FSU football: Players opting out shows importance of 2020 transfers

FSU football coaches did a solid job of bringing in talent from the transfer portal to help boost the 2020 recruiting class.

FSU football recruiting hasn’t been operating at optimal levels for a few years now. The product on the field, coupled with the three different head coaches in the same amount of time, have taken their toll.

The Noles finished with the No. 22 recruiting class nationally in 2020. I wrote how the coaching staff had done a solid job of acquiring talent from the transfer portal, which made the class better than its ranking.

That talent acquired from the transfer portal has become even more important over the past two days, with the Noles having two players opting-out of the 2020 season.

Redshirt sophomore defensive end Jamarcus Chatman was the first, and redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Dennis Briggs Jr. became the second player to opt-out Tuesday.

Chatman played in four games last season and didn’t achieve any starts, with Briggs Jr. appearing in all 13 games with two stars. He finished the season with 28 tackles, 3.5 TFL, one sack, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery.

Neither player would be starters in 2020, but Briggs likely would have seen an increased number of snaps.

The defensive line is an area we’ve seen FSU football struggle recently to amass elite talent. However, the players’ Mike Norvell and the staff acquired in the transfer portal should offset these two losses.

• Fabien Lovett-DT
• Jarrett Jackson-DT
• Deonte Williams-DE

FSU also has some young defensive ends on the roster behind seniors Janarius Robinson and Joshua Kaindoh.

These transfers didn’t factor into the No. 22 ranking, that’s why fans have to be careful in looking solely at those to determine how good the recruiting class is.

We’ll see if more players opt-out, but the Noles seem to be in a good spot so far with roster depth.