FSU Football: James Cook decision shows flaw in Noles recruiting strategy

FSU football lost another in-state recruit when James Cook announced his de-committment, as the Noles national approach is exposing a major problem.

Since taking over as the head coach for FSU football just after the start of the 2010 calendar year, Jimbo Fisher has been able to do plenty when it comes to recruiting five star and top talent to Tallahassee. He has had classes ranked in the top five almost every year while bringing in players from Texas, Alabama, Georgia and across the country.

At the same time, a noticeable dip has taken place in one major state the Seminoles use to recruit heavily: Florida.

In the eight seasons that Fisher has put together a recruiting class, four of them have seen the group be less than half filled with players from the Sunshine State. While it is great that, using this year’s class as an example, five star recruits like Cam Akers and Marvin Wilson are choosing the Seminoles, it has come while the emphasis has gone down on recruiting the home base – in a state where high school football is arguably the best in the county.

Florida State Seminoles Football

The defection of James Cook this week is the prime example. Cook, a Miami native and brother of legendary FSU football running back Dalvin, was committed to the Seminoles for nearly a year and a half – he moved up his high school graduation date to enroll early and following in his brother’s footsteps.

Now? He’s back to being a free agent and, while he may end up back in Tallahassee, the chances have grown that top talent from the state of Florida – who wanted to be a Seminole badly – is looking elsewhere.

For fans of Florida State who have been around a while, it’s deja vu all over again. In the dynasty years under Bobby Bowden, the Seminoles would stock their classes with top Sunshine State talent – the best in the country – and fill in what was needed from elsewhere. During the lost decade of the 2000’s, the roles were reversed and players from states like Colorado were the focus.

I’m not saying that’s the only reason for that decade of downward results, but it’s hard to argue with that fact that when FSU football doesn’t recruit at home, the results suffer. Yes, great former Seminoles like Jameis Winston, Jalen Ramsey, Charlie Ward and more were from other states – but they learned to play a Florida style of football because of all the natives on the roster.

Players, recently for example, like Rashad Greene or Timmy Jernigan or Lamarcus Joyner  or Kelvin Benjamin and so many more – those who stayed home and were the best on the team in many cases. The rich talent in Florida needs to be the top focus for Fisher and his assistants.

As a FSU grad and diehard fan, I want the Seminoles to succeed no matter what. If the whole roster is from Alaska and we win a title, it’s all good. It’s the fact that we have seen this story before – and there is no reason AT ALL why a legacy player from Miami should even be thinking about leaving for a place like Georgia.

Right now, the Seminoles have seven of their 11 commitments for 2018 from the state of Florida – but have lost two in-state commits already. Fisher has shown he wants a national recruiting strategy as his main focus, so the jury is still out on how many more will bounce.

FSU football is a national brand and is one of the most known ones in all of college football. Both Bowden and Fisher have had the luxury of being able to recruit the country and get in the door based on their results. But is that any reason to ignore the talent in your own state that is much better than almost the entire country?

Related Story: James Cook Announces De-Committment From FSU

If James Cook doesn’t end up coming back to the Seminoles, it will be the latest example of a disturbing trend in the last few years – looking an awful lot like the decade that fans of the Noles like to forget.