Florida State flexes national recruiting reach
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A statement was made the second five-star Marvin Wilson announced for Florida State on National Signing Day, unzipping a warm-up jacket to show an FSU T-shirt and donning an FSU visor.
The Seminoles could go anywhere, beat out any school, for anyone.
Florida State has recruited phenomenally well for years, but getting Wilson, the No. 2 overall prospect out of Houston (Texas) Episcopal and a monumental priority for LSU for years, had more meaning. Other players like five-star Mario Edwards went from Texas to FSU, but Edwards’ father played for the Seminoles.
For Florida State to land Wilson and to get five-star running backs Cam Akers and Khalan Laborn out of Mississippi and Virginia, respectively, meant coach Jimbo Fisher and his staff cannot be counted out of any recruitment.
National reach was no problem.
“It sends a national message,” Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell said.
“Mario Edwards was a big five-star commit for them out of Texas, but he had family ties to Florida State. Marvin had no ties. He just had a great relationship with (assistant coach) Odell Haggins and he thought Florida State would give him a better opportunity than LSU, which is a terrific program for producing NFL guys, and Ohio State, which won a national title and went to the playoff the last two years.”
It has even bigger ramifications for future recruiting in the state of Texas for the Seminoles, according to Warchant.com recruiting analyst Michael Langston. Battles will be hotly contested, especially with new Texas coach Tom Herman looking to shore up top talent.
“It was a major statement by FSU that they can go pretty much anywhere across the country and nab the best player in that state,” Langston said. “(Wilson) is the No. 2 player in the country overall, and a lot of people thought (he would pick) LSU.
“It says a lot about how quickly they can develop relationships with those kids and what they’re building at FSU as far as how recruits look at the program. Marvin is also a major pickup because everyone in Texas knows Marvin. I’m talking about recruits in the 2018, 2019 classes. He has a long reach.”
Florida State has proven it can go to any state, at any time, and get any prospect. It has also dominated in-state recruiting, with Florida and Miami failing to keep pace.
In the talent-rich state of Florida, the Seminoles have landed more five-star commits (24) in the Rivals.com era dating back to 2003 than Florida (14) and Miami (9) combined.
Alabama and Clemson among others have also dipped in for top talent, but clearly the Seminoles run the show for the state’s best. That type of success has also borne out on the field.
“They’ve been the most consistent in-state recruiting program,” Farrell said. “Miami had the early years with (Larry) Coker and (Randy) Shannon, who wasn’t a great recruiter, and (Al) Golden dealing with all the sanctions.
“The stability from (Bobby) Bowden to Jimbo (Fisher) was important because you go from excellent in-state, five-star recruiter to even better in-state five-star recruiter. Florida has gone from (Ron) Zook, (Urban) Meyer, (Will) Muschamp and (Jim) McElwain and the guys at Miami, so it’s an easier transition with just two at Florida State.”
Prospects also see what’s happening on the field. Florida State has beaten Florida four straight times and six out of the last seven years. FSU has taken down Miami seven straight times, and the Hurricanes have only won in that series twice since 2005.
“They pretty much control things on the field,” Langston said of FSU.
“It shows the kid’s perceptions of Florida State and the kid’s perceptions of Miami and Florida. The kids say that they’re a work in progress, they have issues with the Florida offense, with Miami just in general the whole concept of what they’re building, while FSU is already there.”
With the way FSU is recruiting, the Seminoles aren’t going anyplace, either. Every team across the country is on notice.
