage chance on whether they would end up with one of these three players, it being Henderson, Bentley, and Duckworth at quarterback. 18:43 Nick had 65%, I had 50% chance that they would end up with one of these three. If you had to put percentages on it based on what you know today, and of course it's always fluid, it always is, uh, how would... 18:55 what would you put their percentage of landing one of these, uh, the commitment or signing of one of these three guys? Yeah. You know, I, I, I feel like, um, I'm gonna regret saying this. 19:06 [laughs] But based off my intel on February, uh, what is it, the 21st? 21st, yeah. Like I said, they're, they're playing from behind. 19:13 Obviously, you know, with three, three horses in the race you, you like the chances of, of, of Mi- of Florida State pulling away with one. Um, and I like Sylver. 19:22 But I really kinda liked your 50%, but I'm just gonna go a smidge lower and go 49%. Yeah. [laughs] Um, you know, like, like Kevin Sperry last year, the, the... 19:32 You know, there's a lot of quarterbacks that maybe aren't, you know, as re- ranked as high as, as these guys right now that maybe will catch up over the course of the off-season or during their senior seasons. 19:42 Um, this Coach Malzahn, Coach Norvell, um, have a, have a lot of... You know, they could, they could flip other guys. Um, these are the three right now. They're playing from behind. We, this, I'm... 19:53 I'll be back on the show sometime in July during our next slow time, and we'll, we can reexamine the situation. Yeah. I'll go 49% now- Yeah... um, and hope that I'm, I'm wro- Yeah. 20:04 I guess for your fans' sake, hope that I'm wrong. Yeah. 20:06 Listen, I, and we said this last week, I don't think there's really reason to panic if you're Florida State, uh, simply because Kevin Sperry was not on FSU's radar till deep into the season. 20:17 And you watch his film and, uh, you know, I think you, if you're a Florida State fan, you gotta be as excited about him as maybe you were anybody else that they were considering, uh, in that class at quarterback. 20:28 Uh, so, uh, you know, they got him on campus, uh, got him signed, and, uh, sealed and delivered, so we'll see how it all pans out. 20:35 All right, so, you know, Florida State did get the commitment of Emari Clemens, uh, one of the top running backs in the country, and then last week got news that they were going to get an official visit out of Xavier Crowell, the nation's number one ranked running back in, uh, the class of 2026. 20:51 Uh, do you think there's any chance that Florida State would be able to sign both of those kids in the same class? And, you know, I think you gotta take into consideration that, that whoever... 21:03 that, you know, they got Crowell is gonna be, would be a sophomore. Uh, you got Cam, uh, Davis who would be either a red shirt sophomore or junior. 21:11 Uh, what do you think the chances of Florida State landing two elite backs in the same class will be? And I think their chances are probably helped with the fact that Malzahn's going to be a... 21:23 You know, they're gonna take shots down the field. Mike's, that's Mike's deal. But, uh, you know, Gus is gonna run the ball, and he, he, he, he, uh... Did he ha- Now, he... 21:32 Well, he's ha- I think he had two running backs at, uh, Auburn one time that got drafted. But what do you think their chances of getting those two guys in the same class are? Yeah. 21:41 Um, you know, I, I think it, it, it's potentially slim, uh, only for the fact that with Xavier Crowell, um, you know, who is a teammate of, of Landon Duckworth, reclassified into the same class now as, as Duck. 21:55 Um, much like Duck, has been to UCF and has a really strong connection to Coach Malzahn. Um, but with... 22:02 Listen, he was the, he was the number one running back in the country for 2027, and now he's the number one running back in the country for 2026. Um, that... 22:09 It might be a, an, an intriguing connection, but with an expedited timeline, I, I feel good that, you know, pot- you know, potentially the number one player in the state of Alabama is gonna end up staying in the state of Alabama the way that obviously, uh, Hugh Freeze and Auburn recruited last year. 22:26 Yeah. [laughs] Um, you wanna talk about, uh, making a statement in the state of Alabama. Uh, and guess what? 22:33 I don't think Kalen DeBoer is a bad coach, and I don't think that, uh, that staff is, is not well-equipped to recruit, not only nationally, which they did at a very high clip last year, but kinda regri- regain their footing within the state of Alabama. 