FSU football: How FSU could land top 25 recruiting class if they lose its top player

FSU football looks to finish the Early Signing Period strong on Wednesday, with the opportunity to sign several remaining targets. FSU could take more targets between now and February, but we'll concentrate on what's possible in the present.

FSU's high school recruiting class has collapsed with the devastating 2024 season. I wrote in September that FSU would have to make wholesale changes to the staff, and it was well before they went on to lose 10 games.

FSU has already hired two new coordinators on offense and defense. There will likely be more changes to come, but the hires (Gus Malzahn and Tony White) are significant upgrades over who FSU previously had.

FSU will enter the Early Signing Period with a No. 53 class ranking and 12 commits. It's not quite as bad as when Willie Taggart took over in 2017 to finish with a top-11 class(that ultimately proved to be terrible). That class, and several others, is more proof that rankings on paper don't mean much.

Anyways, how high can FSU finish with its high school class? If they keep it top-rated recruit Solomon Thomas, they could finish inside the top 20 if they land some emerging targets. However, I doubt he'll stick since Alex Atkins got fired, and they haven't named a replacement yet. He was on campus over the weekend, so we'll see.

What if Thomas goes elsewhere? I think it's possible FSU could still land inside the top 25. Here's how they can do it.