Florida State has nearly 30 players planning to enter the transfer portal, but will welcome over 30 freshmen from its 2026 recruiting class between the spring and summer. Some plan to enter the 2026 NFL Draft. Others have exhausted eligibility, which leaves room for about 15 or so transfer portal acquisitions.
FSU needs a quarterback, offensive linemen, edge, defensive backs, running back, tight ends, defensive tackle, and linebackers.
FSU hasn’t shown the ability to land quality players from certain positions in the transfer portal in the past. However, I’m confident in three positions, they should land good players in this recruiting cycle:
Offensive linemen
Herb Hand and Gus Malzahn have been working together for a long time and know exactly what’s needed to give the offense an opportunity to find success. Hand landed four starters from the transfer portal after only being in Tallahassee for a hot second after getting hired a year ago. He’s had more time to identify who needs to leave(why there has been a max exodus of former Alex Atkins signees) and what the realistic options in the transfer portal could be.
Defensive Tackle
FSU has had recent success at the position in the portal before with Braden Fiske. Terrance Knighton did good work with Darrell Jackson Jr. and the Desir twins. They already have a solid target familiar with some of the FSU coaches planning to visit when the portal opens on January 2nd.
Defensive Backs
Florida State is “DBU,” and there are many defensive back options in the transfer portal. If we combine that with lots of playing time available at a place like FSU, it shouldn’t be hard to find some solid options.
We’ll see what they do at quarterback, running back, tight end, and linebacker. They’ll probably find a solid option at running back with Kam Martin’s ties to the SEC and Gus Malzahn. They can probably find a decent tight end or two. We’ll wait and see at quarterback, linebacker, and edge. However, new edge coach Nick Williams might have a relationship or two he can use to find a productive edge guy.
FSU will have two weeks to improve the roster when the portal opens on Friday.