22:47 Um, and they really, really like Xavier as well. 22:50 So, uh, with that particular recruitment, call me, um, call me boring, but I don't think that it's- he's gonna be able to leave that state, uh, coming out of Jackson, Alabama. Yeah, it's hard. 23:00 [laughs] It's gonna be very hard, particularly with the... And you're right. 23:03 I think, uh, you know, DeBoer suffered from two things last year: A, he wasn't Nick Saban, and B, the conference expansion, which made the schedules just a little bit tougher on everybody. 23:13 Uh, you know, I think, I think that, that Alabama will probably rebound just fine, uh, and find their way with, uh, Kalen DeBoer as head coach. 23:21 All right, so you know, I think a lot of people have been a little bit surprised, uh, with how well Florida State has done in recruiting coming off what was, you know, just a disastrous season. 23:32 Uh, right now have the 11th ranked class in the Class of 2026, with, uh, seven guys, uh, committed. Caron Maycock, the linebacker from Miami. Emari Clemens, the running back. Xavier Payne, the offensive lineman. 23:46 Tadarius Hughes, a safety/corner. Darion Williams, wide receiver. Efren White, who will be an athlete. He's listed as an athlete, wide receiver, DB. Uh, then Darryl Bell, a DB. 23:57 How do you f- H- What is your take, uh, on how Florida State has rebounded, uh, on the recruiting trail from what was obviously, uh, one of the most disappointing seasons in school history? I'm honestly not surprised. 24:12 Mike Norvell is a, is a fantastic recruiting head coach, and he puts together, uh, fantastic staffs. 24:17 And, um, you know, he lost a lot of a- ammunition losing some of those pieces and coordinators and coaches from last year, and he found some, some really great hires that made waves pretty quickly, and this is kind of the yielding of, yielding of, of that. 24:31 Sometimes, you know, sometimes you can kind of fall into a pit if you're a program, and, um, coming off of, like you said, a lackluster disappointing season, um, you can kinda recruit at that level. 24:41 You can recruit down or you just kinda come up short in a lot of recruiting battles. Well, Florida State's doing the opposite. 24:47 Um, they're going after the same guys that are, that they are hi- high on.Um, and they're winning critical in-state recruiting battles for, for four, four-star kids and plus. Yeah. 24:57 Um, like, you know, they're just outside the top 10. I love that. The, this is, this is, you know, ultimately gonna become the foundation of their class. I'm watching these, um, official visits, and I'm getting... 25:07 My head is, my head is spinning on the screen thinking about how much work I have ahead of me, uh, keeping pace with these visits coming up. But that's, that's what's... 25:15 That's, you know, double-digit candidates to potentially join this class and be- Yeah... targets down the stretch for Coach Norvell and company. 25:23 Um, and when you're working with a, uh, the number 11 recruiting class in the country and a lot of really talented in-state guys that, yeah, they'll take a few visits. 25:31 They'll probably take a visit to, to Florida and Miami and maybe an out-of-state school if, if they have a strong enough connection there. 25:38 Um, but I think that, you know, those are guys that are ultimately gonna kind of comprise the, the foundation of your class. 25:45 And, um, I think that they, they're seeing opportunities that are available to them, and that's what you want your coaching staff to do. 25:52 Sell them on the product that's on the field, and sell them the opportunity that, "Hey, if you're good enough, you see that we have, we have, we have a need at, uh, you know, wide receiver. 26:00 Come in and come, come in as a midyear enrollee and compete for playing time right away. And if you're the best player, you'll pl- you'll play." And I think kids, kids wanna play for Coach Norvell. 26:11 They wanna play for a lot of these coaches and coordinators at, in Tallahassee, um, and that this program is not that far removed from some really, really fantastic seasons. Yeah. 26:22 And I wanted to ask you about some of the guys. Obviously, he hired Gus Malzahn, Herb Hand, Tim Harris Jr. on the offensive side of the ball. 26:29 Tony White, uh, Terrence Knighton, and Evan Cooper on the defensive side of the ball. I've got a little bit of a previous relationship with Herb Hand. I met him 20 years ago at a high school football game in Sarasota. 26:41 Don't ask me how I remember that, but I think it was Booker and Riverview in a great game, uh, on a Ran- a random [chuckles] Friday night in November, sit- stand on the sidelines with a bunch of coaches. 