Florida State desperately needs some positive momentum in its 2025 recruiting class as the arch-rival Florida Gators secured the likes of four-star quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. and three-star offensive lineman Daniel Pierre Louis.
However, it does not seem like a big loss as Jones Jr. was hurt for most of his senior season, and the signal-caller was flirting with joining the Gators' class earlier. It could be reasonable to suggest that the Seminoles wanted the quarterback in their class to obtain the services of his high school teammate, five-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench Jr.
As for Pierre Louis, I thought the Seminoles would lose some of their offensive lineman commits after offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Alex Atkins was fired. However, just like Jones Jr., when Louis pledged to Florida State, I thought it would be a great opportunity for him to recruit for his high school teammate, five-star linebacker Ty Jackson.
The story remains the same. The recruiting efforts for the Seminoles have not been good. The transfer portal acquisitions hid a lot of deficiencies that Florida State had. The prospects that they acquired this offseason were not good, so the pressure was on its high school recruits.
It stinks to lose a quarterback to the arch-rival Florida Gators, especially when the offensive play in 2024 has been horrendous with signal-callers DJ Uiagalelei, Brock Glenn, and Luke Kromenhoek. While Glenn and Kromenhoek could be solid in 2025, the Florida State fan base wants to see the program get back to its winning ways quickly.
I realize that the quarterback position is one of the most important on the field. As of right now, the Seminoles only have Brock Glenn, Luke Kromenhoek, and Trever Jackson. One of the more important pickups for the future of the program is four-star quarterback Carter Smith from Bishop Verot High School in Fort Myers, Florida.
He is officially visiting Florida State for their game versus Florida. On3's Steve Wiltfong has already inserted a prediction for Smith to commit to Florida State.
This would be a massive pickup for the Seminoles. I wonder if head football coach Mike Norvell will explore the idea of a transfer portal quarterback as the DJ Uiagalelei experiment went wrong.