Recruiting Prowess
At 36 years old, Santucci is much younger than Adam Fuller and likely relates to high school players a lot better.
However, like Fuller, he's originally from the Northeast and doesn't have many ties to the Southeast region, though he may have developed some between his time at A&M, Duke, and Georgia Tech.
He received credit for signing several blue-chip players while at Texas A&M.
His two years at Texas A&M were when Jimbo Fisher was the head coach, so he's seen and understands what a big-time recruiting operation in the SEC looks like.
Santucci has a lot of positives. He's young and has experience under one of the better defensive coordinators in the nation. He has experience running his defense, and his defenses have shown great improvement in year one. The biggest question is how much better would his defenses be if he had better talent?
Santucci made $600,000 for the 2024 season and will get an increase to $850,000 should he remain with Georgia Tech for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. If he received that amount from FSU, it's considerably more affordable than what FSU would have paid Adam Fuller.