FSU football has established momentum with its 2021 recruiting class. Four-star defensive back Omarion Cooper keeps it going.
FSU football and Mike Norvell are working to make up ground on its 2021 recruiting class. The staff was behind other top tier programs due to salvaging the 2020 recruiting class after Willie Taggart was fired.
They’ve made a great deal of progress thus far, racking up several commitments within the past month.
They have some important pieces already committed like four-star quarterback Luke Altmyer and another commitment from four-star linebacker Branden Jennings.
The Noles have a commitment from three-star offensive lineman Jake Slaughter and recently added a weapon on the offensive side of the ball in wide receiver Joshua Burrell.
One area the Noles haven’t had any problems adding quality players is in the secondary. Their latest addition is four-star defensive back Omarion Cooper.
What’s the impact of his commitment to the Noles? Let’s talk about it.
Quality Player
One thing to think about is how FSU coaches are still working to establish relationships with high school coaches and players in the state of Florida.
That’s one reason this commitment is so big as Cooper is an blue-chip player within the state of Florida.
I like Cooper’s film. He’s a player who could be valuable for the Noles moving forward. He can play multiple positions and has great length to go up against taller wide receivers.
He could also be valuable on special teams where he could see playing time early.
Cooper has a ton of offers from some big-time Power Five programs, so it’s great to see this FSU defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson and defensive coordinator Adam Fuller secure his commitment.
Perception/Momentum
The Noles already had some recruiting momentum after landing five 2021 players within the last month. However, the addition of Omarion Cooper is even more important due to what’s transpired over the past few days.
Mike Norvell and the FSU administration took what could have been a disaster and turned it into a positive.
The fact Omarion Cooper committed just days after that situation took place speaks to his belief in the program and approval of how Mike Norvell handled a situation where he had to be held accountable.
Had the Noles had some sort of recruiting drought after that situation, a lot could have been read into it. This commitment continues the surge from the last few weeks and puts the Noles in position to finish with a highly ranked class should they perform well on the field this fall.
They are ranked No. 22 but could be ranked as high as No. 16 should one recruit they currently lead for decided to commit.
Final Thoughts
I think we really have to take our hats off to Mike Norvell and this coaching staff thus far.
They are battling unprecedented times with everything being shut down and having to recruit without being able to get players on campus the past two months.
They’ve locked up their top target at quarterback and one of the top linebackers in Branden Jennings.
By all accounts, they are operating a well-organized attack moving forward, having already offered over 160 players in the 2022 class.
There’s a clear difference between how they approach things and how the former staff did things.
The Noles now have 11 commits for the 2021 recruiting cycle, with four of them being rated at blue-chip players.
I think a three of the three-star commits has the potential to get bumped to a blue-chip, and we’ll see if one of the three-star commits is in the class at the end of the recruiting cycle.