FSU Football: Five star 2020 linebacker praises Noles after second visit

FSU football stands as one of the favorites to land one of the top recruits in the upcoming signing class, but he had a message after his latest visit.

In the history of FSU football, there are not all that many ties between the Tallahassee based school and the state of Washington – it’s over 2,700 miles between the two locations on the opposite sides of the country as well as the fact that the Seminoles have not played either of the state’s two biggest college programs in football.

However, the Noles could be in the position to go across the country and take one of the top prospects in the 2020 class – a recruit who has plenty of good things to say about visiting the FSU football program for the second time in the last calendar year.

Of all the names that were on the campus of the Seminoles last weekend for the annual Saturday Night Live recruiting event, the biggest in terms of recruiting ranking was linebacker Sav’ell Smalls – a five star recruit ranked as the top player in his state by 247 Sports and one of the top 20 recruits in the entire country.

Florida State Seminoles Football

It was the second straight summer that the star recruit from just outside Seattle flew across the country for the annual event held by the Seminoles – spending five days in Tallahassee and getting a feel for the city that led to him having plenty of praise for the area and the program in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat.

"“…You could tell the players have all bought into the system. The coaches are excited. The players are excited. The program is probably going to go up because Florida State I can’t really see them being 5-7 for too much longer. With who’s in charge and the players they got, it’s looking like a rocket.”"

Now, at the same time, Smalls was very clear in the interview that while he was happy with what he saw from FSU football during his second visit, he wants to see what takes place on the field after that losing season he mentioned.

"“The product has to be on the field.  You’ve got to produce. All the talking, all the training that the teams doing I got to see how that translates to field.”"

Smalls said he speaks frequently with Seminoles wide receiver Tre’Shaun Harrison, who is also from the same area of Washington, and added Harrison has continuously been trying to pitch to him on why FSU football is the best place for his five star talents.

The latest predictions according to 247 Sports has Alabama as the favorite among three of the seven insiders with the Seminoles getting two votes and two not having made a decision – so if the Seminoles can stay in the running and turn around the 2019 season, it could be interesting to see if the state of Washington becomes a new hotbed for the Noles.