The Daily Nole

Hot Recruiting Week Has Seminoles on Good Path

Jeff Romance/FSU athletics

The stars just keep rolling in for Florida State recruiting in July.

On Friday alone, the Seminoles gained three commitments. Two of them were for the class of 2018. That was 4-star wide receiver Marquez Ezzard and 3-star safety John Huggins. One was for the class of 2019, and that happened to be the current No. 1 cornerback in Akeem Dent.

Earlier this week, two different prospects had also committed, both for the 2018 class. The first was 4-star center Verdis Brown, who many had pegged as an Ohio State lock. The second was project defensive end Chaz Neal formerly of Armwood, a 3-star player that comes in at 6-7 and 253 pounds.

Within the span of seven days, the Seminoles gained two top-200 players, one top-300 player, and two intriguing prospects on the defensive side of the ball. Most schools would call that a productive week.

Here’s where the real kicker is — they are not done just yet.

Four of these commitments took place on the same days as the Jimbo Fisher-run football camps at FSU. Obviously, there is going to be hype surrounding top-rated players as they perform in front of the coaches. But as more and more information starts to leak out, it appears that Florida State has put itself in a great position for multiple top prospects.

First, let’s address the elephant in the room: Justin Fields.

Most recruiting sites would have you pay money for very minimal updates. The fact is that Fields, a 5-star quarterback, has kept his recruitment close to his chest. He’s simply not the type of guy to make it a national affair (even if that is how it’s played out recently). Anyone guaranteeing you that they have insider knowledge means that they don’t have it straight from Fields, but instead from team staff or possibly those a little closer to Fields.

The point being, nothing is guaranteed here. There is still great news for Florida State however. Fields made a fairly unexpected arrival at the Jimbo Fisher camp on Thursday afternoon. There was still some debate on if and when he would actually return to campus. That question got answered this week.

Fans shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from a single visit. But the fact that Fields returned to Tallahassee is a great sign that the Seminoles are squarely in the competition. He is obviously interested enough that he wants to check the school out in depth, which is never anything but positive news in the recruiting world.

Now on to some other players to keep an eye on:

Warren Thompson:  Most remember Thompson as the 4-star wide receiver who was pegged as an FSU lock, but instead committed to Oregon after visiting Eugene. Fan freakouts began and questions were raised about the staff’s ability to recruit wide receivers. While those questions are temporarily subdued, it was still up in the air as to how the staff would approach his recruitment.

Thursday and Friday showed us that they are doing exactly what they need to: keeping Thompson in their plans and giving him all the opportunities he wants to visit FSU. Thompson was once again at the Jimbo Fisher camp, and there is once again renewed interest with Florida State. He has been more fluid with his commitments than most, so it would not be shocking to see a few more changes in his status.

Sam Pinckney: Another project wide receiver is Sam Pinckney. He’s only a 3-star right now, but programs like LSU and Georgia have offered him recently. Florida State got in on his recruitment and he seems to really like FSU. So much so that Chris Nee of 247Sports reported that Pinckney could possibly commit soon. It’s not clear how high he is on the staff’s board, but they evidently want him enough to make a committable offer.

Jalen Curry: Could Florida State pull another top recruit out of Texas? It’s starting to look like it. Curry was another attendee at the Fisher camp, and he has been trending toward FSU recently. He tweeted out ob Friday night that he had “BIG BIG time news coming tomorrow…@6”. Most signs point to Florida State. Curry would be a huge get, considering he’s a top 150 player.

Channing Tindall: Moving away from offense for a bit, Tindall is a 4-star linebacker who according to 247Sports, received an offer from Florida State at the Jimbo Fisher camp. This comes after movement towards FSU on the crystal ball predictions. This could be another instance like Verdis Brown, where he commits to the Seminoles even though they aren’t the proverbial favorite.

Per usual, Fisher and staff have shown fans why recruiting meltdowns in the summer are shortsighted. The field changes so quickly that top prospects many haven’t heard of will all of the sudden commit to Florida State. Or better yet, top prospects you have heard of will begin to show a lot of interest.

The Seminoles’ coaching staff knows what they’re doing; it’s almost a guarantee that FSU will continue to be top 10 in recruiting rankings as long as Fisher and company put effort into it. This past week was fantastic for the 2018 class, and it’s scary to think that some of the biggest names haven’t even come aboard yet.

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