FSU football: Transfer portal players more valuable than 5-stars?
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football coaches found a way to flip an entire roster in less than three seasons. A roster that lacked developed talent and consistently got blown out against top-tier programs in 2020, to competing with those programs and barely losing one-score games.
How did they do it? No, it wasn’t recruiting five-star players from the high school ranks. Heck, FSU’s top player from the high school ranks in each of the last three recruiting cycles contributed absolutely nothing on the field.
They were the No. 35 player, No. 261 player, and No. 48 player overall(all defensive backs), and all three entered the transfer portal.
FSU coaches went to the transfer portal to fill needs at positions where most high school players fail to get on the field as freshmen and contribute at a high level.
Defensive tackle, defensive end, offensive line, wide receiver, linebacker, and defensive back were all positions the staff identified and got quality players from the transfer portal.
How many quality players? Ten transfer players made the All-ACC team over the past two years. I think it’s safe to say there are not 10 freshmen who made the All-ACC team over the past two years.
This begs the question, are quality transfer portal players more valuable than five-star high schoolers?
I want to use three FSU players to illustrate something.