Five teams that benefit from FSU losing Fisher to Texas A&M

In a move that would have seemed like Texas A&M fan fiction months ago, Jimbo Fisher has left Florida State to become the next head coach in College Station, Tex. Fisher leaves behind a legacy that includes three ACC titles and a national championship. He also leaves the Seminoles searching for a replacement. Below, are five teams that stand to benefit from Fisher skipping town on FSU.

Miami doesn’t need the help. Not right now, anyway. Still, having a national championship coach moving out of your state and into a different recruiting hotbed is a nice perk. Florida State was seen as the state’s model program right up until this season and Fisher bolting at the first sign of real adversity should prop up the state’s other major programs. FSU’s recruiting class isn’t exactly socked, but Miami could make run at defensive back Asante Samuel, center Verdis Brown or any number of other prospects it covets. The real payoff from this move may take place with the 2019 class, as uncertainty begins to spread. Miami is now, by far, the most stable program in the country’s most fertile recruiting ground and that’s never a bad thing. Rivals250 linebacker Amari Gainer, and FSU commit, has set a visit to Coral Gables and seems to be giving the Hurricanes a look in the wake of the Fisher’s exit.

Misery loves company and the Gators will certainly take a coaching change at another in-state program. The fact that FSU hit the coaching market after the Gators may also work in UF’s favor. As Dan Mullen hits the ground running in Gainesville, FSU must scramble to get a staff in place and somehow convince players to sign during the early signing period. Florida still has a long way to go in its rebuild, but the fact that it didn’t lose a proven coach with a winning track record makes FSU’s situation look grimmer than the one in Gainesville. If Mullen wants any of FSU’s current commits, the door is open for him to snatch them.

Rivals100 wide receiver Warren Thompson was planning to take an official visit to Florida State in the month ahead, but those plans went up in smoke when the news of Fisher and Texas A&M began to get traction. The Ducks have recruited against the Seminoles often since Willie Taggart arrived in Eugene and the path to snatching Florida players out of the Sunshine State just got a bit easier. Oregon wants to bulk recruit Florida going forward and the Fisher Era coming to an abrupt conclusion should help that cause. The catch is that the Ducks will vanish from this list if Taggart finds himself as FSU’s next head coach, which seems possible.

Florida State was seen as a major threat to snatch five-star Patrick Surtain, who has long been seen as an LSU lean, away from the Tigers. Those days are over now. There are still threats to steal Surtain away from the Tigers, but the Seminoles now face an uphill climb. Still, watching FSU fall out of that group has to be pleasing to Ed Orgeron and staff. Extracting a five-star from Florida is never easy, so FSU being forced to address a coaching vacancy during a contested recruitment like Surtain’s is a godsend for the Tigers.

Clemson always grabs a top player or two out of Florida and many times they do so at the expense of FSU. That will get easier in the near future as the ACC-bound players looking for a winning program and stability may well look at the Tigers, who are in the position FSU was in 2013. The 2019 class in Florida may hold off to see what becomes of the new FSU regime and that will likely give Clemson the time it needs to steal another player or two from the Tampa area, which is becoming the Tigers’ recruiting trademark.

Longtime FSU commit Amari Gainer, a Rivals250 member, has an official visit to Texas on the book. And while Gainer is from Tallahassee he’s always had some semblance of interest in the Longhorns. Depending on who FSU hires, this may well be enough to push him to Austin. Even if it’s not, it certainly won’t hurt.