FSU football: Impact of Marcus Cushnie flipping from Purdue to Noles

Do you remember the name Marcus Cushnie? It’s a name I wrote about a few weeks ago that could help the Noles in 2021.

Cushnie is the Alabama A&M transfer who visited the Noles and worked out, earning an offer.

However, he ultimately decided to commit to Purdue but has now flipped that commitment to the Noles.

Cushnie announced the decision on his Twitter account Sunday afternoon:

The thought was Cushnie had a preferred walk-on offer from the Noles, and that’s why he choose to commit to Purdue. At the time, FSU was in pursuit of an offensive tackle from the transfer portal, who they ultimately decided to stop pursuing.

It looks as though the coaching staff decided to offer him the lone scholarship left from the 2021 recruiting cycle, and he chose to accept since he’s originally from Florida and grew up an FSU football fan.

Impact

I think Cushnie can help the Noles at defensive end. Cushnie had 7.5 tackles for loss and two more quarterback hurries. Cushnie had 39 tackles in 12 games in 2019, finishing with seven sacks, eight QB hurries, and two forced fumbles.

His sophomore season was cut short because of COVID-19, but it looks as though he was going to blow his freshmen numbers out of the water had they played 12 games like normal. Cushnie is put together well physically and looks like a guy you want getting off the bus first.

Another important note to remember is Cushnie has two years of eligibility left and could help with depth and experience while younger players continue to develop. I believe the coaching staff wanted to take an offensive tackle if they could find one but decided to address the second most important position, defensive end when it was unlikely they would land a desirable target.

Cushnie becomes the 11th player from the transfer portal to join the 2021 recruiting class and could battle for immediate playing time upon arrival at FSU.