Florida State coaches hitting the recruiting trail harder than usual?

Florida State head coach Mike Norvell is in a precarious position going into the 2026 season. He’s 7-17 over the last two years, and has finished with a top 20 recruiting class in 2025 and top 15 in 2026.

High school recruiting rankings don’t mean nearly as much as they did a decade ago. However, it’s still important to recruit certain positions aggressively because those types of players are difficult to find at a high quality level in the transfer portal.

I wrote about what the recruiting strategy should be moving forward about a week ago. High school recruiting began to heat up in early January with the first of several Junior Days. I hear some Florida State fans talk about this staff in the same vein as before, but it’s really the first time this new staff has hit the road.

When Tony White, Gus Malzahn, and Herb Hand got hired last year, they were working so hard on the Winter/Spring Transfer Portal window that they didn’t have time to focus on high school recruiting that much. I think that’s why we’ve seen more posts with them and the newest Florida State coaches out beating the pavement on the recruiting trail.  

Florida State coaches aren’t just out visiting anyone; they are visiting some of the top players in the 2027 class. The question is, are they willing to spend to get those players, and will they perform well enough on the field to make it worth it? It seems Mike Norvell knows what’s at stake if he’s planning on being at FSU after this season.