Welcome to the Post-Miami / N. Alabama Week edition of Recruiting Roundup.
As the Osceola staff keeps tabs on Florida State recruiting, we will produce a recap of the last week of recruiting and track visits and movement for Florida State commits and targets. The thread will be updated up until gameday as we keep track of visits of current commits and potential recruits that Florida State is battling for. The thread will include updates from Osceola Recruiting Analyst Charles Fishbein and will also include an organized list of relevant activity for FSU commits and targets, provided by Pat Burnham and Nick Carlisle.
To put it bluntly, this was a very successful weekend for Florida State recruiting - especially as it pertains to the future 2025 class. Any time you host a crop of recruits that large with a sold-out crowd and a win against a rival (with a borderline night game), you're going to have good results.
Now as far as the 2024 class is concerned, we reported a few weeks ago after the Duke game that Florida State's class was mostly complete and that following the commitment of Jamari Howard, they would likely only take one or two more players.
After the Miami game this past week, that is still the case. However, Florida State is still recruiting a list of targets that they will make room for if they decide to come to FSU and that list of players has grown in the last few weeks.
Florida State is trying to have the best defensive back class in the nation by the time Early Signing Day comes around and that is reflected in the pursuit of a few more 2024 DB targets. Florida State would also like to sign another defensive lineman before early signing day. And then, as usual, there is the looming possibility of flipping Jeremiah Smith from Ohio State - which has now been juxtaposed with the possibility of flipping Cam Coleman from Texas A&M.
Essentially the TL;DR is that there is not a lot of wiggle room but these are guys you make room for - either through dismissals or encouraging prospects being recruited over to move on.
If you have any questions about a particular recruit or visitor this weekend - including ones addressed in the post - leave it beneath this post and we will address it if we can.
2024 TARGET TRACKER:
Jeremiah Smith visited Florida State this past weekend on an unofficial visit. This was a fantastic weekend for Florida State's recruitment of Smith, as the Ohio State commit was very impressed with his visit, heralding it as 'the best atmosphere he's been in all year'. Smith came back on Sunday to watch practice and meet with the FSU coaching staff.
The once shot in the dark to land the #1 wide receiver in the 2024 class has become a very, real chance for Florida State to flip Smith. Smith will not be taking any other visits in the coming weeks and his last visit will be an official visit to Florida State before he signs. FSU has been persistent and they have given him a lot to think about.
With the firing of Jimbo Fisher on Sunday, the recruitment of Cam Coleman became a lot more interesting. Florida State has not stopped recruiting Coleman despite his commitment to Texas A&M and this has made the Seminoles a contender as a landing spot should Coleman decide to explore his options. After his unofficial visit to Florida State, Coleman stated that his commitment was open and that he is planning an official visit to Florida State in December. He also intends to attend the Iron Bowl.
Auburn is another school that is very firmly in the mix to flip Coleman should he decide to de-commit from Texas A&M. You can read more about his visit, here:
https://floridastate.rivals.com/new...cam-coleman-plans-ov-to-fsu-talks-about-visit
Jamari Howard, as expected, officially committed to Florida State on Friday. He chose FSU over Florida, Rutgers, Maryland and Michigan State. Florida State was firmly in control of this recruitment for the last month and Howard joins the class as the 23rd commitment.
This one is interesting because of where Lucas is from. Lucas attends American Heritage, which is where Florida State defensive backs coach Pat Surtain coached before joining the Miami Dolphins in 2022 and then taking the job at FSU.
Xavier said during his visit to Florida State that the coaching staff made him feel special and that he has not been in a stadium with that many people before. Per Osceola Recruiting Analyst Charles Fishbein, Lucas is trending towards Florida State and it would not be a surprise if he ends up in the class.
LJ McCray did end up making a visit to Florida State this weekend after there were some rumors that popped up early in the week.
When we spoke with LJ after the game, he said that he enjoyed his visit but that he was there for his teammate Zavier Mincey to see him through the visit and to see how he enjoyed it.
There is no doubt that Florida State is still recruiting LJ, as he is a position of need - even with the addition of Armondo Blount. He was very tight-lipped both times we spoke to him this weekend. He says that he is still locked in with Florida but it is worth noting that he did not have to visit with Zavier this weekend.
You know what we say. Follow the visits.
Speaking of Zavier. Mincey visited unofficially this weekend and appeared to really like his visit. He attended the LSU vs. FSU game but had not been able to experience the true FSU home environment. "The energy was there, the crowd was lit, the band was rocking and the players were doing what they needed to do. I'm very interested in Florida State."
