FSU football quarterback recruiting has been at the forefront of the conversation over the past few days, with four-star 2026 target Bowe Bentley eliminating FSU from his final three and Landon Duckworth receiving an Ole Miss crystal ball prediction.
Bentley was always a long shot, and we'll see what happens with Duckworth. FSU will have four-star Oklahoma commit Jaden O'Neal visiting practice later this week.
For whatever reason, there's a misconception that Mike Norvell and Tony Tokarz struggle to sign quality high school quarterbacks.
I'm not gonna count 2020-2022 because of COVID and the inability to see guys in person for most of that time. However, here's who FSU has signed since:
- 2023: Brock Glenn-No. 30 QB nationally(was a four-star composite for most of his recruitment and a former Ohio State commit)
- 2024: Luke Kromenhoek-No. 5 QB nationally
- 2025: Kevin Sperry-No. 27 QB nationally and a four-star composite
They are signing blue-chip guys, Jordan Travis is the only quarterback to develop under Mike Norvell/Tony Tokarz and was a transfer(though he might as well have been a high schooler with how raw he was).
Some people want to give Kenny Dillingham all of the credit for the development of Jordan Travis. However, Dillingham left after the 2021 season and didn't come into his own until the 2022 season(though he showed some flashes in the final three games in 2021).
Here's the common denominator the entire time. The offensive line has been DREADFUL since the 2016 season. It sucked under Jimbo Fisher in the latter years, Willie Taggart's staff couldn't fix it, and Mike Norvell's staff seemed to have it trending in the right direction, but it bottomed out last year.
Unless a player has elite mobility(like Jordan Travis), they have no shot to produce consistently. FSU hasn't had a strong running game in the past two years, and the pass blocking has been abysmal.
Pundits hyped Florida's DJ Lagway as a can't-miss prospect, and his freshman numbers were worse than James Blackman's freshman season.
Blackman wasn't an early enrollee and had a worse offensive line. If Lagway was behind FSU's offensive line last season, his numbers probably look about like Brock Glenn or Luke Kromenhoek.
Quarterbacks can't develop in that environment when they don't have time to process information or a running game to help keep defenses honest. Everyone wants to fire Tony Tokarz, but the man hasn't had a real offensive line to protect his quarterbacks so they can develop.
Herb Hand is the most accomplished offensive line coach FSU has had in years and has a great reputation. I expect the offensive line to improve drastically as long as they don't get killed with injuries. We may finally have the opportunity to see some solid QB play, plus Tommy Castellanos has excellent mobility similar to Jordan Travis.
It's not quarterback recruiting that's sucked, it's the offensive line sucking, and preventing the quarterbacks from having the opportunity to develop.