Published Dec 10, 2024
National Signing Day Team Spotlight: No. 19 Florida State
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John Garcia Jr.  •  Rivals.com
National Recruiting Analyst
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@johngarcia_jr

National Signing Day has come and gone and while the 2025 class is not finished since there is a late signing period in February as well, most of the action happened last week.

Rivals is breaking down each Top 25 recruiting class and we continue here with No. 19 Florida State.

MORE SEMINOLES: Florida State's 2025 recruiting class

MORE TEAM SPOTLIGHTS: No. 1 Oregon | No. 2 Texas | No. 3 Georgia | No. 4 Ohio State | No. 5 Alabama | No. 6 LSU | No. 7 Michigan | No. 8 Auburn | No. 9 Texas A&M | No. 10 Tennessee | No. 11 Florida | No. 12 Notre Dame | No. 13 Miami | No. 14 Ole Miss | No. 15 USC | No. 16 Penn State | No. 17 Oklahoma | No. 18 Nebraska

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WHAT WENT RIGHT ...

Few programs lived on the extremes of the 2025 class rankings as Florida State did, moving from the top 25 early in the cycle to No. 55 overall before a closing surge settled the Seminoles at No. 19.

The bounceback should allow for Mike Norvell to earn some credit, making the coordinator changes and digging into the long-term vision of the program. It allowed maintenance for key recruits such as four-stars Ethan Pritchard, Kevin Wynn, Chase Loftin and Gregory Thomas.

Then the surge began with the Kevin Sperry flipping from Oklahoma, leading to a rise through the Early Signing Period in adding key pieces from rivals like Ousmane Kromah (Georgia), Tae'Shaun Gelsey (Florida) and Jayvan Boggs (UCF).

WHAT WENT WRONG ...

The in-season recruiting for Florida State was as drastic a fall as we've seen in recent cycles, not only losing five-stars Javion Hilson and Solomon Thomas, but key foundational pieces of the group such as quarterback Tramell Jones.

While most positions saw strong recoveries late in the cycle, especially wide receiver and along the defensive line, the departures along the offensive front limited the program to just a pair of OL signees in Mario Nash Jr. and Sean Poret, two prospects who are unlikely to make an immediate impact due to slighter frames compared with most elite trench prospects.

PARTING PREDICTION

Prediction: Boggs and Gelsey will become immediate fixes to FSU's wide receiver woes.

One of them will start right out of the gate – likely Boggs. He has nearly 4,000 yards to his name over the last two prep seasons and he can win before or after the catch with his polish and toughness. Gelsey is a jumbo wide receiver who picked the Seminoles because of their history of big boundary types like him working into the rotation very early on.