Offensive line recruiting from the high school ranks has been a major obstacle for multiple head coaches, dating back to Jimbo Fisher. The transfer portal has allowed Mike Norvell to put band aids on the position while trying to improve high school recruiting.
The addition of Herb Hand to the staff as the offensive line coach was a move in the right direction. Hand signed some high school guys with potential in the 2025 recruiting cycle and added a couple more young players in the spring transfer portal window.
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He had to patch the offensive line together from the transfer portal for the 2026 season because he didn’t inherit much experience to work with. Nearly all of those players have exhausted eligibility, and most of the young talent waiting probably isn’t quite ready to play right away, which means they’ll need to return to the portal to be competitive on the field in 2026, while the young talent continues to develop.
FSU said big improvements in its offensive line compared to before Hand arrived. They went from allowing 95 tackles for a loss to only 59 and 49 sacks allowed to 23.
Center, Luke Petitbone made First-Team All-ACC(he was an All-ACC selection before he arrived at FSU, too), but this stat was impressive:
.@Luke_Petitbon is THAT DUDE!#GoNoles🔥🍢💪🏼 https://t.co/CXOc0ZxK0d
— Herb Hand (@CoachHand) December 4, 2025
Petitbone played against some stout competition from Alabama, Miami, Pittsburgh, Clemson, and Florida. This is the type of stuff that the staff can use to attempt to attract quality offensive linemen in the transfer portal. They know they’ll get playing time, will play in great atmospheres, with the track record that Herb Hand has sent players to the NFL.
Hopefully, FSU will start leaning more on its high school talent when it can, and this will be the final time they’ll have to replace most of the starting offensive line in the portal.