FSU has a major need for defensive end/pass rushers in its 2026 recruiting class, and has yet to gain a commitment at the position.
The coaching staff didn't have a huge recruiting board at the position, but there was one particular defensive end recruit who everyone lost their mind when he committed to California instead of FSU.
That player was Cam Brooks, who plays high school football in Georgia, less than an hour away from Florida State. He supposedly grew up an FSU fan and was highly ranked (at the time), so some FSU media and fans thought his recruitment should have been an easy slam dunk.
Some FSU media wrote articles calling the coaching staff lazy. Some fans who pay money to subscribe to those sites took their word as gold, but that wasn't the case.
I said at the time that Brooks must not have been as high on their recruiting board as the FSU media thought. Just because a website has a guy ranked highly, it doesn't mean the coaching staff feels the same way.
He had visited FSU numerous times and attended camp, so the staff did their evaluations and due diligence, but weren't pushing hard for his commitment. The young man chose to commit to California because they were giving him the most attention.
Now, all it took was some common sense. If FSU, Clemson, Georgia, Florida, or Miami were not pushing hard for this guy's commitment, and he chooses to commit to a school with no football pedigree that has been terrible(and lost to FSU last year)? Why do you think that is?
It's because those schools didn't value him as highly as the recruiting sites. He's 6'2" and 225 pounds. Here's what I said then:
I tried to tell yall they had to not have thought this guy is as good as his ranking. Two legacy DE's just left the program after not doing anything for 2-3 yrs and they were literally the same size as this kid and they had crazy production in HS. https://t.co/mIgMdUupE9
— Kelvin Hunt (@khchopchat) May 22, 2025
He's not a terrible player, but FSU had guys just like him on the roster who didn't contribute anything after multiple years. It's Mike Norvell and the new defensive staff learning to avoid repeating the same mistake. You're telling me some random guys on a recruiting site know better than a defensive coordinator who's produced top 20 defenses, and a guy who played several years in the NFL?
How ironic is it that this player has now dropped 200 spots in the national recruiting rankings in three months? Brooks was the No. 210 player and No. 22 Edge nationally when the FSU media and fans went crazy that he chose California.
Brooks is the No. 410 player and No. 40 Edge nationally after the latest recruiting rankings. He's barely a composite four-star at .8926, and frankly, there are three-star targets like Gustaf Henriks Ras and Kamron Wilson who I like better and have more potential.
Could Brooks flip to another school with a better football pedigree closer to home as we get closer to the Early Signing Period? Sure, but there's a reason he committed to California first and not one of the major schools in the area. The FSU coaching staff got it right, and some FSU media and fans made a lot of assumptions and accusations because they don't understand how things work. People wonder why Mike Norvell cut access to practices and information, and this was a prime example.
FSU still has to fill the need at the defensive end/edge position, but not signing a player like Brooks isn't anywhere close to making or breaking a recruiting class.