We can go back to 2022 regarding Mike Norvell and FSU recruiting needing to re-adjust their recruiting strategy when it comes to where they should spend time and resources.
I understood it in the beginning, they didn't have established ties in Florida or Georgia and had to deal with the pandemic. However, that's no longer the case, yet FSU continues to recruit players from Louisiana and Mississippi.
The latest news is that five-star defensive tackle Lamar Brown will not take his scheduled official visit to FSU. Brown is the consensus No. 1 defensive tackle nationally.
I understand FSU should and must recruit elite high school players, but they also have to understand what's realistic. Brown hails from Louisiana, and those kids rarely leave that state to play college ball. If they leave, it's to go somewhere closer like Alabama or Texas.
Three of the top 10 defensive tackles nationally in the 2026 class are in Georgia and Florida, and two more are in North Carolina.
FSU would have a better chance at using those resources for players from those areas than any players from Louisiana or Mississippi.
Who was the last highly-ranked player to sign with FSU from Louisiana or Mississippi? If I had to guess, it was Cam Akers from Mississippi in the 2017 recruiting cycle, and lots have changed since then.
FSU has done a better job concentrating on Florida and Georgia in recent years, but if they're gonna go after a top guy, let it be someone from those two states.
It's not worth the time and effort with such a minuscule chance to land a player of that caliber. If FSU does land him, there's a high likelihood he'd end up back in Mississippi or Louisiana before he played three years in Tallahassee with the transfer portal in play. Just see Destyn Hill, but there's a reason why he went to FSU and not LSU to begin with.
There's plenty of top talent in Florida, Georgia, East Alabama(even that's a risk), and the Carolinas to pick from. FSU doesn't have the resources these SEC schools have, so they might as well use the resources they have more efficiently. The only time they should remotely show interest in a player from areas outside of Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas is if the kid is a legacy recruit. Otherwise, it's likely a waste of time, especially coming off a 2-10 season.