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Not so fast: FSU is alive and recruiting Posted: Thursday January 16, 2003 8:35 PM
When you think of the college football power from Tallahassee, you think of great teams, great players and a legendary coach. Bobby Bowden, Deion Sanders, Charlie Ward, national champions and BCS Bowls. That’s what comes to mind when you think of the Seminoles. Throughout their dominance, they consistently have recruited better than any team in college football. The numbers in the win column and all the FSU players in the NFL prove that to be true. But by FSU's extraordinary standards, the past two seasons have been very ordinary. So how will this affect the 'Noles recruiting efforts this season? There are some who feel the dynasty is crumbling and that recruiting will fall along with it. But as Lee Corso often says, “Not so fast my friend.” As long as Bowden is in command of the Seminole nation, they always will recruit well. This is Florida State. And this recruiting season will be no different. Will the Seminoles finish with a top-five class in the nation? It’s very likely if they make their typical pre-Signing Day run. Let’s face the facts for a moment: Nobody, and I mean nobody, closes like FSU. Bowden owns the last two weeks of the recruiting marathon. Just go back and look at their past Signing Day runs. In the end, Florida State gets the job done. So let’s take a look at what could possibly be on tap in the great recruiting race for the ‘Noles: The top prospect in the land is running back/linebacker Ernie Sims. Sims has strong Florida State ties. His father and brother played for FSU and his mother was a track All-American there. Sims played his high school football at nearby North Florida Christian. Although I don’t think it’s a lock for FSU to land Sims, the Seminoles will be awfully tough to beat in the end. He already has visited Georgia, Florida and Auburn. This weekend he travels to Coral Gables, Fla., to visit Miami and on the last weekend of January, he visits Florida State. Sims likely will cut down his list to three teams next week. He plans on announcing his decision on Signing Day. Staying in Tallahassee, Antonio Cromartie from Lincoln High School is torn between Florida State and Florida. Cromartie is an amazing talent on both sides of the ball as a wide receiver and defensive back. He dreamed of being a Seminole, but Florida has done an amazing job on this recruiting front. Right now, it’s really too close to call and it could go either way. Cromartie plans on announcing his decision on Signing Day. At Melbourne (Fla.) Palm Bay High School, there are two All-America prospects in running back/defensive end Joe Cohen and safety Reggie Nelson. Both standouts visited Tallahassee last weekend and have trips remaining to Florida and Miami. Cohen, at 6-foot-2 1/2 and 240 pounds, wants to play running back and the Seminoles may have a big advantage with this blue-chipper because of current RB Greg Jones. Cohen has seen the big FSU tailback run with great success in Tallahassee and he envisions himself doing the same. He and Nelson are the best of friends and really want to play at the next level together. They both plan on announcing on Signing Day. On the quarterback front, JaMarcus Russell is an amazing talent. He is the third-ranked signal caller according to TheInsiders.com. Russell, from Mobile (Ala.) Williamson High School, has narrowed his choices to Florida State and LSU. He will visit FSU on Jan. 24 and LSU on the last visit weekend of the year (Jan. 31). LSU already has two quarterback commitments in Robert Lane and Matthew Flynn. Lane is also a terrific high school baseball player and will likely be a high draft pick in baseball's June amateur draft. Sources say Russell is headed to LSU, but logic says it will be the Seminoles. FSU needs to sign a quarterback, especially with Adrian McPherson no longer on the team. Russell plans on making his decision on Signing Day. Do you see the pattern here? Florida State has a great shot at landing blue-chipper after blue-chipper, and if you play the odds, FSU could come up a big winner once again on Signing Day. The Seminoles currently are sitting on seven verbal commitments and there is a long way to go. They are sitting pretty with more big-name prospects like wide receiver DeCody Fagg, cornerback Kenny Scott, safety Willie Cooper, wide receiver Whitney Lewis, JUCO defensive back Chijoke Onyenegcha, wide receiver Amp Hill, offensive linemen Kevin Brown, linebacker John Beason, offensive lineman Aubrey McPhadden, and cornerback Jhermaine McAroy. Florida State should land most of these prospects. Lewis, from Ventura, Calif., is the nation’s top receiver. He plays at the same high school as last year’s No. 1 rated player, Lorenzo Booker. Where did Booker sign? Florida State. And the two are very close and there is a great chance Lewis follows Booker to Florida State. The one other team to watch out for with Lewis is Southern Cal. The Trojans have a shot to keep him home. If college football fans believe FSU recruiting is on the decline, they should think again. Between now and National Signing Day, the Seminoles will get their typical blue-chippers. What happens on Signing Day, with big decisions looming, will go along way to where they ultimately fall in the final national rankings. Right now, they are not even in TheInsiders.com Top 25. But they have only seven commits and there’s a long three weeks to go with major recruiting wars brewing between them and their arch-rivals, the Gators and Hurricanes. Miami is Miami and it will get its share. Florida is recruiting much better with Ron Zook at the helm and the Gators will get their share. And sure enough, Florida State is Florida State and the Seminoles should once again close with a flurry. The bottom line is that the Big Three in Sunshine State all likely will find themselves somewhere in the Top 10 national rankings when all the smoke clears and the recruiting wars are over.
