Youth/Recruiting Ability
Coach Odell continued to be a great talent developer. What he did with Joshua Farmer from his freshman year through this year is prime Odell Haggins. The knock on Coach Haggins over the past 6-8 years has been the recruiting drop-off.
Other than Robert Cooper in 2018 and Kelvin Sampson in 2023, FSU failed to sign blue-chip defensive tackles until Kevin Wynn signed on Wednesday. The defensive line play hasn't been terrible, but the development has taken longer because FSU hasn't gotten top-tier caliber guys out of high school.
I get it. Coach Haggins is closer to 60 than 50, and the energy it takes to recruit players nowadays is drastically different. It's a young man's game, and Coach Knighton is only 38. He's young enough to relate to these kids a bit better and has a track record they have to respect.
He has ties to the southeast region in recruiting, and I expect FSU to sign higher-caliber players at the defensive tackle position in the future. He signed several blue-chip players to Nebraska in the two years he was there. He also helped develop several players, including former two-star James Williams.
We saw what a dominant defensive line does with the 2023 defense. It makes the linebackers and the secondary look better. FSU has no problem signing quality defensive backs, and FSU will receive a linebacker recruiting upgrade now that Randy Shannon is no longer with the program.
This will help shape a dominant defensive front for years to come.