He holds offers from Florida, Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, and LSU amongst others. As of now, he is a Florida lean.
Bates took an unofficial visit to Florida State this weekend after not being on campus since his official visit during the summer. Unfortunately, he left before we were able to speak with him, although on Monday evening he decommitted from LSU. Bates is one of many DBs that Florida State is looking to add to be the cherry on top for this DB class.
2024 COMMIT NEWS:
Blount was back on campus for an unofficial visit. The important thing to report here was that Armondo addressed the rumors that he was talking with Miami about flipping back to them. "Yeah, I honestly have no ideas where those rumors were coming from... I don't," he said while laughing.
Armondo re-stated that he will be early enrolling, taking an official visit in December and will be on campus in January.
2025 TARGET TRACKER:
Four-star 2025 DE Zion Grady announced his commitment on Sunday. Florida State was in the Final 4 schools along with Alabama, Auburn, and Georgia. Grady committed to Alabama. We assumed that it was a close in-state battle between Alabama and Auburn and it was indeed Alabama that came out on top.
Howard made his second unofficial visit to Florida State this season. The FSU coaching staff is very high on Howard and he is a high priority target for the 2025 class. From what we have heard, the feelings are mutual as they are one of the leaders for his services. This will be a name to watch going forward as we transition into the 2025 recruiting class.
His unofficial visit on Saturday was the second straight Florida State home game that he had attended. After his visit, Ewald admitted that his visit had a large impact on his recruitment, especially with everything going on at Michigan currently. Things are trending well for Florida State in this recruitment but candidly, the outcome of the sign-stealing investigation will play a larger role in how Ewald's recruitment proceeds.
2024 COMMIT ACTIVITY:
Here is the list of Florida State commits that we can confirm were at Saturday's game against Miami:
Kameron Davis
Landen Thomas
Micahi Danzy
Ricky Knight
Charles Lester III
KJ Bolden
Jayden Parrish
Armondo Blount
Jamari Howard
Tramell Jones Jr. (25)
Ethan Pritchard (25)
Devin Carter (26)
WHAT COMES NEXT:
Florida State will be hosting recruits this weekend against North Alabama but this number will not be substantial and truthfully - it will mostly be commits attending the game. This weekend against Miami will be the last big weekend of the season and recruiting will pick up in December. Thanks for reading this week's roundup and have a great week!
As the Osceola staff keeps tabs on Florida State recruiting, we will produce a recap of the last week of recruiting and track visits and movement for Florida State commits and targets. The thread will be updated up until gameday as we keep track of visits of current commits and potential recruits that Florida State is battling for. The thread will include updates from Osceola Recruiting Analyst Charles Fishbein and will also include an organized list of relevant activity for FSU commits and targets, provided by Pat Burnham and Nick Carlisle.
To put it bluntly, this was a very successful weekend for Florida State recruiting - especially as it pertains to the future 2025 class. Any time you host a crop of recruits that large with a sold-out crowd and a win against a rival (with a borderline night game), you're going to have good results.
Now as far as the 2024 class is concerned, we reported a few weeks ago after the Duke game that Florida State's class was mostly complete and that following the commitment of Jamari Howard, they would likely only take one or two more players.
After the Miami game this past week, that is still the case. However, Florida State is still recruiting a list of targets that they will make room for if they decide to come to FSU and that list of players has grown in the last few weeks.
Florida State is trying to have the best defensive back class in the nation by the time Early Signing Day comes around and that is reflected in the pursuit of a few more 2024 DB targets. Florida State would also like to sign another defensive lineman before early signing day. And then, as usual, there is the looming possibility of flipping Jeremiah Smith from Ohio State - which has now been juxtaposed with the possibility of flipping Cam Coleman from Texas A&M.
Essentially the TL;DR is that there is not a lot of wiggle room but these are guys you make room for - either through dismissals or encouraging prospects being recruited over to move on.
If you have any questions about a particular recruit or visitor this weekend - including ones addressed in the post - leave it beneath this post and we will address it if we can.
2024 TARGET TRACKER:
Jeremiah Smith visited Florida State this past weekend on an unofficial visit. This was a fantastic weekend for Florida State's recruitment of Smith, as the Ohio State commit was very impressed with his visit, heralding it as 'the best atmosphere he's been in all year'. Smith came back on Sunday to watch practice and meet with the FSU coaching staff.
The once shot in the dark to land the #1 wide receiver in the 2024 class has become a very, real chance for Florida State to flip Smith. Smith will not be taking any other visits in the coming weeks and his last visit will be an official visit to Florida State before he signs. FSU has been persistent and they have given him a lot to think about.
