FSU signed 20 players in the Early Signing Period for the 2025 high school recruiting class. They added three high school commitments and have one major target remaining, defensive end Zahir Mathis.
Mathis is a former Ohio State commit who de-committed in mid-November. Mathis took an official visit to FSU on January 10th and was supposed to visit UCLA, Michigan, and Maryland.
However, Mathis only took the official visit to Maryland this past weekend, with only a few days before National Signing Day. It was always a good sign for a team to get the final visit before National Signing Day, before the days of NIL and the Early Signing Period.
It looks like some things haven't changed, as Mathis received a crystal ball prediction to Maryland from a Maryland insider. He put his confidence level at 8 out of 10, which is higher than usual, but he's only been right on 66.4 percent of his predictions.
It doesn't help that Maryland is much closer to his home in Pennsylvania. It doesn't help that FSU landed a blue-chip defensive end (DD Holmes) from the Northeast (Washington D.C.) in the 2024 recruiting cycle, and he entered the transfer portal and committed to Maryland last month.
Maryland only has two defensive ends in its 2025 recruiting class, and Mathis would be by far the highest-ranked if he went there.
FSU also landed several defensive line players in the transfer portal who'll likely contribute immediately in 2025. FSU also landed four defensive ends from the high school ranks in its 2025 recruiting class.
Maybe FSU coaches give one more go at it, but I don't think anyone realistically expected Mathis to commit to FSU. Their chances improved when Mathis didn't make it to UCLA or Michigan, but it's a bit of a red flag that Michigan didn't seem to push hard for him to take an official visit.
A top 100 player that didn't sign during the Early Signing Period is rare, and to trend to Maryland of all places? A team with NO blue-chip players in the trenches on either side? I think it's weird that no other top teams were in pursuit. If he goes to Maryland, FSU will be fine.