FSU football: Filling needs and player development keys to Nole revival

North Carolina

For the crowd claiming a team must recruit at an elite level to be good, I present to you, North Carolina. Here’s where they have ranked recruiting wise the past six years:

• 2015-No. 28
• 2016-No. 32
• 2017-No. 29
• 2018-No. 20
• 2019-No. 30
• 2020-No. 13

There’s nothing elite about those numbers and they are way worse than where FSU is ranked right now. North Carolina only signed three players ranked in the top 100 nationally between 2015-2019 but was able to sign three top 100 players in its 2020 recruiting class.

North Carolina signed 31 blue-chip players out of 141 (22 percent) between 2015-20. FSU football, on the other hand, signed 74 blue-chip players out of 136 (54 percent) in the same period.

Now, let’s look at where North Carolina is at the moment compared to FSU football. North Carolina is (5-2) this season, with both losses coming by a combined six points.

FSU is (2-7) with multiple blowout losses on the season. This is a prime example of how filling needs and developing players put a program in a position to potentially sign difference-makers. North Carolina signed a high caliber QB in Sam Howell, and he immediately upgraded that program.

It’s how you build a program because elite players aren’t going to go somewhere that’s a dumpster fire. It may increase your chances if they are legacy players, but as we’ve seen with FSU, that’s not always a guarantee.