FSU football: Impact of promoting Alex Atkins to Offensive Coordinator
By Kelvin Hunt
Recruiting
Alex Atkins has already proven to be an ace recruiter. The offensive line signed for the 2021 class is among the best in the nation, and that’s all because of Alex Atkins.
The good news is he’s still not done and will likely add 1-2 more players from the portal. I can’t think of another way to explain his recruiting prowess than the last 36 hours. We all know what the Early Signing Day was like, but Atkins worked his magic and landed blue-chip legacy OL Julian Armella to make that day a little better.
About 16 hours later, Atkins pulled a major target from the transfer portal in Wisconsin offensive lineman Kayden Lyles. FSU signed three blue-chip offensive linemen in 2022. That’s the most since the 2016 recruiting cycle and signed a blue-chip offensive tackle in the 2021 class.
The fact FSU has been able to sign offensive tackles, in general, is something that wasn’t happening before Alex Atkins came on board. They were also not able to sign Power 5 offensive lineman from the transfer portal, but that’s changed as well.
The addition of Dillan Gibbons was big-time last year, and the addition of Kayden Lyles should prove to be as well.
The move to offensive coordinator also allows Mike Norvell to add another recruiter to the staff. The word is that will be analyst Tony Tokarz, who’s highly thought of and was an on-the-field tight end coach for Mike Norvell at Memphis.