FSU football: Linebacker thoughts, 3-star LB Dylan Turner-Brown commits

FSU football coaches accepted the commitment of three-star linebacker Dylan Brown-Turner Monday afternoon.

Brown-Turner officially visited FSU football over the weekend and issued a de-commitment from North Texas early Monday morning.

The inevitable was coming, and props to Brown-Turner for not stringing North Texas along into National Signing Day on Wednesday. That tells me he’s mature and has a solid circle around him who visited with him over the weekend.

I’m sure some FSU football fans will look at the commitment like it was a waste of a scholarship.

I was in that boat a few days ago before learning more about the situation and how the staff views what he can do. I’ve also learned that I should probably trust this staff’s ability to evaluate roster needs.

Some fans will look at his ranking alone and determine he’s not an FSU-quality player. Brown-Turner ranks as the No. 1,495 player nationally and the No. 128 linebacker.

My argument was they probably could have found a player of equal or greater ability in Georgia or Florida since he hails from Texas. Some fans will be quick to assume Brown-Turner is another Jordan Eubanks, a three-star linebacker from Texas that never played and entered the transfer portal a while back.

However, the difference is Eubanks played safety in high school and not a linebacker, plus Brown-Turner runs track, including a 12.06 time in the 100-meters as a sophomore. He’s likely well below that time now, which bodes well for the Kalen DeLoach comparison the staff likes.

They are roughly the same size coming out of high school, and DeLoach was a four-star recruit. One thing that may have hurt Brown-Turner’s recruitment is he missed over half of his junior season with an injury.

He’s the same size as four-star signee Blake Nichelson. FSU signed another three-star linebacker in the 2023 recruiting class DeMarco Ward. Ward ranks as the No. 1,186 player nationally and the No. 97 linebacker.

However, the staff accepted his commitment in June, so he clearly is a player they trust their evaluations more than his ranking(which they should). If not, they wouldn’t have accepted his commitment that early.

All three linebackers in the class are roughly 6’2″ and 205 pounds. Kalen DeLoach lists at 6’1″ and 211 pounds as a redshirt junior. The other starting linebacker, Tatum Bethune, lists as 6’1″ and 225 pounds.

All three linebackers will likely add 5-15 pounds over the next year or so in the FSU S&C program. All three have good athleticism, and length, and can run. It’s all about the development side, and we’ve seen how far Kalen DeLoach has come as a player.

It’s not often that freshmen linebackers come in and make an impact, regardless of ranking, so I think it’s fair to trust the coaches here since they evaluated all three in person and liked what they saw.