FSU basketball head coach Luke Loucks has his work cut out, replacing FSU's winningest coach, Leonard Hamilton. One major area that needs improvement is high school recruiting, as FSU had the No. 138 ranked class nationally in 2025 (with three commits, with no blue-chip players).
Loucks has already secured one commitment from blue-chip point guard Jasen Lopez, who'll also play wide receiver for FSU football.
Reports have surfaced confirming that four-star power forward Joe Philon will officially visit the Noles in September. Philon is the No. 36 player and No. 6 Power Forward nationally (composite ranking).
๐ก๐๐ช๐ฆ: Joe Philon, the No. 45 overall recruit in the national rising senior class, tells @247Sports he has scheduled official visits to #FloridaState and #SouthFlorida.
โ Brandon Jenkins (@BJenkins247) July 13, 2025
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ https://t.co/xnn5hzV7LW pic.twitter.com/RftzRBTBrc
He plays high school ball at Montverde Academy in Florida. That program just had multiple former players selected in the NBA Draft. He'll also take an official visit to USF after visiting FSU.
Loucks has five players ranked inside the top 75 who'll take official visits to FSU in August. Interestingly enough, all of them are players who play high school basketball in the state of Florida.
FSU basketball had it rolling with Leonard Hamilton a few years ago when they landed several top players over a four to five-year span who were ultimately selected in the NBA Draft.
Those players spearheaded FSU's run to the top of the ACC. Once Hamilton stopped landing those players, FSU fell back to Earth, and the Noles never finished in the top half of the ACC since the 2020 season that got ended by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This first class will set the tone for Luke Loucks and expectations, and I don't expect him to land a ton of these guys. However, the fact he's getting them to take official visits is a great sign.