FSU Recruiting: Which 2018 early enrollee will have instant impact?

FSU football so far has seven players from their 2018 class who are in school and involved in the upcoming season’s process – so which one jump out soon?

When the fist ever December signing day took place late last year, the FSU football program watched as just seven players from the high school level signed with the Seminoles – a number that had the class ranked in the lower half nationally after the recruiting trail was abandoned by the last coaching staff before their “leader” abandoned ship.

While that class has certainly improved since then under the leadership of a real head coach, Willie Taggart along with his new staff with eight more verbal commitments as of this weekend to bring the class into the top 20 nationally, it shouldn’t be ignored that everyone of the early enrollees was a four or five star recruit nationally.

With that solid group coming in so far that will be involved in spring football and get a head start on the 2018 season, which one of those seven recruits will have the biggest impact during their first season as a member of the FSU football program.

The obvious answer is that it is going to be someone on the defensive side of the ball, as six of the signees play defense with four of those being secondary players. The first name that comes to mind is the only five star signee, Jaiden Woodbey from the Los Angeles area. He’s a tall defensive back at 6’2″ and someone who could right now be in the starting lineup when the Seminoles hot Virginia Tech on September 3rd.

ESPN.com thinks it will be another defensive back – Asante Samuel Jr., a four star recruit from the Fort Lauderdale area who right now seems like a slightly taller version of former FSU football All-American Lamarcus Joyner.

"With the departures of Tarvarus McFadden, Nate Andrews and Trey Marshall, that’s big, and we could see Samuel step in right away to fill the void in the back end."

When you add those departures with the one left by Derwin James, any one of the four early enrollee defensive backs – Samuel Jr., Woodbey, AJ Lytton or Isaiah Bolden – could easily find themselves either in the starting lineup or getting plenty of playing time in both the spring and agains the Hokies.

Next: Can FSU Football win February signing day period?

With Bolden needing to put on some weight (looking like a defensive version of James Blackman) and both Lytton and Samuel Jr. being slightly shorter, my money is on Woodbey being the one getting the most run and making the biggest impact right away. He will likely be expected to take over for James at the safety spot and will be expected to bring instant results.