Heading into season-opening showdown, FSU and LSU have both bolstered rosters with transfers
Much was made, and with good reason, about the transfer class Florida State head coach Mike Norvell and his staff landed in the offseason.
The Seminoles were already going to be good in 2023; they returned most of their offensive and defensive production from last year’s 10-3 team. But Norvell and his staff went out and added some of the best players in the transfer portal and could now be ranked in or near the Top 5 in the country when preseason polls are released in August.
But you know who else went out and landed themselves a highly ranked portal class as well?
The team Florida State plays first in 2023 — a team that will also be ranked in the Top 10 in the preseason polls.
The LSU Tigers, who are also coming off a 10-win season, wound up signing 14 players from the portal, almost all of them from Power 5 schools. The most heralded signee was cornerback Denver Harris, a former five-star recruit from Texas A&M.
Harris was one of four cornerbacks the Tigers brought in, joining Syracuse veteran Darian Chestnut, Ohio State’s Jakailin Johnson and Southeast Louisiana’s Zy Alexander.
Other than Harris and Chestnut, the biggest name the Tigers signed — and someone who should be starting immediately on the defense — is Oregon State transfer Omar Speights, who has played in over 40 games in his college career and racked up 170 tackles combined the last two seasons for the Beavers.
Speights was ranked the No. 4 linebacker in the portal according to On3 and the No. 49 player overall. Harris was ranked the No. 2 corner, and the No. 13 player overall. Chestnut was ranked the No. 5 corner and the No. 45 player overall.
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All three should see the field against the Seminoles in Orlando.
Of the 11 other transfers, Alabama wide receiver Aaron Anderson was the only one in the Top 100 of the On3 portal rankings. The Louisiana native — he went to the same high school as current Seminoles Greedy Vance and Destyn Hill — was ranked No. 79 overall and the No. 18 receiver.
But just because the Tigers don’t necessarily have the star transfer power Florida State has — the Seminoles landed six players in the Top 100, including five in the Top 33 — it doesn’t mean the new players won’t contribute early for the Tigers.
LSU landed three defensive linemen from Power 5 schools — Florida’s Jalen Lee, Oregon’s Bradyn Swinson and Arizona’s Paris Shand — and also brought in experienced offensive lineman Mason Lunsford from Maryland, linebacker Ovie Oghoufu from Texas and running back Logan Diggs from Notre Dame.
It’s still July, so no one can know how many of these transfers will play against the Seminoles. But some most definitely will.
And thanks to the portal, the depth charts for both teams will look a whole lot different than they did when they met in 2022.
Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.
