FSU football: Does Mike Norvell value offense more than defense?
By Kelvin Hunt
2024 Recruiting
The top seven of the 11 commits in the 2024 class are on the offensive side. They have more elite offensive targets they’re hoping to acquire, but it’s not like FSU coaches aren’t pursuing elite talent on the defensive side:
- KJ Bolden-S (No. 7 overall)
- Charles Lester III-CB (No. 18 overall)
- Zaquan Patterson-S (No. 74 overall)
- Jamari Howard-CB (No. 85 overall)
- LJ McCray-DL (No. 107 overall)
- Cai Bates-CB (No. 128 overall)
- Booker Pickett Jr.-DE (No. 129 overall)
- Artavious Jones-DL (No. 160 overall)
- Jalewis Solomon-CB (No. 200 overall)
They have a solid shot to land at least half of these players. The coaching staff appears to identify specific groups they want to allocate resources to on the elite end in given recruiting cycles now that they have their NIL game firmly established(remember, Rising Spear didn’t launch until April 2022). The Battles End Collective didn’t arrive until near the end of 2022, so I think it’s fair to say FSU only recently got into a position to compete with elite players overall, coupled with the first 10-win season since 2016.
There’s a solid foundation with the roster, and now it’s about continuing to assess needs and fulfilling them with the best players possible.