FSU Football cannot showcase product with crowded day of spring games
By Jason Parker
FSU football will be one of over 45 teams holding their annual spring game on Saturday – something that doesn’t allow for them to be the showcase event.
Saturday evening, the FSU football team will put on their uniforms, tighten the chin straps on those beautiful gold helmets with the spears on the side and head out of the tunnel for the annual spring football game – the culmination of practice during this time of the year and the last time they will take the field before August and preps for the 2018 season.
During the same day, 45 other teams in the FBS will be doing the same exact thing as they hold their spring games or final scrimmage of spring practice. That means nearly 41 percent of the 113 teams in the FBS who are holding spring games or scrimmages this year will be doing so on the same exact day.
That number includes all three major teams in the state of Florida – FSU football, the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Gators (even at 4-7 I guess they are still technically a major program) – along with the USF Bulls while the state’s other three FBS programs have either held theirs already (FIU last Friday) or will next week (UCF and Florida Atlantic).
At the same time, the Seminoles will be joined by national programs like Clemson, Michigan, USC, Virginia Tech and Texas A&M who will also be finishing spring practice this Saturday.
What does that mean for the Noles? Well, in addition to not being able to showcase themselves as the only game in town, it means that recruits from around the state and across the country will be dividing their attention among the different programs. FSU football will be able to host some recruits, but no where near the amount they could if no one else big was playing.
I’m not advocating that Florida State should do something or schedule their lives around what other programs are doing, but it needs to be said that all the teams playing on the same day is not good for the Seminoles. If they had played it one week earlier, there would have only been real competition from Auburn while next week features Alabama, Notre Dame and LSU.
Next: Does garnet or gold team have best squad?
FSU football will hold their own and have a great day inside Doak Campbell Stadium – but in the world of recruiting where everything is so darn cutthroat, every little advantage – and every little disadvantage – counts.