How Mike Norvell has improved recruiting success at Florida State

Mike Norvell can attribute a lot of his success at Florida State to the NCAA transfer portal. The Seminoles have found players to make an immediate impact and even kept them in the program for multiple seasons. Guys such as Keon Coleman and Jared Verse are now NFL players after successful times in Tallahassee.

You have not always been able to say the same about Florida State recruiting in the high school ranks. Results have been a whole lot better out of the portal, filling major holes at impact positions.

The timing of Norvell’s hiring may have played a role, having to evaluate players without having much face-to-face communication. COVID-19 was a struggle for a lot of coaches when it came to recruiting, something Norvell has survived — unlike many others in his position.

“I think from a recruiting standpoint, that is a knock on Mike Norvell and his staff,” Ira Schoffel of On3’s Warchant said via Tuesday’s episode of Andy Staples On3. “When is the high school recruiting going to reach there? I think you go back to his first two years at Florida State, he didn’t get the bump most coaches get because of COVID… If you go back to the coaches that were hired in 2020, not a lot of them are still not employed… It was a really tough situation.

“Really, for a year and a half, they didn’t get to go on the road to recruit,” Schoffel said. “He didn’t have a bunch of assistant coaches who coached in Florida. So, a lot of these reasons stunted offensive recruiting.”

Florida State’s 2021 and 2022 recruiting classes finished outside of the top 20 and were both ranked fourth in the ACC. They just won eight games when building those classes and many were wondering how much longer Norvell would be with the Seminoles.

On-field success has changed things, though. A 10-win season in 2022 and this past year’s 13-0 regular season vaulted Florida State to No. 12 in the country per the 2024 On3 Industry Team Rankings. A blue-chip ratio of 61% is the highest since the Jimbo Fisher days.

“The high school recruiting has gotten better and better every year as they’ve won more,” Staples said. “It feels like the development is there. The guys that they’ve gotten in high school, they’re now ready to play. This is not the situation he walked into anymore. He’s recruiting off success for the last couple of years.”

Norvell is not going to stop using the portal. Florida State brought in 17 guys this offseason and all but two of them played at Power Five programs last year. Big-time experience from outside guys will once again be a theme this season.

However, high school recruits will begin to start popping up and making plays. Exactly the kind of base any program competing in today’s day and age wants.