A big-picture look at the intersection of FSU's high school recruiting and player development of prospects who were inherited, recruited or brought in via the portal:

FSU sports information:

Holly Watts has been announced as the newest assistant coach for Florida State Volleyball, returning to a program that she prominently coached at from 2008-12.

“Holly and I coached together between 1996 and 2013 before she went off on another adventure as a head coach,” FSU Head Coach Chris Poole said. “Holly is a tremendous coach and has always been a hard worker. I’m excited for her decision to come back to Florida State for another run.

“We will have one of the most experienced coaching staffs in the country with all three assistants being former Division I head coaches.”

Watts’ returns highlights an incredible run she helped engineer with Poole where the Seminoles compiled a 130-34 record, reached the NCAA National Semifinals (2011) and Regional Finals (2009), won consecutive ACC Championship titles (2011 and 2012) and dominated the conference with an 80-20 record.

Watts was in charge of FSU’s middle blockers, and enjoyed a phenomenal run of All-America players that included Brianna Barry, Jordana Price, Ashley Neff and Sareea Freeman.

The native of Devine, Texas, returns to the Seminoles after head coaching stints at UTEP as well as Western New Mexico. She began coaching with Poole during a successful 12-season run at Arkansas from 1996-07, helping the Lady Razorbacks recorded a 272-129 record, compiling nine SEC Western Division titles and winning the SEC Tournament in 1997.

Watts will return to coaching FSU’s team blocking as well as its middle and right-side training. She will also serve as the team’s Director of Volleyball Operations, and will have a strong recruiting area of Texas and the Western United States – an area that she is very familiar with.

Watts will have the opportunity to coach one of the nation’s top returning middle blockers in rising senior Khori Louis, who has spent much of her summer with USA Volleyball. Louis finished fourth in the nation with a .432 hitting percentage last year and earned All-America and All-ACC First Team honors.

Under Watts’ tutelage, fellow middle blockers Kelsey Perry, Laila N’Diaye, Greta Gelumbickas and right-side hitter Maddie Snider will also be able to expand their games.

Be safe.

The additions began to stack up on June 1, 2023 as Max Williams (Alabama), Drew Faurot (UCF) and Alex Lodise (UNF) made their commitments to FSU. The next day, Jacob Marlowe (UCF) committed and Cam Leiter (UCF) followed on June 4. Jaxson West made his decision on June 29, while Daniel Cantu was a later addition on July 19.

Coupled with junior-college transfers like Marco Dinges, Carson Dorsey and Gavin Adams, FSU’s roster rebuild was on with 26 new faces between high school signees, juco transfers and transfers. Even with Ristano (Navy) and Wallace (UCF) leaving for head coaching opportunities, the Seminoles completed an impressive roster flip.

The newcomers make up a big chunk of the day-to-day roster, with Dinges, Cantu, Williams, Faurot and Lodise playing in at least 55 games this year and being regular starters while West has started 37 games going into Friday's CWS opener against No. 1 seed Tennessee (7 p.m. on ESPN).

Fresh off an official visit to Texas, Javion Hilson was back on Florida State's campus on Wednesday and he was with FSU target and Florida Gators commit Jalen Wiggins. It's not nothing but having one of your top recruits back on campus so soon after an official visit is a good sign. Texas has made a push for Hilson.

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From John Garcia, FSU DE commitment Javion Hilson could get a bump at the Rivals Five-Star event on June 25-26 in Jacksonville:

The nation's top TE in 2026 gives the latest: https://n.rivals.com/news/elite-te-kendre-harrison-has-north-carolina-oregon-visits-set

Seems this lady didn't get the desired response or maybe she did. See this a lot these days but it's always been a thing. Most return them but there are some lazy buttholes that leave them in the parking lot or propped up on the curb. I guess its as big a problem as parking properly.

From Golf Monthly:

Historic Augusta winner Lottie Woad has ticked off another landmark in her burgeoning career after becoming the women's World No. 1 amateur.

Previously sitting in second spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Woad took over at No.1 after leader Ingrid Lindblad opted to turn professional.

Woad became the first British player to win the Augusta National Women's Amateur this year, and followed that up with a fine 23rd-placed finish in the Chevron Championship.

Link Jarrett turned to Carson Dorsey to start the regional and Super Regional. While he wasn't definitive about FSU's game 1 starter in the College World Series, Jarrett stated that Jamie Arnold "should be in good shape" when the Seminoles face Tennessee on Friday (7 p.m. on ESPN).

"Jamie should be in good shape to open," Jarrett said Wednesday, shortly before the team boarded a bus for the flight to Omaha. "He had a real good bullpen today. We'll probably go in that direction. When you play every other day, it's different. The format of this is different. You're used to the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday. All of a sudden, you know it's Friday, Sunday."

