There are several recruiting sites that require a subscription, which consistently complain about the talent level on the FSU football team going into the season. They noted that the true freshman Desir twins consistently got mentioned by coaches after practices and scrimmages, viewing it as a negative, while also stating that true freshman Kevin Wynn needed to play for the defensive line to be at its best.
There’s no question that Kevin Wynn has tremendous ability, which is why he was ranked among the top defensive tackles nationally coming out of high school. Therein lies the problem with high school recruiting rankings: it’s largely subjective, and there are not enough data points to for every recruit to take to high school rankings as the gospel.
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The Desir twins have lived up to everything the coaches have said, while Kevin Wynn hasn’t played due to an injury. Noting the success of the Mandrell Desir, FSU defensive line coach Terrance “Pot Roast” Knighton posted a message on social media:
Blue chip?…… On the road today looking for more FOOTBALL players. 🍢🍢🍢🍢 https://t.co/xBC7tssIeL
— Terrance Knighton (@Coach_Knighton) September 12, 2025
The recruiting sites get too caught up in height, weight, and 40 times of high school recruits. They base a lot of their rankings on those measurements, and how they think they project to the next level, and then there is the politics involved with who has offered, etc.
What Coach Knighton is saying is this: The recruiting sites can do what they do, but he’s done it at the highest level and knows what he’s looking for. A player can look like Tarzan, but play like Jane. We saw that with several guys last year who were blue-chip prospects out of high school.
If you look at how the FSU defensive line has played through the first two games this year. If you look at how the Nebraska defensive line played last year, I’ll take the player assessments from Coach Knighton all day over what any recruiting site says. FSU fans who live and die by what recruiting sites say need to take this to heart as well.