FSU football: Potential recruiting strategy to finish 2022 class

Final Thoughts

FSU missing on some positions from the high school ranks means they are in a can’t miss spot with players from the transfer portal. Recruiting from the transfer portal means the staff doesn’t have the time to evaluate and complete due diligence like on a high school player.

On the flip side, they will likely get more production from a transfer player than a freshman. Just look at the difference between Andrew Parchment and Malik McClain last season, and that’s with McClain as an early enrollee.

The coaching staff has done a solid job of assessing the roster and communicating with those players that will likely not be seeing the field in the future. The challenge is, they can’t add players from the transfer portal that become dead weight. FSU can’t afford to waste scholarships on guys that can’t play.

We saw them take flyers on a couple of guys last year in the portal. McKenzie Milton had a lot of question marks, though I’d argue he still probably helped the program more than not. Marcus Cushnie was another they waited until the last minute before offering a scholarship, and we saw he didn’t see the field much and has re-entered the transfer portal recently.

D.J. Williams didn’t play much but could be in line to make an impact with the departure of Jashaun Corbin. Brandon Moore left the program before the season began. I think they’ve hit on more players than misses overall in their two previous recruiting cycles.

They’ve proven FSU is a place where transfer portal players can come and prosper. If I’m the staff, I don’t waste my time with any high school players the rest of this cycle. No, the transfer portal players will not help increase the ranking of the 2022 class, but none of the high school guys left will make an impact on the 2022 season, and Mike Norvell has to win now, expeditiously.

I’d focus on the guys that enter the portal between now and May and try to find guys that can help this year at the spots mentioned, preferably spring enrollees. If they can find success there, there’s no reason not to make a bowl game in 2022.

The time I would have spent on any high school players left in the 2022 class? I’d divert to the 2023 class.