I will have a story later this afternoon but here is a video of our interview with Jamie Watkins:

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Tuesday, Dec. 3
South Carolina at Boston College
Cal at Missouri
Kentucky at Clemson
Florida State at LSU
Georgia Tech at Oklahoma
Ole Miss at Louisville
Arkansas at Miami
Notre Dame at Georgia
Syracuse at Tennessee
Wake Forest at Texas A&M

Wednesday, Dec. 4
Auburn at Duke
Texas at NC State
Alabama at North Carolina
Pitt at Mississippi State
Virginia at Florida
Vanderbilt at Virginia Tech

Latest from 5-star LB

FSU sports information:

Florida State Women’s Basketball will get another opportunity to face historical program Tennessee in this year’s SEC/ACC Women’s Challenge, this time on the road in Knoxville at Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024.

The conference challenge game is a rematch of last year’s early-season thriller when the Seminoles defeated No. 11 Tennessee, 92-91, on Nov. 9, 2023. The game was headlined by rising junior guard Amaya Bonner’s 11 fourth-quarter points, including a game-tying 3-point field goal to make it 91-91 with 52 seconds remaining.

This year marks the second season of the SEC/ACC Women’s Challenge, with the Seminoles hosting Arkansas last year at the Tucker Center.

FSU has finalized its 12-player roster for the 2024-25 season, which includes the return of high-scoring trio Ta’Niya Latson, Makayla Timpson and O’Mariah Gordon. The Seminoles are slated to bring back 75 percent of their scoring production from a year ago as well as 82 percent of their rebounds.

The Seminoles and Lady Volunteers are two of eight Division I programs to make the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournaments in each of the last 11 seasons. FSU is coming off its second straight 12-6 season in ACC play – its first set of back-to-back 12-win seasons in ACC play since 2014-18.

Tennessee will be led by first-year head coach Kim Caldwell, who was hired on April 7, 2024, after eight successful seasons coaching at Division II Glenville State (seven seasons from 2016-23) and Marshall (one season in 2023-24). Caldwell led the Thundering Herd to the NCAA First Round while also guiding them to a Sun Belt Conference title last year.

The Lady Volunteers are the fourth confirmed opponent on the 2024-25 schedule for FSU. The Seminoles play in the Paradise Jam from Nov. 28-30 in St. Thomas against Texas Tech (Thursday, Nov. 28), Missouri State (Friday, Nov. 29) and Gonzaga (Saturday, Nov. 30).

Fans can renew or purchase season tickets for the 2024-25 season by visiting seminoles.com/bbtix.

Anyone seen a preseason poll for women's college soccer? If not when does one typically come out for the upcoming season? Go Noles!

We'll have more stories from Link Jarrett's interview. The team is departing shortly from Howser. He was less than definitive about Jamie Arnold as the starter vs. Tennessee, but we all think that's how he will go:

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Starting with an 11-0 Opening Day win, an aura of Mike Martin Sr. has hung over this year's FSU baseball season. Months after 11's passing, FSU is headed to Omaha for the first time under Link Jarrett and he's not shying away from the ultimate goal of finally bringing home that elusive national championship.

"The mindset of this team and the approach is to go finish that off and go finish that off for him.”

The latest on many top prospects here:

Quick question, why aren’t the teams re-seeded for Omaha? Shouldn’t the #1 seed get to play the lowest remaining seed?

Stock Up


1-Ladarian Clardy: Ath: (Escambia HS-FL)-6'1-175: Turn on Clardy film and it is quite impressive. He has flown under the radar for most of his recruitment. Clardy has the size and length you want from defensive backs. He also is a very good athlete. He can play on either side of the football. He is very similar to AZ Thomas coming out of high school and we expect him to be a very good college prospect. FSU turned up the heat and looks to be one of his leaders.

2-Josh Petty: OT-(Fellowship Christian) -6'5-265: Petty was on our stock up on our last report. I am about to put in a forecast for the top rated tackle. FSU has put a move on for Petty. FSU needs help at tackle and it looks like they are about to finally reel in a big FISH. Petty has great feet. He moves extremely well and has the versatility to play multiple positions on the offensive line.

3-Shamar Arnoux - (Carrollton HS-GA): 6'3-170: Shamar is a prospect that I have had a high grade on for a while. It was no surprise that he went to FSU summer camp and performed well. He has the size and length to play corner at a very high level. He is a fluid athlete who can open up and run with receivers and backs in space. FSU wants bigger and longer corners and safeties and that is exactly what Shamar brings to the table. Not only is his stock up....Shamar visits officially on June 21st. look for a potential commitment.

