FSU football had the least players drafted since 2009 with Cam Akers being the only player selected in 2020. Will things get better?
Recruiting is the lifeblood of any college football program, and FSU football has seen a decline in talent in recent years.
It’s also seen a lack of development with the blue-chip talent it has amassed during that time. The lack of elite talent in recent years won’t show up until 2022 or 2023 unless Mike Norvell can significantly develop the talent accrued during that time.
The good news? It looks like there’s a chance that could happen if we look at how many players were drafted from where Mike Norvell coached last, the Memphis Tigers.
Norvell arrived in Memphis in 2016, so I’d say we can’t give him credit for the players selected that year or the year afterward. So let’s start with the 2019 and 2020 NFL Drafts, where five Memphis players were selected.
FSU football only had three players selected in the same time frame, and it should be noted Marvin Wilson and Tamorrion Terry definitely would have been drafted had they not decided to come back.
However, when you look at the recruiting rankings of the two programs over the same time frame, it’s impressive to see what Mike Norvell and staff were able to achieve at Memphis.
Here are the average recruiting rankings from 2017-2019:
-Memphis-56,81, 67 (No. 68 average)
-FSU-6, 11, 19 (No. 12 average)
Development
The biggest differences in recruiting between Power Five programs and programs outside of the Power Five usually are found in the trenches.
It’s ultimately why Memphis couldn’t hang with Penn State in the Cotton Bowl. They didn’t have the horses to stop the run on defense, or the offensive line to establish a run game with the lack of depth ultimately showing up in the second half.
The Memphis players drafted over the past two years were all skill players except one offensive lineman.
That should speak to Norvell and the staff’s ability to evaluate skill position players, but also their ability to develop them.
FSU football has never had any problems bringing in running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs.
The biggest challenge is going to be can they get the difference makers in the trenches on both sides of the ball?
In the Trenches
One promising thing I’ve noticed is how Mike Norvell and staff are attacking the recruiting trails. I can tell they have done a great job of evaluating the needs on the roster.
They came in knowing the offensive line had to be improved immediately and aggressively pursued players in the transfer portal and continue to do.
At the same time, they are aggressively pursuing high school players to sign and develop. On the defensive side, they knew they’d be losing Marvin Wilson, Janarius Robinson, and likely Joshua Kaindoh after the 2020 season.
So they’ve hit the transfer portal again for those defensive tackle and defensive end positions.
They’ve brought in two defensive ends, a defensive tackle, and an offensive tackle which are all critical needs in 2020 and beyond.
We already know Odell Haggins can develop defensive tackles as he’s had several to get drafted in the early rounds in recent years.
The good news is FSU offensive line coach Alex Atkins had an offensive lineman from Charlotte drafted in the fourth round a few days ago.
Final Thoughts
I think we understand everything is up in the air right now with this whole coronavirus pandemic. Will we even have a 2020 college football season?
We can only hope, right? However, there are a lot of positives to draw from in looking at the draft success Memphis had under Mike Norvell.
They had not had five players drafted over two years since the 1993-94 NFL Drafts. That was with recruiting classes with a three-year composite ranking of 68.
There’s no question he’ll be able to get more talent at FSU. Heck, they’ve had the worst three-year span in the last 40 years and still have not finished lower than No. 22 in the composite rankings.
So better recruiting rankings and better development should equate to more players drafted in the future right?
That should also equate to more wins, which is something FSU football is starving for after the past three years.