FSU football: Another National Signing Day with negative vibes on the way?

FSU football coaches did a great job closing strong during the Early Signing Period for the 2025 high school recruiting class to finish among the top 20 nationally.

They flipped some lower-level blue-chip players for quality adds but always seem to lose a highly-ranked player to another team.

It was Solomon Thomas in December, opting to sign with LSU after FSU fired Alex Atkins. FSU signed 20 players during the early signing period and has had three commitments since. Those players who plan to sign with FSU on National Signing Day are a blue-chip offensive lineman and two three-stars.

However, FSU pursued highly-ranked Zahir Mathis after he de-committed from Ohio State in November.

The No. 122 player overall and No. 13 edge didn't sign during the Early Signing Period, opting to wait until National Signing Day. Michigan, UCLA, Maryland, and FSU have been the schools showing the most interest.

He never made it to Michigan or UCLA for official visits, but officially visited FSU on January 10th before visiting Maryland on January 30th.

Recent predictions show Mathis trending to Maryland over the past few days, but FSU coaches conducted a call with him on Monday night. Was it enough to change the tide? He'll choose between Maryland and FSU on Wednesday at 2 p.m. ET.

There are many logical reasons for Mathis to choose Maryland. It's much closer to where he's from, and Maryland only has two defensive ends in its class, whereas FSU has four and several transfers at the position.

Mathis is highly ranked, but I don't think he'd be an instant contributor since he's not an early enrollee. If he chooses Maryland, it's not the end of the world, but FSU has to find ways to avoid these negative vibes in big moments on National Signing Day and during the Early Signing Period.

The perception is that FSU will lose any highly-ranked commit in these situations, or a highly-ranked guy won't choose FSU when they are among a player's top final schools list.

FSU defensive line coach Terrance Knighton sent this social media post out earlier Tuesday. Could it be linked to Mathis? Who knows, Knighton is great at getting folks to engage and keeping folks guessing on social media. FSU looks like the underdog right now in the recruitment, but we'll see how it shakes out on Wednesday.