FSU football: Impact of Brian Courtney moving to linebacker
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football fans have questioned what the coaches were doing at linebacker recruiting for the 2024 recruiting cycle.
The Noles have one high school player committed with three-star Jayden Parrish but didn’t seem in too much of a hurry to get other linebacker recruits on campus.
They brought in four-star Edward Spillman for an official visit in June, and that was it, but he’s likely going to Tennessee. They brought in four-star Michael Boganowski for an unofficial visit in June, and he has a prediction for Kansas State(where he’s from).
FSU took three high school linebackers in the 2023 recruiting cycle (Blake Nichelson, DeMarco Ward, Dylan Brown-Turner) after taking one in 2022 (Omar Graham Jr.).
Graham Jr. expects to play some minutes this season, and I’d anticipate they’ll get the freshmen in some of the anticipated blowout wins. However, a move I called for on December 5, 2021, before the young man officially signed with the Noles came to fruition Friday.
Tight end Brian Courtney lists as a linebacker on the FSU website.
I've thought about this for a while. If I were FSU...I'd move FSU commit Brian Courtney to LB instead of TE...6'4" 225 pounds...4.5 forty...incredibly smart. I think he'd be everything folks were slobbering at the mouth about when FSU offered the Aidan Vaughn kid. pic.twitter.com/MHYA2unJs9
— Kelvin Hunt (@khchopchat) December 5, 2021
I remember fans laughing at the commit when it took place because the staff accepted the commitment during the pandemic without seeing him in person.
However, the testing numbers alone were enough for me. His size and speed were better than anyone FSU had at linebacker. Plus, he played defensive end along with quarterback on his high school team, so it’s not like defense was foreign to him.
He was used to contact at quarterback because they ran a wing-t offense.