Herb Hand continues to address trenches, legacy OL Michael Ionata commits to FSU

FSU football coaches continue to address the trenches with their latest commitment. FSU added a commitment from three-star legacy offensive lineman Mike Ionata on Saturday afternoon as part of its big Legacy Weekend event.

He's the second offensive line commitment for FSU offensive line coach Herb Hand. Ionata's father played at FSU in the late 80s and was an Honorable Mention All-American in 1988.

Ionata is 6'6" and 300 pounds, hailing from Calvary Christian in Clearwater, Florida. He has six offers and ranks as the No. 773 player nationally and the No. 68 interior offensive lineman.

Ionata earned an offer from FSU last year and has been to campus many times as a legacy recruit.

It's worth noting the 2026 recruiting rankings are not close to finalized and will likely change quite a bit between now and later this year.

Like most high school offensive linemen, Ionata will need time to continue maturing physically and adding strength and more size. However, Herb Hand has an excellent track record developing players from the high school ranks, unlike the previous high school coach.

FSU added four high school players in the 2025 recruiting class and four experienced offensive linemen from the transfer portal in the winter cycle. Coach Hand noted in a recent interview that he needed to find some balance with several offensive linemen only having one year of eligibility remaining going into the season.

FSU will need to continue stockpiling offensive linemen and throwing numbers at the situation, while likely continuing to dabble in the transfer portal.

Herb Hand and Gus Malzahn have a long track record of creating offenses that are top 30 or better, and those offensive lines are usually a big part of it. I'm excited to see how this offensive line class continues to morph as we get closer to the Early Signing Period.