FSU Football: No surprise Jimbo Fisher responsible for collapse

FSU football went from the mountain top to rock bottom all in a span of about five years. It’s no surprise Jimbo Fisher is to blame for the collapse of one of football’s most consistent programs.

We knew FSU football hit rock bottom because of Jimbo Fisher’s lack of attention to detail in several areas.

It was obvious the recruiting misses at the quarterback position played a part. However, we detailed how FSU recruiting rankings the last few seasons under Jimbo Fisher were fool’s gold.

When 53 percent of the blue chip players are not contributing anything to the program are already dismissed?

You know there’s a huge problem when it comes to player development and accountability. A report by Bleacherreport’s Matt Hayes details the downfall under Fisher’s watch.

Hayes has quotes from former FSU assistants that detailed things like players not going to class and being catered too. More importantly, we have confirmation of why the FSU APR score is extremely close to putting the program in penalty range.

"Another former assistant under Fisher tells Bleacher Report that by the end of Fisher’s reign, coaches were being given one mandate: “Keep the players eligible.”"

Here’s a quote from Willie Taggart about learning some of the issues when he arrived in Tallahassee:

"“Don’t tell me [players] are not going to class. Are you s–tting me? They’re going to class,” Taggart says. “Who is he to tell you he’s not going to class? That’s accountability. That’s discipline. If you’re going to allow him to sit there and not go, of course he’s not going. If we allow him to do that, shame on us. Then we really don’t care. We’re just here. We’re just collecting the money and cheating the university.”"

Taggart made special emphasis on trying to change the culture by meeting with a host of professors and communicating he expected his player to be in class when he first arrived in Tallahassee.

A year later and the Noles had almost 30 players to boost 3.0 GPA’s or higher as Taggart recognized them all on social media with individual posts.

The heart of the success of a program is recruiting, culture and accountability. FSU football was failing at all three the last three to four years under Jimbo Fisher.

Players nor coaches were being held accountable and it showed.

It showed on the football field as the Noles lost countless games to less talented teams like Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Houston and Boston College.

The Noles have not had the recruiting success they thought they would have under Willie Taggart. He’s brought in classes ranked No. 11 and No. 19 in his two seasons in Tallahassee.

However, I think the lack bringing in a host of top 100 players every recruiting cycle can be offset somewhat by development.

All we have to do is look at the number of four-star recruits that fall into that 53 percent I mentioned earlier. What Taggart has to do is bridge a one or two-year gap with players that will buy-in to his vision so the wins will follow that will attract those top players again.

The 2019 season will be the first step towards that goal as the program begins to use more and more of the players Taggart has recruited.