Florida State football has the 14th-best recruiting class in the 2026 cycle, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. That is not where the Seminoles want to be in the recruiting rankings. The expectation is that they want to finish in the top ten.
We all know that the college football landscape has expressed the importance of acquiring pieces via the transfer portal. While the transfer portal is vital to a team's success, high school recruiting is equally as important. Teams should be able to use the transfer portal to fill necessary needs.
Head football coach Mike Norvell was once regarded as one of the best in all of college football in locating talent in the transfer portal. The Seminoles finishing with a 2-10 record had individuals question his skill set in that department.
However, Norvell realized that last season was not the standard at Florida State, and he went out and hired a new coaching staff. This new level of energy should be something that jump-starts the Seminoles on the recruiting trail and gets highly-touted prospects excited to be in Tallahassee.
Even though the outsiders want to criticize the coaching staff for losing out on the pledge of former five-star quarterback commit Brady Smigiel. They are attempting to get talented prospects that fit what they want in their specific schemes.
Losing out on Smigiel opens up the door for four-star quarterback prospect Landon Duckworth from Jackson, Alabama. He is someone who will be unofficially visiting the Seminoles in the spring and then taking an official trip this summer.
Duckworth's high school teammate, five-star running back Ezavier Crowell, will also be officially visiting Florida State this summer. He would be a massive pickup to pair with four-star running back commit Amari Thomas.
The Jackson High School connection does not end there as four-star safety Jamarrion Gordon has included Florida State in his top four schools list with teams such as North Carolina, Florida, and Ole Miss.
NEWS: Class of 2026 Safety Jamarrion Gordon is down to 4️⃣ Schools, he tells me for @on3recruits
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) March 17, 2025
The 6’0 196 S from Jackson, AL was previously Committed to Alabama & UCF
Where Should He Go?👇🏽https://t.co/9YDmZsoVki pic.twitter.com/0zFDIhsQCM
He was previously committed to UCF, so the connection with offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn is there. However, Ole Miss remains a team to be nervous about since they get the last official visit of the summer with four-star quarterback Landon Duckworth. Plus, head football coach Lane Kiffin is known to generate excitement on the recruiting trail in the summer.
Gordon is a prospect that the Seminoles have to continue to push heavily for.