Florida State football will be preparing to explore the options in the transfer portal after another disappointing season in Tallahassee with the 5-7 record.
The Seminoles want to find sustainable success. Head football coach Mike Norvell is capable of having the turnaround, since his squads have had the 10-3 and 13–1 campaigns in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
With that said, some of the fan base thinks it is because he got lucky in the transfer portal. To that notion, every team in college football uses the transfer portal (even Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers). It is a way of life nowadays in college football.
The fan base was concerned about high school recruiting at Florida State because it felt like they were being too reliant on the "rentals" from the portal. It is a valid frustration since there haven't been many homegrown recruits that have had success.
However, there is always time to change that theory, as the Seminoles had a productive 2025 recruiting class who had many true freshmen play significant snaps. Plus, they signed 32 prospects in the 2026 recruiting class, so chances are the class will at least have a couple of contributors.
One recruit that fans feels frustrated that they missed out on during the 2025 class was four-star linebacker Tavion Wallace. He committed to a struggling Arkansas team that had head football coach Sam Pittman at helm, who was later fired this year. What made it worse was that he visited Florida State before he made his final decision and still elected to sign with the Razorbacks.
There was a viral clip of defensive coordinator Travis Williams celebrating in the Arkansas facility after the pledge happened. It made the Seminole faithful angry because linebacker has always been a position of concern. The linebacker position as a whole didn't play well, so the Seminoles are looking for long-term options. It is believed that four-star Izayia Williams is the real deal, but we will see.
BREAKING: Arkansas true freshman LB Tavion Wallace plans to enter the @TransferPortal, he tells @On3Sports
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 11, 2025
The 6’1 240 LB will have 3 years of eligibility left
Was one of the Top LBs in the 2025 Classhttps://t.co/RlUbB6EMhS pic.twitter.com/MqtTCxWnba
Tavion Wallace is now set to be in the transfer portal, and I expect teams such as Florida State and Florida to be involved in the recruitment. Even though Wallace only recorded two tackles this past season, the Seminoles could use the talented defender in the room to eventually make an impact.
The Seminoles will start to make their moves when the transfer portal opens on January 2nd. It will be a pivotal time for Florida State football.