26:51 Uh, and obviously, he has a proven track record. As you said, he's, uh, he's been at Auburn, Texas, Penn State, Vandy, uh, UCF, uh, you know. 27:00 Uh, but tell me a little bit about your take, uh, 'cause I really feel like they've elevated offensive line recruiting since Herb has gotten on campus. 27:09 Uh, I kinda feel the same way overall defensively, uh, and particularly in some areas of Florida. I think they've improved in t- the Tampa area, uh, specifically. 27:19 I'm not even sure which coach has been reassigned to Tampa from Florida State and, uh, you know. 27:23 But tell me what your experience has been with these guys as recruiters and which of those six guys are, you know, which two of those six strike you as the strongest recruiters. 27:34 And not, not to say that all of them aren't strong recruiters, but I don't wanna keep you, I don't wanna keep you all day to talk about [chuckles] all six new assistant coaches. 27:42 But what are your thoughts on what they've brought to Florida State, uh, not only, uh, not necessarily on the practice field and on game day, but more specifically when it comes to the recruiting trail? 27:54 Well, thank you, Pat, because I was trying to think of quips for each one of these guys. Yeah. [laughs] No, no. It's good. Me too. 27:58 I was like, "Man, I need to look at my phone real quick, and I don't know how I'm gonna be able to pull that one off." No. 28:03 [laughs] But no, I think, um, you know, I think probably the, the coach that, that drew the most buzz from recruits, um, was Terrence Knighton coming over from Nebraska. 28:14 Um, obviously, s- Coach Norvell saw what, what, uh, Coach Rhule was doing out there in Nebraska and said, "Let's bring them into war- warmer climates to recruit some of these players out here in the southeast," um, as well as Tony White. 28:27 Um, the... 28:28 I think what, what those two have done is, um, you know, I don't, I don't wanna say that Florida State was off in their recruiting 'cause they were recruiting fantastic players beforehand, but I think it kind of re- reinvigorated them on the recruiting trail a little bit. 28:43 You saw, um, I would say, you know, I think about someone like, uh, Javarrion Carlton out here from Texas, um, who's, you know, said his first offer came from Coach Knighton. 28:52 And, and he's, he's going to try to get to Florida State at the... some point this off-season. The interest is there. 28:59 Um, you know, or someone like Samari Matthews, who's been to Florida State a couple of different times. 29:04 Um, but then they add Ton- Coach White to the staff, um, and now Florida State is in his lead group, in his top four. Um, obviously, there is a gap between Florida State and some of the lead guys. 29:15 But, um, like I said, Florida State feels revitalized in a lot of these recruitments. They weren't, they weren't, may- they were, maybe they weren't at the top with everyone. Um, but adding some of these, you know, 29:27 Gus Malzahn to now help recruit Landon Duckworth or, or, you know, Tony White to recruit Samari Matthews, it's a little more firepower than you, what you previously had, um, coming off what they just did. 29:37 Um, but I think, you know, you look at someone like Herb Hand who just brings, like you said, 20-plus years of professionalism at the position. 29:45 Get someone like Lamar Brown, uh, to now go and, and take an official visit- Yeah... to Florida State. That's been a team that's been trying to get this kid from Louisiana on campus for two years. Now, it's gonna happen. 29:58 Um, 29:59 I just think that you, you kinda have a nice combination of youth and energy, uh, with professionalism and track record and reputation, um, where I think you, you kind of improve a little bit on the recruiting trail, you improve a little bit on the field, and you recruit, you improve a little bit, um, you know, in the locker rooms with the culture of Florida State that Mi- Mike Norvell is, is continuing to instill and obviously the development aspect. 30:26 And I think that these guys as a whole, um, check a lot of those boxes, and I think, uh, like you said. 30:32 But if, if, I think this, you know, uh, if they have the success on the field, it's gonna e- all the other effects are gonna yield on the, on the recruiting trail and in the transfer portal. 