FSU Football: How Jimbo Fisher Has Dominated Recruiting In Virginia

From Tidewater To Tallahassee, FSU football and Jimbo Fisher have begun to dominate recruiting in Virginia by bringing some of the top players down south.

Over the last 10 years, FSU football and Alabama have had the two winningest programs in college football. It’s no coincidence that they’ve also had the most consistent recruiting success over that same time span.

Since Jimbo Fisher took over for Bobby Bowden as head coach in 2010, Florida State has had top ten recruiting classes every year since the Fisher era began. Four of those seasons they finished in the top five. Many of Florida State’s recruiting wins outside of Florida have been in Virginia. In particular, the talent rich tidewater area of Virginia.

Florida State has four players from the Tidewater currently on their roster. Senior defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi, junior defensive end Josh Sweat, sophomore cornerback Levonta Taylor, and freshman running back Khalan Laborn. Jimbo Fisher mentioned the talent heavy area and how he tapped into it while speaking at the 2017 ACC Kickoff in Charlotte. 

"“When you talk about true athletes and you talk about every sport, great football, basketball, 757 and that Virginia Beach-Chesapeake, that whole area right through there, it’s tremendous,” Fisher said. “You go back to the history of it from Lawrence Taylor to Dwight Stephenson so J.R. Reed to the Vicks and the basketball guys, everybody, the Uptons, everybody in baseball.It’s a great competitive area. It all started because of E.J. Manuel. He’s one of the guys that started it from there. E.J. was one of the great players in our history and kind of laid the groundwork for all that.”"

Manuel, a Bayside High School high school graduate from Virginia Beach, had success with FSU football and parlayed it into being drafted in the first round by the Buffalo Bills. This weighed heavily on Derrick Nnadi’s decision to become a Seminole. It’s been a domino effect ever since.

Next: Struggles with Wake Built Future Success With FSU

They say games aren’t won by the “X’s and O’s,” it’s the “Willie’s and Joe’s.” Coach Fisher’s skill for nurturing relationships has been paying off for the better part of a decade.