Seminoles coming out of the gates hot in July

June belonged to many programs across college football recruiting, perhaps Stanford, Florida, Nebraska among them.

As the calendar turns to July, few have the ceiling Florida State may from a talent acquisition standpoint. The program started the month with 11 verbal commitments but has already added a key defensive pair on Saturday in four-stars DD Holmes and now Ricky Knight.

The former presents as a strong inter-conference win for the Washington D.C. native, who had options in the Big Ten and beyond. The latter is a classic Seminole win, in-state over semi-local Miami for a south Florida skill prospect. Knight's pledge, which went public Saturday afternoon, ebbed and flowed between the Noles and Canes like a blue-chipper should after taking official visits to each to wrap up the June official visit window.

Mike Norvell's program sits right outside the top 20 nationally at this point, which should be considered great news for its fans. With only 12 public pledges, there is room to not only add more high-end talent, but key volume in how classes are ranked by cycle's end.

No program in the top 25 team recruiting rankings has less commitments on board than FSU does. 15 of the programs already have at least 18 prospects on board in the 2024 class. It means the program can surge up the rankings in quite a hurry.

The newest Seminole brings a lot to the table for the future of the FSU secondary. He has requisite height and length, where he flashes just as much on the offensive side of the ball at wide receiver on Friday nights, with the type of ball skills every defensive coach covets in the modern age. There is also speed to burn here, too, which perhaps helps him mask some of the technical flaws in his game from a coverage standpoint.

As that last part evolves, Knight has a chance to work throughout a secondary in the ACC. Rivals has seen enough of him to consider him a true corner, but he has the frame to add weight and work on the inside some more, to the point he could become a dynamic nickel type with fit instincts and those easy ball skills.

On the shallow end of the projection, Knight can work the boundary and play in zones to maximize his strengths, but if he buys in -- there is an all conference ceiling here. He plays beyond his experience level at the position, often in phase and in good position when the ball arrives, strengths he can build upon in a hurry once he's working in the secondary for good as opposed to splitting time.

Naturally, there are several key Seminole targets set to soon come off the board in July.

The offensive side of the ball figures to get some good news on Independence Day with tight end Kylan Fox and in-state wide receiver James Madison each planning to go public with commitments on that day. For Fox, who is also considering UCF and Georgia Tech, a pick other than one in garnet and gold would be considered an upset. Madison has FSU head to head with his home-state school in Missouri, with this one considered more of a coin flip late in the game.

The end of the month could stand as strong for FSU as the beginning of July already has proven, with one of the top recruits in the nation set to come off the board on July 29. Charles Lester III has been considered an FSU lean, conservatively, for months now. He even shook up his visit schedule to get the Noles trip in during the month of June, ahead of the July commitment window. Initially, Lester planned to pop at the end of the year so Florida State's trip was to be taken in December -- so he's pointed much of the Tallahassee attention his own way throughout the process.

Landing Lester, and theoretically pairing him with Knight, would win the optical game for the program within state lines and beyond -- each equally important in the rise and maintenance of top programs. Each are high-profile, two-way blue-chip recruits at different parts of the state. Ironically each changed high schools this offseason, too, with Knight now at Cardinal Newman and Lester at Venice.

Several additional key prospects in the ACC and SEC footprint will have Florida State in the mix as the cycle wares on. It is shooting its shot with No. 1 wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and teammate Joshia Trader, who sources told Rivals FSU was trending for at one point this spring. Each in-state program is making plays for fellow blue-chippers in offensive lineman Jonathan Daniels, secondary prospects Zaquan Patterson, Cai Bates and Jamari Howard along with pass rusher LJ McCray.

Beyond state lines, FSU is in the mix for top 25 prospect Cameron Coleman of Alabama, Kamarion Franklin of Mississippi and Elijah Moore of Maryland, among others.

It won't just be an offseason recruiting run for Norvell's bunch, there is almost a built-in staying power in what will be a Florida State climb up the national rankings through the end of the cycle.