30:41 They're gonna become a hot place to, to transfer to, as they have been. Um, it just, it's one step after the next, and I think these are the guys equipped to kinda make those kinda moves. Yep. 30:51 Uh-Are there any guys that you're paying close attention to now that you think Florida State could be close on? 30:58 A kid like a Trenton Henderson from Pensacola who, you know, by all, I know he's gonna take a number of official visits, but it really seems to be a Florida State-Auburn battle for him right now. 31:08 Uh, anybody that you're paying particularly close attention to that you think Florida State, uh, is 31:14 right in the thick of it and could be, uh, in, you know, not, not the top five, but maybe the top one or, you know, let's say the top two, uh, that people should keep an eye on here, uh, over the next couple of months? 31:27 Yeah, I, I would stick right with that with Trenton Henderson. Like you mentioned, he was, he was, uh, he was an early offer for this staff, right? Obviously from right there, uh, in the Panhandle. 31:39 Um, he's seen his recruitment take off. 31:41 He's continued to make, become a more nationally known name, but, um, you know, this is where Florida State wins, is keeping guys close to home or, or keeping guys in state and, uh, really talented edge. 31:51 I think this is where you see Terrence Knighton kind of, uh, s- flex his muscle here, um, as a national recruiter trying to now keep someone home. Uh, it's, it's a... 32:02 I think he's, he's been able to do that when he's been in, uh, Lincoln, Nebraska, bringing talent up to Nebraska, and now, you know, now he's gonna try to keep someone close to home in Florida State, and I think this is where he has a chance to flex that muscle. 32:15 Yep. 32:15 All right, and one last question just because, uh, it's, it's new, it's relatively new with the, obviously the advent of no restrictions on the number of official visits other than the fact that you can only take one to a school, but there's no limit on the number of schools. 32:32 Uh, but you can take one to any one school unless there's a head coaching change, then you can take a second. 32:37 Uh, but the, something that's new to the recruiting calendar is weekday official visits, and sometimes when I see a weekday official visit, my reaction is, "Well, they're getting an official visit out of the kid, but he's not coming for the, the weekend." 32:56 Now, there's two ways to look at that, right? If he comes on a weekend, he's grouped in with a bunch of players, uh, and he's just one of 10 or one of eight or one of 12. 33:07 Uh, you come in on a Sunday night, leave on a Tuesday, come in on a Monday, leave on a Wednesday. 33:12 Uh, you're getting more one-on-one time, but there's also, you lose some of that energy from a weekend visit with what's going on, the atmosphere of town. Of course, now listen, um, 33:26 for some of the higher level kids, I know it's still recruiting. I think some of it is negotiation [laughs] these days, but... 33:32 And listen, you bring them in in the summer when act- when campus is not as active as it would be in December or January with kids, with the, the entire enrolled, uh, student body on campus. 33:43 In summertime, it's a little bit more, probably about half the kids on campus. But do you, do you take away anything when you see a kid plan a weekday visit, official visit, as opposed to a weekend offi- official visit? 33:55 This is just me thinking out loud, uh, trying to read too much into kids s- uh, setting dates. No, you know what? I'm glad you said it because I think in the past I've had kind of your, um, your take as well. 34:09 Um, and then it's kinda shifted for me in the past year, I would say. Uh, I'm trying to think of, uh, his name. 34:19 His name is escaping me, but he's a five-star from last year's class who, from California who signed with Alabama. 34:25 And, um, you know, he was kinda going over his official visits with me, and I'm like, you know, I'm like, "How is... This doesn't, doesn't make sense to me." 34:33 This is someone who, you know, unfortunately I have to be on planes quite a bit, and, you know, it, one of my big pet peeves is like how do you, how do you go this way when you have to go that way? 34:42 And, and why would you not make it in order? You know, whatever. Yeah. Just someone with OCD and someone who's getting old. 34:47 So, um, but the, the summers are now so f- littered with not only official visits, um, but other national events. 34:57 You know, we talk about the Rivals five-star, um, these, uh, All Star 7 on 7s, uh, these, you know, Elite 11 camps that, you know, include, uh, different skill position players. 