FSU Recruiting: Levonta Taylor Says Alabama ‘Real Mad’ He Didn’t Visit
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU recruiting picked up a stud when the No. 1 rated cornerback in the class of 2016 decided to commit to FSU. Alabama wasn’t happy about his decision.
Levonta Taylor is now on the FSU campus even though he doesn’t officially graduate high school in a couple of weeks. He’s ready to try to become just the third true freshman to start at cornerback in FSU history.
Taylor spoke with Safid Deen of the Tallahassee Democrat on his plans and goals once he arrives in Tallahassee.
It’s a great read and I suggest you read the entire piece just to get an idea of what time of player FSU recruiting has landed.
If you watch his film when returning punts he reminds you of former FSU cornerback and punt return specialist Greg Reid.
He seems to have the same fiery competitiveness as Lamarcus Joyner and Jalen Ramsey.
Guess what all four of these players have in common? They’re all consensus five-star players with Reid, Joyner and Ramsey making significant impact on the FSU program.
It looks like Taylor will do the same and he’s putting it out there that if you’re going to compete against him you’ll have to be on your A game “every damn day because I’m going to be up there going crazy,” as Taylor told Deen at the end of the interview.
We’ve talked at length about FSU recruiting and how they stack up against the best of the best in Alabama. Nick Saban gets about 15-20 percent more blue chip players than FSU recruiting.
However, FSU has had more players selected in the NFL draft than Alabama has over the last four years.
Taylor is one of those five-star players that never gave Alabama a chance, and according to him where not pleased that he committed to FSU.
“I’d say the school that was the most mad was Alabama,” Taylor said. “They were real mad.
“When I took that visit and made my commitment, Alabama was ringing my mom’s phone, my stepdad’s phone. They were going crazy. They started disrespecting low key, too. They were like, ‘You don’t send (a) kid to a college without visiting Alabama,’ and all that crazy stuff.”
“Other schools knew they weren’t going to get me so they stopped (recruiting me),” Taylor said. “But those schools right there, they were on fire still trying to get me.”
The biggest influence on Taylor appeared to be the family atmosphere he felt at FSU. He is also familiar with a number of the players on the team as well as several incoming recruits in the #TRIBE16 class.
FSU and Alabama compete against one another on the recruiting trail all the time. Alabama has won a great deal of those battles, but it’s great to know that FSU can and will beat Alabama at times when it comes to elite recruits.
The great thing about this situation is that Taylor will get a chance to play against Alabama in the 2017 season opener.
must read: FSU Develops Players For NFL Better Than Alabama
We’re sure he’ll be “turnt all the way up” and “ready to go crazy” to show Nick Saban and Alabama just how good of a player he is.