FSU football: Importance of Keith Sampson planning to sign early

FSU football coaches hosted several 2023 commits on their official visits this weekend as they look to finish strong with Early Signing Day next Wednesday.

The staff has done a great job of getting their high school commits to sign early, which frees up time and resources they can devote to other things.

FSU has 16 high school commits going into the Early Signing Period, and there were only two who had questions about whether they would sign early.

Defensive tackles Keith Sampson and Tavion Gadson, with the latter not expected to be in the 2023 recruiting class at this point. That left Sampson, the No. 201 player nationally, while firmly committed to FSU, thinking about waiting to sign with other high school teammates in February.

However, Sampson confirmed he’ll sign with FSU football next week while participating in the signing ceremony with other high school teammates in February.

He spoke while on campus for his official visit below:

Thoughts

This is big news for the coaching staff since Sampson is the only high school defensive tackle in the 2023 recruiting class.

Sampson has been firm since committing in March, and he’s represented the Noles well on social media and visited Tallahassee several times since then. FSU seems to be in good shape for the rest of their commitments, aside from Keldric Faulk, who took a last-minute trip($) to Auburn Sunday after visiting FSU this weekend.

Faulk plans to sign early, so either way, FSU should be finished with 2023 high school players unless a diamond in the rough appears out of nowhere between now and February.

That will allow coaches to concentrate on transfer portal players and the 2024 recruiting class. I expect FSU to add a couple more high school players on signing day. I’ll post a mock class in the next day or so.