Major buzz around Florida State recruiting after top-10 win over LSU

Mike Norvell and Florida State have already been recruiting on a different plane than years’ past, currently sitting inside the top five of the On3 Industry Football Team Recruiting Rankings.

The Seminoles win over No. 5 LSU on Sunday night in Orlando might send them into a different stratosphere. In attendance were On3 Industry Ranking No. 1 prospect and Ohio State commit Jeremiah Smith, LJ McCray, Zay Mincey, KJ Bolden, Charles Lester, as well as more than 40 other recruits. And the early returns are nothing short of exceptional.

“I said before that they were red-hot going into this game,” Warchant.com insider Michael Langston told On3’s Josh Newberg on Monday. “They’ve done everything in the summer to get ready, and now after this game, this was kind of a perfect storm. They had a ton of kids there. And the buzz, I’ll be honest I was here when it was Jimbo Fisher here, and this feels even stronger than what that was because of the culture and the relationships. And now the product is matching those relationships. I would say their recruiting is about to go to nuclear based on where they’re at now.”

Results are speaking for themselves

Prior to last season, Norvell and his staff were largely selling hope about what the future could be after winning just eight games combined in his first two years.

Florida State’s 10-win 2022 football campaign changed the conversation though, and according to Langston, recruits can now see the on-field results week in and week out.

“I think kids believed [last year], and I don’t think it was something where they had to sell what they are. I think kids saw that last year about what they could be,” he said. “This feels different than last year though when they beat LSU. You didn’t just go in and win, you went in and throttled a top-five team and did it in one half.”

After the game, Langston talked to more than a dozen FSU targets and commits, and they were raving about what Norvell and his squad did.

“Recruits were jacked up. Luke Kromenhoek was telling me kids were ready to get on board that weren’t committed to FSU,” Langston added. “It was a lot of excitement and buzz, something I haven’t seen in a long time. Maybe since that 2012 when Jimbo was pulling in these guys left and right. But these feels different from that. It’s another level for FSU right now. They’re hotter than fire.”

Seminoles looking for a couple more big fish in this class

And despite the top-five ranking, there’s still plenty of runway for the Seminoles to move up further between now and December.

The aforementioned Smith, McCray and Mincey are some of FSU’s top targets, and they’re also trending with four-star Miami (Fla.) Central cornerback Jamari Howard. McCray, who named the Seminoles in his top five this summer, still has an official visit to Tallahassee to use in October before his decision. This game, though, moved FSU up in a big way.

“Before this game, I think they were probably in second or third, probably third. And then now, they’re either tied or slightly ahead. I think Jeremiah Smith is another one that there’s some confidence building consistently every time he sees FSU or visits. Certainly, after the performance that Keon Coleman put on — and for people who haven’t seen him, he’s very similar in body type to Keon — I was told this game really connected with him.”