Week 11 recruiting winners and losers: Florida State shows progress to prospects

Recruits normally don’t make decisions based on a one-game performance or solely on one visit. But make no mistake, this weekend will have an impact on the recruiting trail. That’s why Florida State, Michigan, Georgia and Ole Miss, are the biggest recruiting winners for Week 11 of the college football season. It’s also why Texas (again) is the biggest loser of the week.

RECRUITING WINNER: FLORIDA STATE

Florida State was a big winner on the field and in recruiting this weekend. First things first: Florida State took down rival Miami 31-28 in a thrilling finish marked by an unusual rule unique to college football that was implemented in 2013. 

Then the Seminoles took care of business with some top prospects visiting, including landing a commitment from FCS Lamar University offensive line transfer Bless Harris.

The Noles also picked up some quality momentum with Marvin Jones Jr., the No. 1 player in the country in the On3 rankings out of Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage. Jones’ father, Marvin Jones Sr., was a star linebacker for Florida State in the 1990s. And his uncle, Fred Jones, played linebacker at Florida State from 1983-86.

After he returned from his official visit to Tallahassee, Jones narrowed his list to five schools: Florida State, Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

There also were impressive visit reviews from On3 Consensus five-star offensive tackle Kiyaunta Goodwin, four-star running back Jovantae Barnes, four-star offensive lineman Antavious Woody and coveted junior college defensive back DeCarlos Nicholson.

While things haven’t completely righted themselves on the field this season, the Seminoles have shown enough to stop the bleeding on the recruiting front the past few weeks. In the end, this weekend could go a long way toward Florida State finishing with a top-10 class.

WINNER: OLE MISS

It was a roller coaster of a recruiting weekend for the Rebels.

Ole Miss lost two four-star commitments during the weekend. First, Gautier (Miss.) High four-star offensive tackle Bryson Hurst backed off his commitment; then, as anticipated, Lucedale (Miss.) George County four-star wide receiver Marquez Dortch decommitted.

Even with that, the Rebels still are winners for leaving a lasting impression with a strong contingent of recruits on hand to watch Ole Miss beat No. 11 Texas A&M 29-19.

The Rebels blew away former On3 consensus four-star linebacker Terrence Cooks, a Texas transfer on his official visit. There also were a lot of positive returns from Vincent Anthony, who is committed to Duke but still took the official visit to Oxford.

There also were several offers extended to underclass prospects such as Starkville (Miss.) High sophomore athlete Braylon Burnside. Plus, Lane Kiffin even got in an opportunity to make another pitch for No. 1 junior prospect Arch Manning to end up in Oxford.

WINNER: MICHIGAN

No. 6 Michigan rallied late to win at Penn State and remain in the hunt for a College Football Playoff berth.

Yes, the Wolverines’ victory happened on the road, so they didn’t get to host prospects on campus for visits. But Michigan went into Happy Valley and beat a recruiting rival on its own turf in front of a collection of top 2023 and 2024 targets watching in the stands.

The Wolverines and Nittany Lions tangle for so many prospects throughout the Midwest and battle for a lot of targets in other parts of the country.

So, this is a quite satisfying victory for Michigan when it comes to impact on recruiting. It’s the type of “W” that Wolverines coaches can talk about with recruits who have both schools on their lists and sell a positive message.

WINNER: GEORGIA

Much like Michigan, Georgia’s 41-17 victory over Tennessee is something that will have an impact on the recruiting trail.

OK, yes, the programs are in different stages of success. Tennessee is in rebuild mode; UGA is chasing a national championship. But both target players in the same recruiting footprint and often battle each other for some national-level targets. And beating your on-field and recruiting rival in an emphatic way like Georgia did sends a signal to prospects that you’re clearly the better program.

It also makes it clear Tennessee has a long way to go to become elite like Georgia. That could be a selling point for the Vols. But when you’re battling UGA for the best of the best in the Southeast, it’s a much harder sell and a much bigger plus for the Dawgs than it is for Tennessee.

RECRUITING LOSER: TEXAS

The Texas Longhorns picked the worst weekend possible to have their worst loss in years.

With five-star prospects and some of its most important uncommitted targets in the stands watching, Texas suffered a brutal loss against Kansas on Saturday night. The loss marks the fifth in a row for the Longhorns, who began the season 4-1.

Kansas fans trolled Texas during the game with chants of “SEC, SEC.”

It was not the performance you wanted when you were hosting three five-star targets and an important quarterback target on campus for visits.

What momentum the Longhorns had in recruiting is long, long gone after the historically bad loss to the Jayhawks.

Coupled that with A&M regaining control of the narrative of “Who is the best program in the Lone Star State?” and it’s a bleak outlook for Horns.

Sarkisian is going to have to conjure some recruiting magic to flip the script with the early-signing period starting exactly one month from Monday.

“Texas’ best pitch right now is the ability to play right away for offensive line targets, Harold Perkins, Evan Stewart and defensive backs,” On3’s Gerry Hamilton said. “It has resonated somewhat with a couple of offensive line targets, but it remains to be seen if that will get pen to paper in December. The best thing for Texas’ awful result on the field is Texas A&M, Oklahoma and LSU lost, too. So, it negates Sunday negative recruiting on the Longhorns – a little.”

Texas still has a top-10 class, with a lot of quality commitments to get Longhorns fans excited. But before the losing streak started, there were dreams of a potential No. 1 class and multiple five-star prospects coming UT’s way.

LOSER: USC

USC falls into the loser category not because of performance on the field, but for a performance (or lack thereof) on the recruiting trail.

Domani Jackson dropped some major news Sunday when he announced he was decommitting from USC. The Five-Star Plus+ prospect said the Trojans are not out of the running and are competing with Alabama and Michigan for his signature.

Before the news of Jackson backing away from his longtime pledge to USC, the Trojans had the No. 15 class in the country. But USC has fallen to No. 22 in the On3 Consensus Team Recruiting Ranking without Jackson in the class.

The loss of Jackson also pushes USC behind Pac-12 rival Stanford for the second-best class in the conference; Oregon has the best. The Cardinal is No. 16 in the On3 Consensus Team Ranking.