FSU football: Future recruiting in Florida and Georgia coming into focus

FSU football coaches have made a concerted effort to establish their recruiting footprint for future classes in Florida and Georgia.

The knock on the coaching staff was not having that many ties to the state of Florida, but we’ve seen the staff find ways to begin developing those relationships.

The youth summer camps are a prime example of a way to make contact with people during the NCAA recruiting dead period that’s set to end June 1st for the first time since March 2020.

The coaching staff began their tenure using previous relationships to fill their recruiting class as they worked to develop relationships in-state and in Georgia.

The staff has to cast a broad net with the 2022 recruiting cycle, coming off a transition class and dealing with COVID-19. They have offered 318 players total, with 124 coming from Florida and Georgia.

However, we notice a sizable difference in the 2023 and 2024 recruiting cycles. The staff is still evaluating, and these numbers will grow a bit more, but I don’t expect them to go over 300 offers.

• 2023:  165 offers (82 from Florida and Georgia)
• 2024:  55 offers (29 from Florida and Georgia)

These numbers are comparable to how Jimbo Fisher recruited the two states in his early years at FSU:

• 2011:  111 offers (72 from Florida and Georgia)
• 2012:  127 offers (71 from Florida and Georgia)

I think the offers from Fisher are lower because he had been at FSU longer as the offensive coordinator and didn’t need as much time to develop relationships in these two areas. He didn’t have to deal with COVID-19 either.

The future of FSU recruiting looks promising, with the 2022 class ranked No. 9 nationally. They have nine commits total, and seven of them hail from Florida or Georgia. All the team has to do is show progress on the field in 2021, and that should keep this class together, which should easily be a top 15 class unless something drastic happens.

If they can accomplish that, the recruiting in these two states should see an uptick with FSU football.