FSU football: Grading 2019 recruiting class in retrospect

FSU football had its first full recruiting class in the Willie Taggart era during the 2019 recruiting cycle.

We’ve done this for several years now, and you can read the 2017 and 2018 grades. Recruiting stars matters with FSU football or any college football program. Don’t get it twisted and think you can compete for national championships with a team full of three-star recruits.

Yes, it’s possible to win a lot of games with well-coached three-star players, but you must have those difference-makers to compete at the highest level.

The challenge for Willie Taggart was winning games after doing a good job(on paper) of salvaging the 2018 transition class. Willie Taggart hit the ground running, winning the spring with 50,000 FSU fans arriving in Tallahassee for the spring game.

The Noles captured the No. 1 recruiting spot nationally for a short time with the additions of blue-chip players Sam Howell, Donte Lucas, and others.

The Noles were in the mix for several high-profile players as the season opener approached, and the Noles landed blue-chip safety Nick Cross right before kickoff against Virginia Tech.

However, his first game as head coach against Virginia Tech was an ominous sign of things to come. It was like Willie Taggart could do no wrong in the offseason, but that one game seemed to wipe everything away and he could never get close to that level of support again.

The 2019 recruiting class consisted nine blue-chip players out of 21, which equates to a 43 percent blue-chip ratio.

The class finished No. 18 overall and has been one of the reasons FSU’s in its current predicament.

Let’s take a look at this class by category.