Top FSU Football Players All Time From South Florida

FSU football has been able to get some of the top recruits from across South Florida over time – here are some of the best to play for the Seminoles.

From the time FSU football fielded their first team back in 1947, there has always been a tie to the South Florida area. From Miami to Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach on the east coast and Fort Myers on the west coast, the Seminoles have been able to go in and get some of the top recruits annually – recruits that have helped shape the football program in Tallahassee.

The pipeline was further expanded when former coach Bobby Bowden took over in the mid-1970’s, as Florida State became really the only program that was able to go in year after year and compete with the Miami Hurricanes for recruits in the area. Over that time, some of the best players to put on the garnet and gold from both southeast and southwest Florida have come from the area.

But just which of those players were the best of the best? Here is a look at who we think are the top five players in FSU football history from all of South Florida.

No. 5 – DB Lamarcus Joyner (Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas)

After three seasons at Southwest Miami High School, Joyner transferred to the Broward County powerhouse where he was named the 2009 USA Today Defensive Player of the Year for the entire country. From the second he arrived in Tallahassee, Joyner contributed on special teams and on defense. He was a three time All-ACC selection, twice being named first team, while also being a consensus All-American his senior season in helping lead FSU to a national title.

No. 4 – DE Andre Wadsworth (Miami Florida Christian)

A tight end in high school, Wadsworth turned down the one college offer he had – to New York’s Stony Brook University – to walk on with the Seminoles. After starting three seasons at defensive tackle (all three years being named second team All-ACC), he moved to end his senior season and flourished – coming up with 16 sacks on the year while being named first team All-ACC, the conference’s player of the year and a consensus All-American.

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No. 3 – LB Marvin Jones (Miami Northwestern)

When the history books are written about the greatest defensive players in the history of FSU football, this former Northwestern Bull will find his name at or near the top. Jones spent three years with the Seminoles, racking up two consensus All-American selections in 1991 and 1992 while being named the winner of both the Butkus and Lombardi awards his final season in Tallahassee, in addition to leading FSU to their first ACC championship that season.

No. 2 – RB Dalvin Cook (Miami Central)

It’s true that the Seminoles were not the first choice for this former prep phenom, but once he settled on Florida State it was a match made in heaven. Cook contributed early in his freshman year, going for over 1,000 yards, while breaking the school’s single season rushing record his sophomore year AND AGAIN as a junior, leaving Florida State as the school’s all time leader in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns – in addition to being All-ACC each season, twice and All-American and MVP of the 2014 ACC Championship Game and 2016 Orange Bowl.

No. 1 – CB Deion Sanders (North Fort Myers)

With all the success on the Southeast part of the state, it’s hard to forget that maybe the best player in program history came from the west coast. After a highly successful prep career as a quarterback, he moved to defense in Tallahassee and flourished – quickly becoming one of the best cover corners in the game. Sanders would go on to be named a two-time consensus All-American while also winning the first Thorpe award in the history of the program and having his number retired during the 1995 season.

Honorable Mention: WR Anquan Boldin (Pahokee), S Devin Bush (Hialeah Miami Lakes), RB Devonta Freeman (Miami Central), WR Rashad Greene (Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquanis), WR Marvin Minnis (Miami Northwestern), CB Xavier Rhodes (Miami Norland), DB Samari Rolle (Miami Beach), DT Corey Simon (Pompano Beach Ely)