FSU Alums: Derwin James co-signs young FSU player

Derwin James came to FSU football as a five-star defensive back and became a first round draft pick who could be the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Derwin James and Jaiden Woodbey share a lot of similarities while coming to FSU football in totally different fashions.

James committed to the Noles extremely early in high school and had a FSU tattoo before every enrolling.

Woodbey didn’t get an offer until the last-minute before visiting and deciding to commit to the Noles.

However, both were highly recruited five-star safeties coming out of high school with Woodbey patterning much of his game after James.

It must have been surreal for Woodbey to see James congratulate him on being named an ESPN Freshmen All-American on Twitter:

Of course that’s Jaiden’s mom if you couldn’t figure that out responding to Derwins’ tweet.

Thoughts

First of all I think it’s great to see past players stay connected with current players in the program. I know James was just here last season, but it’s still cool to see and I’d like to see more of it.

Often times it seems former FSU players have gone on to the NFL and not have any real connections to the program anymore.

A few of them are public about it on social media, but I think it would be great to see more players from the Bowden and Fisher era’s to form relationships with current players.

Coach Taggart has brought in players from the Bowden era like Peter Warrick and Danny Kanell to speak to the team this past year to educate the current players about what being a Nole is all about.

Of course defensive line coach Odell Haggins is on staff and can do it daily, but this is something I’d like to see more of moving forward.