With the firing of Jimbo Fisher on Sunday, the recruitment of Cam Coleman became a lot more interesting. Florida State has not stopped recruiting Coleman despite his commitment to Texas A&M and this has made the Seminoles a contender as a landing spot should Coleman decide to explore his options. After his unofficial visit to Florida State, Coleman stated that his commitment was open and that he is planning an official visit to Florida State in December. He also intends to attend the Iron Bowl.
Auburn is another school that is very firmly in the mix to flip Coleman should he decide to de-commit from Texas A&M. You can read more about his visit, here:
https://floridastate.rivals.com/new...cam-coleman-plans-ov-to-fsu-talks-about-visit
Jamari Howard, as expected, officially committed to Florida State on Friday. He chose FSU over Florida, Rutgers, Maryland and Michigan State. Florida State was firmly in control of this recruitment for the last month and Howard joins the class as the 23rd commitment.
This one is interesting because of where Lucas is from. Lucas attends American Heritage, which is where Florida State defensive backs coach Pat Surtain coached before joining the Miami Dolphins in 2022 and then taking the job at FSU.
Xavier said during his visit to Florida State that the coaching staff made him feel special and that he has not been in a stadium with that many people before. Per Osceola Recruiting Analyst Charles Fishbein, Lucas is trending towards Florida State and it would not be a surprise if he ends up in the class.
LJ McCray did end up making a visit to Florida State this weekend after there were some rumors that popped up early in the week.
When we spoke with LJ after the game, he said that he enjoyed his visit but that he was there for his teammate Zavier Mincey to see him through the visit and to see how he enjoyed it.
There is no doubt that Florida State is still recruiting LJ, as he is a position of need - even with the addition of Armondo Blount. He was very tight-lipped both times we spoke to him this weekend. He says that he is still locked in with Florida but it is worth noting that he did not have to visit with Zavier this weekend.
You know what we say. Follow the visits.
Speaking of Zavier. Mincey visited unofficially this weekend and appeared to really like his visit. He attended the LSU vs. FSU game but had not been able to experience the true FSU home environment. "The energy was there, the crowd was lit, the band was rocking and the players were doing what they needed to do. I'm very interested in Florida State."
He holds offers from Florida, Alabama, Miami, Notre Dame, and LSU amongst others. As of now, he is a Florida lean.
Bates took an unofficial visit to Florida State this weekend after not being on campus since his official visit during the summer. Unfortunately, he left before we were able to speak with him, although on Monday evening he decommitted from LSU. Bates is one of many DBs that Florida State is looking to add to be the cherry on top for this DB class.
2024 COMMIT NEWS:
Blount was back on campus for an unofficial visit. The important thing to report here was that Armondo addressed the rumors that he was talking with Miami about flipping back to them. "Yeah, I honestly have no ideas where those rumors were coming from... I don't," he said while laughing.
Armondo re-stated that he will be early enrolling, taking an official visit in December and will be on campus in January.
2025 TARGET TRACKER:
Four-star 2025 DE Zion Grady announced his commitment on Sunday. Florida State was in the Final 4 schools along with Alabama, Auburn, and Georgia. Grady committed to Alabama. We assumed that it was a close in-state battle between Alabama and Auburn and it was indeed Alabama that came out on top.
Howard made his second unofficial visit to Florida State this season. The FSU coaching staff is very high on Howard and he is a high priority target for the 2025 class. From what we have heard, the feelings are mutual as they are one of the leaders for his services. This will be a name to watch going forward as we transition into the 2025 recruiting class.
His unofficial visit on Saturday was the second straight Florida State home game that he had attended. After his visit, Ewald admitted that his visit had a large impact on his recruitment, especially with everything going on at Michigan currently. Things are trending well for Florida State in this recruitment but candidly, the outcome of the sign-stealing investigation will play a larger role in how Ewald's recruitment proceeds.
2024 COMMIT ACTIVITY:
Here is the list of Florida State commits that we can confirm were at Saturday's game against Miami:
Kameron Davis
Landen Thomas
Micahi Danzy
Ricky Knight
Charles Lester III
KJ Bolden
Jayden Parrish
Armondo Blount
Jamari Howard
Tramell Jones Jr. (25)
Ethan Pritchard (25)
Devin Carter (26)
WHAT COMES NEXT:
Florida State will be hosting recruits this weekend against North Alabama but this number will not be substantial and truthfully - it will mostly be commits attending the game. This weekend against Miami will be the last big weekend of the season and recruiting will pick up in December. Thanks for reading this week's roundup and have a great week!
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