Many FSU football fans have a revisionist with Mike Norvell recruiting high school players. Is Norvell an elite high school recruiter? No, but he's nowhere near as bad as some think. One of the biggest reasons FSU hasn't had a top 10 recruiting class in the Norvell era is they historically take much smaller high school classes and use the transfer portal instead of taking players who take years to develop.
It's a sound strategy. However, FSU started pivoting away from that last year as they had several top high school players committed over the summer, but the class fell apart, as they looked terrible in the first few games, and the season got progressively worse.
FSU is in a similar situation. They have some solid players committed and may add high-ranking blue-chip players over the next few weeks.
FSU is trending for several players that would put them among the top 10 recruiting classes nationally. FSU fans would have told you that was crazy a month ago, but it's why I stress patience because most don't know exactly what the staff is doing with its recruiting board.
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The FSU staff can't allow history to repeat itself. It's why the Alabama game is the most important on the schedule. That game sets the tone for everything going forward. A win or competitive performance followed by three or four consecutive wins afterward probably allows FSU to close with close to a top-10 recruiting class.
A blowout loss might scare some of those commits, but FSU does have some winnable games directly after the season opener. The on-field success or lack thereof will directly impact recruiting success.
I'm much higher on FSU than most going into the season. They have more talent than most of the teams they'll face and have proven coordinators to lead. If they can stay healthy, I think they could finish with a higher high school recruiting class than most expected.