Nation’s top tight end commitsAfter several long months of going through the recruiting process, Wayne (N.J.) Wayne Hills standout tight end Greg Olsen finally has reached a decision. "He'll be going to Notre Dame," said his father, Chris. "It was a tough decision for all of us involved. There were a lot of great programs involved in the recruiting process and a lot of great people, but Greg felt Notre Dame was the best situation for him." Olsen will be joining his brother, Christian, at Notre Dame in the fall. The nation's top-rated tight end had narrowed his list down to Notre Dame, Miami and Tennessee in recent weeks. "He's very excited about his decision," his father and coach said. "He's really looking forward to it." -- Mike Bakas, TheInsidersRecruiting.com
Five-star wide receiver talks tecruitingAt 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, Whitney Lewis, the Ventura (Calif.) St. Bonaventure standout wide receiver, is starting to narrow things down. "I really didn't give it a whole lot of thought during the season," said Lewis, who ran a 10.64 in the 100 meters as a junior last spring. "But then after seeing all those guys at the all-star game in Texas, I started to think more and more about where I might want to go. "Now is the time when the coaches can start coming in and out of the house and everything," he said. "It's a good problem to have because these guys really want me but it sometimes gets in the way if I want to just hang out with my friends or whatever, you know." Lewis said he's narrowed his list down to four schools and he's only made a visit to one of them so far. "I went to SC and had a blast," he said. "They have a great program, it's close to home, and they've really started to turn things around. But that doesn't mean they're my favorite or anything. I need to check out these other three schools before deciding on anything." So who will be getting the next three visits? "I leave for Arizona State this weekend," he said. "Then next weekend I go to Miami and then the last weekend in January, I'm going to Florida State. That'll give me four visits back to back. I should be able to draw up some pretty good comparisons." Lewis said he really hasn't given a lot of thought into naming a favorite. "I've had a lot of different opinions on that," he said. "But they change. I really like all four of these ones. It'll be out of them and it'll depend on how well I fit into each of them." -- Mike Bakas, TheInsidersRecruiting.com
Linebacker down to two teamsLinebacker Bruce Davis called HeartlandRecruiting.com on Wednesday afternoon to give us an update. First, he wanted to talk about his visit to UCLA. "It was great, really amazing," Davis said. "I really like the staff and felt very comfortable there. My dad [Bruce, Sr., who also played for UCLA] was very excited when I called and told him that I was making a visit out there." So are there any more visits in Davis' future? "Nah, that's it for me," he said. "I have it down to UCLA and Colorado. I'll probably decide a few days before signing day." -- David Garvin, HeartlandRecruiting.com
West’s No. 2 OL makes it official with USCOn Wednesday, Tustin (Calif.) offensive lineman Sam Baker told USC offensive line coach Tim Davis he was ready to be a Trojan. Baker was planning to take an unofficial trip to the school Tuesday with his father but they weren't able to make it. "I have known for a while I wanted to go there but my dad wanted to talk to coach [Pete] Carroll before I did anything," Baker said. "He went there this morning and coach Davis came by the school. My dad just called me and said I had the go-ahead so I was able to tell coach Davis in person that I was a Trojan. "I'm very excited right now. USC has been where I've wanted to go since last summer when my teammate Ricky Miller [now at Fresno St.] got me interested in them because he was looking at going there. After the year they had and the great recruiting class they're bringing in, it made me want to go to USC even more. "The coaches are great and I love everyone on the staff. They're bringing me in as a guard and told me I have a chance to start if I work hard enough on my pass blocking. We don't pass at all at Tustin, but I'll be working hard on that the rest of the year and then once I sign, I plan to go up to the school about three days a week to work out and watch spring practice. They also said they want me to learn all three positions so I can be one of the top backups in case anyone goes down with an injury." Baker is an elite player nationally and one of the top offensive linemen in the country. We have him rated as the No. 2 OL in the West Coast behind only Drew Radovich, who also has committed to USC. -- Greg Biggins, PacWestFootball.com
Top Georgia WR Names Two FavoritesEmmanual Harrell, from LaGrange, Ga., is one of the top receivers in the south. He is a member of the BorderWars.com 101 Team, and while he likely won't qualify academically, several schools will try to sign and place him at a prep school or junior college. LSU is on deck. "I'm going to LSU this weekend," Harrell said. "I have Arkansas on the Jan. 24 and MTSU on Jan. 31. I'd have to say right now that my two favorites are Arkansas and MTSU, but we'll see how it goes when I get back from LSU." -- Scott Kennedy, BorderWars.com More Recruiting Hot News from TheInsiders.com |
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