FSU football: Why coaches need to work fast in portal for WR targets

FSU football missed badly when recruiting the wide receiver position in the 2022 recruiting cycle. The Noles failed to sign any receivers and only have one potential high school target left who may choose the Noles.

That target is four-star Kevin Coleman, but most folks don’t share the same confidence they did months ago. This development means FSU coaches will have to attack the transfer portal with reckless abandon.

They identified one portal target in Mycah Pittman, who took an official visit to FSU earlier this month.

They recently offered Louisville transfer target Jordan Watkins, and there’s a couple of others they may pursue. Watkins tagged FSU wide receivers coach Ron Dugans when announcing his FSU offer.

That will be something to keep an eye on, as Dugans’ contract expires next month. Here’s the issue. If FSU takes wide receivers from the transfer portal, they almost have to enroll in the spring semester.

It’s one concern I had with Kansas transfer Andrew Parchment last season, and I firmly believe his delayed enrollment until the fall was one reason he failed to make the impact FSU coaches hoped. A fall enrollment gives transfer receivers little time to learn the offense and develop rapport with the quarterback.

FSU needs guys that can be a factor in game one, not waiting until game eight or nine. If the transfer targets can enroll in the spring, that will give them a much better shot of impacting games early in the season.

They’ll get valuable reps in spring, and coaches will have more time to assess their strengths and weaknesses.

If they can’t get guys to enroll in the spring semester, they have to get them to Tallahassee during the summer at the latest to get some valuable reps in player-led practices. Otherwise, we’ll see more of the same we’ve seen from that unit over the past few years.