FSU football: Noles offer 2021 four-star linebacker Clayton Smith

FSU football needs to close strong with its 2020 recruiting class. However, the coaching staff is already on the trails for 2021.

The FSU football coaching staff is going after difference makers in the 2021 recruiting class. It’s evident they are not going to focus on one particular area as they have offered players from Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas among other places.

The latest offer goes to 2021 four-star linebacker Clayton Smith who hails from Texarkana, Texas.

The Noles have coaches on staff like Chris Thomsen (TCU) with Texas ties and have senior defensive tackle Marvin Wilson on the roster who hails from the Longhorn State.

Smith has offers from the likes of LSU, Memphis, Arkansas, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Texas, TCU among others.

Smith is considered the No. 113 ranked player nationally, No. 8 outside linebacker and No. 20 player overall in the state of Texas. He stands 6’4″ 215 pounds as high school junior and is a three-sport athlete who also plays basketball and track.

The Noles will have a big need for linebackers in this class as they only signed two so far in 2020. There’s only one linebacker on the roster from the 2018 recruiting class in Amari Gainer.

Emmett Rice and Leonard Warner will exhaust eligibility after next season. It looks like FSU football is a little late to the game with the offer, but that’s more indicative of the old staff than the new one.

The good news is Mike Norvell was head coach at Memphis when they offered last June and will hopefully give FSU an edge it normally wouldn’t have in this situation.

Isn’t that telling? Arkansas, Nebraska and LSU were among the first to offer him in early 2019. As with all recruits we’ll have to follow the visits as there are a lot of big time programs vying for his services. It’ll be a great sign if they can get him to visit in the near future.