If you have followed my work long enough, you know I think most high school recruiting rankings are a joke. The subscription sites do very little player evaluations and tend to lean towards heights, weights, and which camps the players show up at.
However, there comes a point where you have to look a little deeper, and that’s where we are with Florida State high school recruiting. FSU has the No. 45-ranked recruiting class nationally, with only six commitments (three composite blue-chip). For contrast, the rival Miami Hurricanes (No. 8) and Florida Gators rank No. 7 nationally. Miami has 13 commitments, and Florida has 15.
Why is that important? Well, in this new age of player revenue sharing, the clock has sped up with many players committing to schools before taking official visits. Florida State has 63 official visits set, and five have committed elsewhere, which also tells us the majority of the players with visits set are not considered top-tier players.
What Can Florida State Do To Turn The Tide?
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That likely means even if Florida State manages to land some blue-chip players, and I’m sure they’ll land a few, it will not move the needle much. They could finally land a quarterback in the recruiting class on Tuesday, but he’s like the fifth or sixth option.
The other part of the equation is the early part of the football season. Florida State will host SMU in week two before traveling to Alabama. If they start the season 1-2, that probably kills any chance of making any late movement among recruiting targets. If they lost to either Virginia or Louisville after that, the fan base will start seeing red again like it did after the Stanford loss.
It’s what I said would happen last year if they kept Mike Norvell. It’s too much negative recruiting ammunition for opposing teams to use. Also, it’s apparent Florida State isn’t willing to spend like the big boys, and even if they were, would you trust Mike Norvell to make the right decisions at quarterback or other important decisions? Maybe that’s where FSU GM John Garrett comes into play?
Florida State usually finishes between the top 15-20 high school recruiting classes nationally under Mike Norvell. However, if they don’t start making a move soon, finishing that high could be in jeopardy, especially if they have a poor start to the season.
The flip side of that is Miami is spending money like crazy and actually winning on the field and Florida has a new coach with a new car smell to sell. Florida State couldn't be in worse place among the big three if they tried. Here's to hoping the Noles can dig out of his hole one way or another.
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