Addressing misconception Mike Norvell didn't make recruiting adjustments

I keep reading narratives about Mike Norvell not making adjustments in recruiting after losing to Georgia in the Orange Bowl. The narrative is Mike Norvell should have seen how Georgia looked in person and made adjustments in recruiting to compete against a team like that. Here's Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin talking about doing that very thing:

We can pick apart things in hindsight regarding the transfer portal. FSU went out and got a former five-star defensive end (Marvin Jones Jr.) from Georgia, who FSU fans were pissed they didn't get when he was coming out of high school. They got a Pac-12 All-Conference defensive end performer (Sione Lolohea) and guys with SEC experience on the offensive line from the portal. The same formula that helped them go 23-4 over the past two seasons. Injuries impacted some of those guys and others were guys who have not impacted the way everyone thought at the time.

However, the real adjustment was on the high school front. FSU fans have complained about high school recruiting under Mike Norvell and the 2025 class was the first time they legitimately focused on getting top talent in the trenches. Here's a list of guys they had committed before the season started and went to crap(and most have since de-committed):

• Javion Hilson (DE): No. 41 nationally, No. 2 DE overall
• Myron Charles (DT): No. 109 nationally, No. 14 DL overall
• Kevin Wynn (DT): No. 142 nationally, No. 18 DL overall (currently still committed)
• Solomon Thomas (OL): No. 23 nationally, No. 2 IOL (currently still committed)
• Peyton Joseph (OL): No. 234 nationally, No. 13 IOL (currently still committed)
• Mario Nash Jr. (OL): No. 274 nationally, No. 16 IOL)currently still committed)

Skill Players

• CJ Wiley (WR): No. 84 nationally, No. 13 WR
• Daylan McCutcheon (WR): No. 91 nationally, No. 14 WR
• Malik Clark (WR): No. 199 nationally, No. 23 WR)

FSU had not recruited any of those positions that well in previous years, so it was clear they were looking to make the transition to focusing more on top-tier high school players at positions that matter the most instead of taking so many transfer portal guys.

The only problem is they started the season in the worst way possible, and most of those players have gone elsewhere. We can argue they wouldn't have signed all of those guys, and that's fair based on recent history. However, all we have to go on is what they had done before the season went to crap.

Mike Norvell understands how to build a team. He's beaten several SEC teams in his time at FSU and constructed a team that went 13-0. His challenge is hiring coaches this offseason that can recruit at a high level and develop those players into guys that can be difference-makers on the field.

He knows how to do that. FSU had 10 players drafted last year, and most were guys who were afterthoughts before they signed with FSU or had done very little before Norvell got hired.