About a week and a half ago, we wrote about six high-profile players that FSU needed to move on from after the 2025 season. These were players who were thought to be nice recruiting wins out of high school or via the transfer portal at the time.
However, in hindsight, FSU would be better off moving on and better off investing those funds into a player who could potentially make more of an impact.
One of those players announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal on Thursday afternoon:
Florida State defensive lineman Jayson Jenkins intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal, per @APSportsAgency. Jenkins started five games for the Seminoles this year and played in 20 games at Tennessee prior to FSU. He finished this year with 17 tackles and 1.5 TFLs. pic.twitter.com/Uzkof2sBSC
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 18, 2025
Jayson Jenkins played the defensive end position, which was a huge position of need for the Noles after the 2024 season. Jenkins flashed at Tennessee before entering the portal, and FSU added him to the program. However, Jenkins suffered an injury shortly after arriving at FSU that many thought would cost him most or all of the 2025 season.
To his credit, Jenkins worked vehemently to rehab and return for the 2025 season. He played in the Alabama game, but never became the player FSU thought he could before he suffered the injury. The odds that he’d turn into that player in 2026 weren’t great, so we thought it was best if he left the program to create an opportunity to invest in someone who could.
Jenkins is the second of the six players we wrote about to enter the transfer program. The other was running back Kam Davis. There are tons of players announcing intentions to enter the transfer portal every day. FSU will have options, but will they pay enough for the better options? We’ll find out soon enough, but the way some of the early targets are at quarterback and other positions? I’d doubt. it.