4-Ousmane Kromah-(Lee County GA) 5'11-200: Kromah is a volatile stock. You have a chance to hit it big and land him or crap out. This kid changes his mind daily. Right now FSU sits in a very good spot with Kromah. We have Georgia right up there with the Seminoles. This is a two team race. He recently visited and FSU seemed to hit it out of the park. This is one you won't want to watch the daily stock reports. He is going to take this down to the wire. FSU has done a very good job recruiting him. Even if he did sign with Georgia this is one that could end up coming back to FSU (See Marvin Jones Jr).

5-Chase Loftin-(Millard South-NE): FSU got Loftin on campus. He had a great visit and the Seminoles have made a move. Land Loftin and Davidson and FSU problems at tight end are over. These two would be great additions. I feel real good about Davidson. Loftin they still must beat out Nebraska for him.



Stock Down

1-Ziyare Addison -Sumner HS (FL): 6'5-290 (Committed to Oregon): Addison was all FSU for most of the spring. He took a visit to Oregon and no shock here, fell in love with the Ducks. He pulled the trigger for Oregon and decided to shut it down. While his recruitment is shut down right now let’s see how this one plays out. Eugene is a long way from home and these things don't tend to last. Let’s see where this is in November and December.

2-Kaliq Lockett-(Sachse-TX): 6'2-175-Pulling elite players from out of Texas is no easy feat. He does take a visit to FSU on June 14th so we will see where FSU stands. Alabama on the 17th, LSU on May 31st, Texas June 21st, and Texas A&M June 7th. That is a ton of heavy lifting for FSU. While he will visit FSU, they are fighting an uphill battle for his services. We will hear after his visit had FSU hit it out of the park.....and then radio silence.

3-Elyiss Williams-(Camden County-GA): 6'7-235: (Committed to Georgia) Not only is he committed to Georgia, Williams has shut his recruitment down. With Hollis Davidson and Loftin on the board this recruitment does not mean much anymore for FSU. They sit in a good spot with two elite prospects.

4-Mariyon Dye-(Elkhart HS-IN): 6'5-270: When you recruit out of state prospects your chances of landing them are not very good. Dye will take a visit to FSU in June. He fits the mold of defensive ends that FSU likes. He has some of the same physical attributes of Jared Verse. He has size and length off the edge. He can stop the run. You can have him rush the passer. He is one of the top defensive ends I watched film on. He is going to be a tough pull.

5-Riley Pettijohn-(McKinney-TX) 6'1-215: FSU was on Riley. He showed some interest early on. That interest has seemed to stop. He visited Ohio State on May 31st, visits USC, Texas and Texas A&M on back to back to back weekends. With no official visit set to FSU their chances are slim to none at this point.


Stock stayed the same......

1- Joshua Moore - WR - (West Broward HS-FL): 6'4-200 -Moore had an impressive spring. FSU has been one of his leaders for the past few months. We still very good about Moore and FSU. Moore has great size. He has above average speed. He displays good hands. At 6'4, Moore is a match up problem for smaller defensive backs. He reminds us of Willie Haulstead who played at FSU.

2- Hollis Davidson - TE (McIntosh HS-GA): 6'5-240: Davidson is set to take a visit on June 21st. We would not be surprised to see FSU land a commitment at that time. Davidson is one of the top tight ends on FSU board. He is someone that FSU needs to land so they can improve the tight end room. He has the size to help out in the run game as a blocker. He can also go out and catch the ball. He is a complete tight end and that is something FSU seems to be lacking at this time.

3 - Tavion Wallace - LB - (Wayne County-GA): I put a future cast in for Wallace. It is only a matter of time before he commits to FSU. One of the most important recruits on the board. FSU needs linebackers and he is probably the best one they are recruiting at this time.

4 - Gregory Xavier Thomas - S - (AH Plantation-FL): I have liked where FSU has stood for a while. That being said I do have some slight concerns with Clemson. Thomas has had time to pull the trigger. I always have reservations on recruits who are trending but don't pull the trigger (Ziyare Addison). You want to get this kid in the boat already and move on to other recruits.

5- Myron Charles - DT - (Port Charlotte, FL): Charles has had FSU his leader for a while. We have heard this before with players like Addison. Charles is a prospect at a position of need. He is one of the top rated defensive tackles on FSU board. FSU has a great relationship with Charles. As we have mentioned Texas has made a major move and has Charles a priority recruit. He just visited Austin with his mom and it went really well. He is another recruit that needs to pull the trigger for FSU or there will start to be concerns.

FSU sitting in a good spot here ..