FSU football: Coaches taking smarter approach to linebacker recruiting?
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football coaches have done a great job flipping the roster with the transfer portal over the past few recruiting cycles.
They flipped the worst wide receiver unit into one of the top units in one recruiting cycle with the portal. They used the portal to give the receiver unit arguably one of the top two duos in the nation, with Johnny Wilson and Keon Coleman.
Mike Norvell has proven he knows what he’s doing when it comes to building a team. Every position has improved drastically, including the linebacker unit, with the addition of Tatum Bethune from the transfer portal.
I know the trend has been for the coaching staff to get back to recruiting more blue-chip recruits from the high school ranks. However, FSU linebacker recruiting has brought angst among some FSU football fans and recruiting analysts.
FSU only signed one high school linebacker in the 2022 recruiting cycle before signing Tatum Bethune from the portal.
The Noles signed three high school linebackers in the 2023 recruiting cycle, including blue-chip Blake Nichelson, and the Noles only have one linebacker committed in the 2024 recruiting class, three-star Jayden Parrish.
FSU recuitniks wonder why FSU isn’t pursuing or in the mix for more elite linebackers according to the recruiting rankings. I have a theory on this, so hear me out.