FSU football: One important aspect about transfer portal recruiting
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football has used the transfer portal to its advantage over the past couple of seasons. If the transfer portal wasn’t available, I believe FSU would be nowhere near where they are in getting the program back to respectability.
Mike Norvell and the coaching staff have smartly taken players from the portal to circumvent taking less touted high school players.
There are a lot of positives to doing that. Transfer players are usually more physically ready to play, have some college experience, and they can contribute immediately.
However, one thing Mike Norvell and the coaching staff have done is identify players early that fit what they’re looking to do on both sides of the ball.
More importantly, those transfer players enroll in the spring semester and experience spring camp. It allows them to get into the strength and conditioning program early.
They get to learn the playbook and the coaches have the opportunity to learn their strengths and weaknesses. I remember Dillon Gibbons talking about how difficult the transition was because he didn’t arrive in Tallahassee until that summer.
Gibbons turned out to be one of the most impactful players the coaches have added from the transfer portal because he worked his butt off and retained information well.
However, most impact players enrolled in the spring: Jermaine Johnson, Keir Thomas, Jammie Robinson, Jared Verse, Mycah Pittman, Johnny Wilson, Tatum Bethune, Deuce Spann, Greedy Vance, and others. This trend will need to continue if the transfers FSU has identified from the portal intend to make an impact on the upcoming season.
FSU has added one defensive tackle from the portal and is looking to make additions at the tight end and along the offensive line. These are positions where having a spring camp under their belt will likely allow them to contribute much earlier than if they waited until the summer.
If players enroll in the spring, it also means the coaches can save time and resources since transfers aren’t bound to any school until they enroll even if they have committed somewhere.
Keep an eye out for the transfer portal players that commit and see if they plan to enroll in the spring semester or not.