35:10 Other, you know, s- camps and, and lineman activities for the, the best of the best in the country who are also making official visits like the rest of us. Um, like the rest of us, like, like everyone else. Um, 35:22 and, and then not to mention, you know, some are, some, some seniors still also have to, like, camp at some schools, um, at that point in their recruiting process. You know, maybe they're coming off injury. 35:33 Um, you know, Clemson is famous for making kids cla- camp, but, um, it's, it's all around the country in certain positions. Ohio State as well. 35:40 Um, so if they haven't, maybe they do one a, a time or to see what they look like in person. So I think the way that it's scheduled, I, I take less of it now 'cause they're trying to just squeeze everything in. Right. 35:51 And like you said, you can look at it either way. Friday, it's, like, all the glitz, the glam. It's the weekend. There's a, there's a lot of energy. You've, you've seen that before. Um, but sometimes not... 36:02 DeVonta Smith, who just won a Super Bowl, was the Heisman Trophy winner, did everything at Alabama, sat in his hotel room the entirety of his official visit with his girlfriend, um, you know, and just sat- Yeah... 36:14 and then, you know, wait until he could sit down with the c- with, you know, the coaches, Coach Napier and Coach Saban, and just commit to the program and saw the way p- you know. 36:23 So to some kids, yeah, it, it, it is the official visit atmosphere, the energy and culture, and for others, it's just, it's just about business, whether that's, uh, where I'm gonna be developed, or do we need to s- where do I sign here?Yeah. 36:35 All right, well, I got one, a couple more questions for you, then I'm gonna let you go. These are much more, uh, about recruiting in general. Uh, you know, listen, the calendar's gotten crazy, right? 36:44 I don't know how the coaches do it. I've been out of... I haven't worked for a major college football program since 2013, uh, and it was much different. All the National Signing Day was still in February. 36:55 Camps were the big thing in June and July. It wasn't an official visits. What would you like to see the NCAA [laughs] 37:04 or whoever's gonna be the governing body of college football, what is one thing that, one adjustment that you would like to see to the recruiting calendar? 37:13 Because mine, because of the, and this mixes in the portal, is if you're gonna allow kids to visit April, May, and June for official visits, let's have a early signing period in July or August and get this out of the way, and that's one less thing for coaches to worry about. 37:28 What would be one thing that you would like to see change on the recruiting calendar? Yeah, I think that, I think that the signing day situation needs to be altered. Um, this year was, you know, I'm, I... 37:40 And I'm thinking so selfishly, but, you know, I know that, you know, I, I can speak for not only people who cover this, um, but the coaches involved, the parents of the kids and their, their families. 37:52 It's just, it's a jam-packed situation at this point. 37:56 I mean, if you think from the summer and the s- you know, summer official visits to a senior season to, uh, you know, locking in and signing and graduating, potentially playing in an all-star game, being on campus. 38:09 It's, it's a, it's a lot, and in some cases a lot more convoluted than that, and you know that- Yeah... Pat. Um, so I think that, yeah, I think that if they're gonna... 38:19 I, I think there should be one signing day again, and I think the placement of that signing day. And if they wanna keep two, that's also fine. They need to be moved around to be- Yeah... um, 38:30 m- more, more in line with, with this new expedited timeline. Um, you know, they could do it, you know, before their senior seasons, and this way they're, they're safeguarded should an injury pop up. 38:42 You could put that in their, their, you know, whatever the... I don't think they sign scholarship papers anymore, but we- whatever, you know, things, contracts they're, they're dealing with. Um, 38:52 and the kids that don't, you know, maybe that stays in December. Um, but when you put it in February, I mean, as, as we are now seeing, we were, we're already knee-deep into the 2026 cycle. Yep. Um, [laughs] 39:07 and two weeks later there's official visits being set up. So it's, this is, as this becomes more business-like, uh, we need a more, uh, efficient approach to signing days. Yep. I agree with you. They... 39:21 Something's gotta change, and, uh, listen, these guys are making a ton of money, but, uh, uh, and y- to whom much is given, much is expected. 39:28 But listen, the, the calendar, these coaches, uh, you're gonna run off some really good coaches if you don't... Uh, they're gonna make their money. 