Since Mike Norvell took over FSU football in December 2019, the program has worked to reverse its downward spiral, which began at the end of Jimbo Fisher's tenure and continued under Willie Taggart. Norvell faced early limitations, but strategically used the transfer portal to elevate FSU from its lowest point back to respectability.
The expectation was that the 2022 and 2023 seasons would put FSU back among the elite in high school recruiting. FSU flirted with a top 10 class in its 2024 recruiting class, finishing No. 12 nationally, and had a ton of momentum going into the 2025 class before the class fell apart after a disastrous start.
Norvell fired most of that staff and hired two new coordinators with proven experience at Power Four programs, and the response was immediate and noticeable in how they finished the 2025 recruiting class.
The class finished No. 19 nationally after only two wins. If FSU could do that after a two-win season, they should surely be better at high school recruiting with the new staff.
However, the new staff had to immediately work the transfer portal after closing in the Early Signing Period in December, which meant little time to create a legitimate recruiting board. They did what they could while also working the Spring Transfer Portal window.
The entire time, the pitch was explaining why FSU would be different with the new staff, but recruits wanted to see the offense and defense in action at FSU. After a huge win over Alabama and a demolition of East Texas A&M, FSU has the attention of recruits again and Mike Norvell thinks it’s the beginning of better days:
"When you have new, new coordinators, maybe some different elements in scheme, you can talk abotu what it is going to look like, but they want to see it in action too," Norvell said.
"To get out, watch games, see guys that, some are committed to us, some that we're continuing to evaluate, and then obviously for the future classes, you can feel the excitement about what they've seen from us and I'm excited about the things that I've seen from them," Norvell said.
FSU has an outside shot of landing a top 10 recruiting class with its 2026 group. However, it's the 2027 that will show if this recruiting staff can recruit at an elite level. The staff has had enough time to build a recruiting board and make connections.
If FSU continues to win on the field, they should have top players from the surrounding areas showing interest.
The question is do they have the resources to close well enough to land a elite class.? That's where the extra money from the ACC settlement and massive TV viewership FSU garners when they are good come into play. All the signs point to Mike Norvell putting FSU in a prime position to capitalize for the second time. We'll have to wait to see if they can deliver the goods.