FSU quarterback recruiting for the 2026 recruiting cycle has had many twists and turns. FSU thought it had its quarterback of the future, but Brady Smigiel de-committed after a 2-10 season and an offensive coordinator change.
FSU quickly pivoted and offered several talented quarterbacks, with one of their top targets being four-star Landon Duckworth. Duckworth has a relationship with the FSU coaching staff and camped at FSU in 2023. He visited Gus Malzahn at UCF shortly after de-committing from South Carolina.
He scheduled an official visit to FSU in June, and the thought process was the coaching staff would get him on campus before spring ended. That didn't happen, but he visited Ole Miss at least twice and took a visit to South Carolina, where he was previously committed.
In the new world of NIL, players visiting campus is still something to pay attention to, so that wasn't a good sign for the Noles. However, Duckworth released his top five schools on Thursday night, which included FSU:
It's better to be listed in his top five than not, but we'll see if he makes it to campus for his official visit. I suppose he will since he listed FSU in the final five. Anything can happen, but it seems like it's a recruitment where Ole Miss took the lead after some predictions landed in their favor.
Ole Miss also gets the final official visit. The in-state school Auburn wasn't in the mix until they offered in December, and they can't be discounted.
FSU's pursuit of Oklahoma blue-chip commit Jaden O'Neal wasn't by accident, and they got him to visit this spring and to set up an official visit this summer.
Duckworth and O'Neal are their two highest targets on the quarterback board, and O'Neal is likely waiting to see what Oklahoma does with Bowe Bentley. If he commits to Oklahoma like most think, that likely opens the door for O'Neal to FSU. O'Neal is a different type of quarterback, but ranked among the top 10 nationally. Either way, FSU is in the mix for a quality player at quarterback. We'll have to wait and see how the dominoes fall.