It was a mostly good news weekend for FSU recruiting. The Seminoles staff landed composite four-star offensive line prospect Da'Ron Parks over the weekend and have risen to No. 13 in the overall recruiting rankings by 247Sports.
Parks is a big body (6-foot-5, 350 pounds) from Nitro, West Virginia. He is back in Appalachia after spending a year in Sarasota. Parks is projected by the pundits as an interior guy and, over the long term, his best fit is probably at guard.
But FSU needs tackles and Parks has some measurables (most notably his wingspan) that made the staff feel comfortable enough that if they could transform his body a little, he could play on the outside in college.
New FSU IOL Commit Da’Ron Parks showing off his foot speed and ability to eat up turf as a blocker in space at 350 pounds. Impressive mirroring at the second level to make contact
— Clay Fink (@clay_fink) July 26, 2025
One of the most impressive individual reps I’ve seen from a 2026 OL… pic.twitter.com/6VNpwWeSwp
This was this good news for the weekend and it was very good. Parks gives FSU another prospect along the line and a player that they feel can adjust to playing tackle in the offense. But, and it needs to be repeated, FSU needs tackles.
The staff was in on tackle prospect Bear Fretwell, hoping to flip the 6-foot-7 prospect from Georgia Tech, but he insteaddecided to commit to Alabama. Fretwell was a 'Plan B' option to begin with, but the aggressive nature that the staff pursued Fretwell should tell you that they feel like they are running out of tackle options in the 2026 class.
FSU must replace entire OL and tackle market will be costly
Every player projected to start on the line for FSU is a senior - all of them. So, that means that FSU will be in the transfer market for offensive tackles. Outside the quarterback market, rhe offensive tackle transfer market is probably the most expensive. The demand for the position far outweighs the supply and even tackles that are moving up from FCS can demand top dollar if they appear to be serviceable.
The best-case scenario is that Lucas Simmons could lock down one of the tackle spots for 2026 and another young prospect like Jonathan Daniels can develop enough over the next 6-9 months to legitimately challenge for the other spot. That would at least put FSU in a position where they don't have to pay for a starter. They would still search for an experienced player, but the urgency to find a starter wouldn't be as high.
Winning games this season wouldn't hurt either. But that's another conversation for another day. Right now it appears that the staff is going to have to get creative to add a tackle or two to this class or get ready to spend.