RECRUITING OUTLOOK
Florida State's coaching staff likes what they have in the 2026 recruiting cycle as several highly-touted prospects will be making their way to Tallahassee. However, they only have nine recruits in the fold and need to obtain more.
One position group that I am not as worried about is the defensive back core. Assistant coaches Patrick Surtain Sr. and Evan Cooper look to have things rolling with three recruits in the secondary committed to the Seminoles already, in four-star prospects Sean Johnson, Tedarius Hughes, and Darryl Bell III.
DEFENSIVE BACK COMMITS TO GATORS
However, recruiting is always unpredictable because you are placing the decisions in the hands of 16,17, and 18-year-olds. Nonetheless, Florida State got some bad news on Tuesday afternoon as Class of 2026 four-star safety Kaiden Hall from Milton, Florida, has committed to the arch-rival Florida Gators, and will not be taking his official visit with the Seminoles this upcoming weekend anymore.
This is a bummer for Florida State, as Hall was a prospect that they liked. However, I don't want to glorify the Florida Gators too much for the pickup. This isn't SwampChat, we discuss Florida State athletics.
TARGETS TO MONITOR
Florida State has plenty of options at its disposal, such as five-star Chauncey Kennon, four-star Samari Matthews, four-star Preston Ashley, four-star Jay Timmons (Indiana commit), four-star Jordan Smith (Georgia commit), four-star CJ Bronaugh (Nebraska commit), four-star Lasiah Jackson, four-star Xavier Lherisse (Oregon commit), four-star Tyriq Green, four-star Jamarrion Gordon, and three-star Traeviss Stevenson (Georgia Tech commit).
I like the Seminoles' recruiting target board that they currently have. The concern I have is that Florida State has previously recruited multiple versatile cornerbacks that they plan to migrate over to the safety position and sometimes that doesn't work out.
You would like to see them acquire more true safeties, especially with senior Shyheim Brown and maybe even redshirt junior Earl Little Jr. departing after this season.