Mike Norvell isn’t exactly recruiting from a position of strength at Florida State heading into the 2026 season. The seventh-year head coach of the Seminoles is on a scorching hot seat after another losing season in 2025, and to compound the program instability, FSU doesn’t appear to have the level of financial investment needed to compete for top recruiting classes and build title-contending rosters.Â
Yet, there have been a few pieces of positive news on the recruiting trail for Norvell. Last week, FSU landed three-star wide receiver Majay Thompson. Then, on Sunday, three-star defensive back commit Jemari Foreman shut down his recruitment, signalling that Norvell staved off a late push from Jeff Brohm to flip him to Louisville.Â
Foreman committed to Florida State in September 2025 and has remained locked in with the Noles since. He is ranked No. 61 in the country at safety in the 2027 class and No. 628 overall according to 247Sports Composite.Â
Florida State isn’t completely helpless in recruiting battles
Florida State is vulnerable, that’s undeniable. Even Wisconsin, another program with a head coach on the hot seat, stole a top commit, Mekhi Williams, away from Norvell and his staff this offseason. Yet, FSU has managed to punch back and hold onto 11 commits in the 2027 class. The problem is that it’s still one of the smallest numbers in the country, and the class ranks No. 58 nationally.Â
Things aren’t good in Tallahassee just because Foreman shut down his recruitment. In past cycles, even as an in-state player from Fort Lauderdale, he’d hardly be a priority recruit for the Noles. Now, however, the glimmer of hope in the 2027 class is holding off pressure from Louisville. That’s grim on a macro level, but in this moment, it’s significant.Â
Florida State is likely heading for a coaching change this season as Norvell’s buyout drops much closer to the $50 million mark. That’s a tough pill to swallow, but a necessary one to escape the middle of the pack in the ACC. So, if that transition does take place, the next coach is going to need some groundwork laid in the 2027 class, especially because there’s a good chance that John Garrett, the newly hired general manager of player personnel, and Taylor Edwards, the director of football and player personnel, remain in place.Â
With a new head coach and a reinvigorated donor base, Garrett, Edwards, and the rest of the front office decision-makers will need to vault FSU back to the top of the ACC heap in short order. That includes leap-frogging Louisville, FSU’s foe in the 2023 ACC Championship game, which has largely kept up its winning ways under Brohm, as Norvell has dropped like an anchor to the bottom of the league.Â
FSU still has some financial resources to hold off in-conference flip attempts, and proving that is important because once the six-week recruiting dead period, which began on Monday, comes to an end in August, the commits FSU does have will be under siege once again.
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