Recruiting never truly ends — it only changes during certain times of the year when different types of contact are allowed or prohibited. Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher and his staff have refocused to the on-field results and will let their play do the talking to prospective recruits. That however, doesn’t mean news/speculation slows down for the team.
Florida State has had a (relatively) rough couple of weeks in this regard, mainly stemming from the de-commitment of 5-star tight end Isaac Nauta. However, recent reports indicate that the ‘Noles have some good news headed their way and will get back on the upswing.
(Photo courtesy of Chat Sports)
Naseir Upshur interest
Florida State has been pursuing Upshur more heavily since Nauta decommitted and left a spot open for a tight end. This has apparently paid off, as Upshur named Michigan and FSU as his top two schools for his upcoming announcement on September 1st.
Most analysts have him coming to Tallahassee and it is apparently the Seminoles’ commitment to lose. Upshur brings serious athleticism to the position and has solid fundamentals that are rarely seen with tight ends of his stature. If Florida State can secure him for the future, the position will be in great hands — not to mention that it will bring serious momentum to the recruiting trail.
(Photo courtesy of 247Sports)
Levonta Taylor tweet
Taylor is quickly becoming a fan favorite, and he seems to know that with his recent Twitter action. He got FSU fans in a frenzy Thursday when he tweeted: “Got us 2 silent commits #NoleNation can’t wait until they make it nationally known”. Predictions began rolling in as to which recruits he was talking about, and the fire had been successfully sparked.
Upshur is a popular pick and would definitely make sense given the circumstances with his sudden shift to Florida State. The second silent commit is unknown and there don’t seem to strong indicators toward any certain recruit. Some have proposed Dontavious Jackson as the mystery recruit, noting that he plants to take an official visit to Florida State in October and tweeted “#NoleNation” the same day as Taylor’s tweet. If one was forced to guess, Jackson would be a good choice.
To cool down the hype a little bit, things obviously can change in between now and the end of the season. Taylor had also at one point tweeted that he was going to convince Nauta to come back. Fans are hoping that this time his prediction comes true and Florida State’s class gets that much stronger.
(Photo courtesy of 247Sports)
Nate Craig-Myers update
In what might be the strangest turn of events for Florida State recruiting, it seems that the Seminoles have stopped pursuing the 5-star wide receiver from Tampa. Early indications began appearing when his brother Jayvaughn Myers committed to Florida in early August and provoked many analysts to shift their attention towards Florida as a possible landing spot. Nate Craig-Myers reiterated that his decision would still be his own and that his brother committing had little effect on where he thought he might go. Initially, this acted as a reassurance that Florida State was still the clear leader.
But then it came out that FSU hadn’t talked to him since before his brother’s commitment, and now it appears that they are not recruiting him anymore. He has stopped mentioning the ‘Noles when talking about potential schools and some recruiting insiders have begun switching their predictions from Florida State.
Reasons for this change are currently unknown, though speculation might point towards Craig-Myers being unable to really make an impact for at least two years. FSU has a very young and very talented receiving corps that will make it almost impossible for any freshman to come in and immediately contend for a starting role. Yes, Craig-Myers is a 5-star, but so are George Campbell, Ermon Lane and Travis Rudolph, who will all be at FSU at least through 2016.
At this point, it should just be assumed that he is not coming to Florida State for his college career.
The Seminoles haven’t had the best summer when it comes to recruiting, but that is accepted. Fans need to realize that FSU hasn’t reached Alabama or Ohio State levels of recruiting just yet. It will always have to compete with two major programs in the same state and still finish in the top 10 and even top 5 some years. Certain areas definitely need improvement and there might be some shakeups with the staff in the next couple of years. Yet despite this, the Seminoles still have good news on the way and will almost certainly finish with a highly-ranked recruiting class once again.
