FSU football: Thoughts on Keldric Faulk flipping to Auburn

It sucks when FSU football does everything right and still doesn’t get the desired finish. That’s what happened Wednesday as the second-highest commit in the 2023 recruiting class flipped his commitment to Auburn.

It’s the second straight Early Signing Day where FSU has lost one of its highest-ranked commits in Keldric Faulk. The good news is it wasn’t a total surprise like last year. It’s more of a perception hit than anything else.

It’s a move by Keldric Faulk that makes no logical sense other than a top Alabama player’s fear of leaving the state to play college football or his parents influencing him to stay. If there’s anything to learn from this recruitment, it’s the FSU coaching staff should stop wasting resources in places like Alabama and Mississippi.

There’s plenty of talent in Georgia and Florida, where they are more likely to land the player. Faulk had a long-standing relationship with FSU coaches. FSU is only 1.5 hours farther from his hometown than Auburn.

FSU’s program is in a much more stable position and ranked top 10. FSU has developed and produced NFL-caliber defensive ends historically and recently. FSU got him on campus numerous times, even this past weekend.

It’s likely a combination of NIL and his parents wanting him to stay in-state. Noles247s Zach Blostein mentioned his mother told him to go visit Auburn Sunday to make sure he’s making the right decision.

He had already been committed to FSU for months and had been to Auburn numerous times before then. I understand it’s a life-changing decision, but this feels like Faulk wanted to go to FSU, and his parents may have influenced him to stay home.

Faulk communicated when he was going to visit other places to the FSU staff in the past but didn’t on that Sunday visit to Auburn.

That tells me all I need to know since it appeared to be his mother’s suggestion.

Good luck to him, but FSU can likely find a defensive end in the transfer portal that will make more of an impact on the field earlier than Faulk, who likely needs 1-2 years before he’ll be an impact player.