39:34 They're gonna go to the NFL, or they're gonna get out, uh, if they don't start. And listen, it's a young man's game. It always has been. 39:40 But, uh, you know, I think, I think as you get older, your, your patience for recruiting probably is not what it used to be. But all right, so another, uh, just, this is just more of a football question. 39:51 I started seeing this today as I was doing some recruiting research online, and, uh, I know that, I g- I think the SEC and the Big Ten just had a joint meeting in either Dallas or New Orleans, or they're getting ready to, and there were some news today on some potential or proposed changes to championship weekend, where as opposed to allowing teams to get a bye and still make the playoffs, uh, you might have three Big 10 or six Big 10 teams play on championship weekend, six teams in the SEC play on championship weekend. 40:27 And I know one model was, uh, in each conference, one would play two, three would play four, five would play six. Then there was another model, one plays two, three plays six, four plays five. Uh, 40:41 d- and of course, I think a lot of that is contingent on those for two, two particular conferences getting a locked in three or four spots into the playoffs. 40:50 So I guess those other t- you know, you could say that one and two are definitely getting in from both co, uh, both co- conferences, whether they win or lose that game. 40:58 But it's almost like a play-in game for the other two, the other two games. What are your initial thoughts on hearing that, uh, or have you even seen that? Haven't seen it. Which, um- Don't truly love it. 41:12 Uh, maybe, I mean, I would say this though, I mean, from the playoff, I, I did like the, the playoff since, but from what I thought it, it took away was that the other bowl games kind of fell by the wayside. 41:23 I felt like they kind of, you know, there was so much playoffs going on that, you know, you kind of, you know, the bowl game seemed, you know, a little bit, a little bit off. 41:34 Um, so I think that if they want to try to find a way to, to s- to spruce up one or adjust, you know, I'm sure they will. Uh, but I don't, I don't feel too strongly. 41:44 I do feel that play-in games and, and, you know, limiting to the conferences is just, I think it's just asking for more, more, more pandemonium. Yep. Yep. 41:55 Yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's gonna be interesting to see what they do, whether they keep it at 12, go to 14, which would still have some byes included, or take the byes out of it, which is what I think they ought to do. 42:04 I think they ought to go to 16 or eight and let that be the number. Uh, I think that's gonna be very interesting. But, uh, all right, Sam, I could ask you a lot more questions. I had one. 42:12 We've already been on here 45 minutes, and like you said, it's been a busy day. Uh, listen, uh, we appreciate the time, appreciate the expertise. 42:20 Uh, you are welcome anytime you wanna come on, whether it's for a segment, whether it's for a whole show. Uh, but we lo- we appreciate you having you on here and would love to have you back again. 42:30 Uh, if you're just joining us, we're about to sign off, but we've had Sam Spiegelman, a national recruiting analyst for Rivals, join us to talk a little bit about Florida State football recruiting 2026. 42:40 And, uh, appreciate it, Sam. If you're not a member of the, uh, a subscriber to The Osceola, please go to theosceola.com or floridastate.rivals.com, floridastate.rivals.com, and subscribe to The Osceola. 42:55 We got all the coverage of Carron Maycock's commitment to Florida State. Uh, we've got multiple recruiting notebooks in for this week, including the latest offers, uh, prospects that have set official visits. 43:06 Uh, Xavier Payne has set an official visit with Florida State, who's committed to Florida State. 43:10 Uh, uh, Darnell Robinson Jr., offensive lineman, has just set a, a official visit to Florida State, as has defensive tackle Carter Lucky and tight end Kai Wesley. 43:21 But you can go to theosceola.com or floridastate.rivals.com and check that out. 43:26 You can also, uh, go, uh, before you leave here, if you're watching this, please subscribe to The Osceola YouTube channel and hit that notification button so that you get li- uh, updates when we're gonna do a show live or tape. 43:40 Uh, but we appreciate you guys joining us, and we'll be back next week with Seminole Sidelines. Thank you, Sam. Have a great weekend. Yep. Thanks, Pat. Yeah, man.
