FSU Football: How 2011 signing class for Noles dominated college football

FSU football has plenty of successful classes in their history, but the one near the start of this current decade takes the cake as maybe the best ever.

In the last few seasons, fans of the FSU football team have been waiting for the moment where the annual recruiting class comes with that same fire and desire to dominate the game of college football – something that has dwindled down in the final years of the former “leader” on the sideline and the first two classes signed by current head coach Willie Taggart.

For many in garnet and gold each season, there is a burning desire for some of the five star recruits from classes this decade to come in – guys with names like Jameis Winston, Lamarcus Joyner and more that dominated the field for the Seminoles and helped bring home the program’s third national title in the 2013 season.

That FSU football team, arguably the best team statistically in the history of college football, was led by a group of players that all came into the program at the same time – and dominated the recruiting class in the 2011 season with maybe the best signing class ever.

Florida State Seminoles Football

By the time that group had all their names signed down and were in Tallahassee getting ready to go, it may have been the best signing class in the history of the FSU football program.

Take a look at all the five star recruits who signed with the Seminoles in that class. According to 247 Sports, the Seminoles signed 28 players in the class with four of them being five star recruits – with all four being ranked in the top 27 of ALL THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL RECRUITS IN THE CLASS!

It was a class that finished second in the national – just over a single point behind Alabama – and was the top ranked class in the ACC with a few guys you may have heard of…guys with names like Timmy Jernigan, Karlos Williams, Devonta Freeman, Nick O’Leary, Bobby Hart, James Wilder Jr. and more.

It’s a group that, over the next four seasons, built FSU football into a dynasty class: in 2011, the Noles defeated Miami, Florida and Notre Dame in the same season for the first time. In 2012, it was a group that helped the Seminoles win the ACC for the first time since the 2005 season and went on to win the Orange Bowl for the first time since the 1995 season.

The following season? Well, all they did was dominate the field and basically not play the second half of almost all the big games considering the fact they usually had a very comfortable lead as they went on to win the school’s third national championship.

Some of the players from the group like Freeman and Jernigan were among the group that left after winning the title, but a decent amount of the group stuck around to help FSU football make it to the inaugural College Football Playoff before heading off to the NFL and getting paid.

For some people, signing day is just one day in the beginning of February (and now, December as well) to see how their team will get better – for FSU football fans in the 2011 season, it was a day that changed the direction of the program for years to come.