FSU football: Noles trending for blue-chip 2024 offensive tackle

FSU football has tremendous momentum on the recruiting trail with its 2024 class after two commitments in the past few days.

FSU coaches did a great job getting many top targets to visit campus for the spring game showcase, and one was the 2024 blue-chip offensive tackle Manasse Itete. It was the first visit for the California product (by way of the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Itete spoke with Noles247 before leaving and indicated he liked the visit so much he’s already setting up an official visit back to Tallahassee for June 23rd. That’s a date that several big-time targets have circled to come back to Tallahassee.

That’s important, but the thing that stood out the most is the crystal ball prediction by recruiting analyst Steve Wiltfong.

He put in a prediction favoring the Noles Sunday morning with a confidence of six. If you read the site often, you’ll know I respect Wiltfong’s predictions a lot, and he doesn’t place them for fun.

Normally, I wouldn’t put a ton of stock in a west coast guy visiting for the first time, but it’s different since Itete’s not originally from America. Plus, FSU has experience with offensive linemen who didn’t grow up in America (signee Lucas Simmons).

The Noles have done a great job rebuilding its offensive line behind coach Alex Atkins in the last couple of recruiting cycles. They can afford to be picky, but it’s also not a great year for offensive tackles in their usual recruiting areas in the southeast.

Hence, why they targeted Itete and offered him a scholarship in September 2022. He has an official visit set for Utah on June 16th and holds offers from Auburn, Oregon, Miami, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt, and others.

He ranks as the No. 226 player nationally, and the No. 21 offensive tackle.