Tears Nole Tears (“Offcial”)

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I don’t think they’re prepared how hard they’re gonna crater after Travis, Coleman, & Co. are gone. They’ve got 85% of their offensive production from last year coming back, and most of those guys are gone after this year. They’ve averaged the 20th ranked class the past three years.

They haven’t done the work in high school recruiting to sustain success long term. Take a look at Mel Tucker to see what happens when 1 portal class doesn’t work out.

They have a good chance of being a double digit win team this year. I think they’re a 7-win team in 2024 with how their roster’s looking it will be.
This. They have a one year window to make a run. Norvell hasn’t recruited well enough to replace half the guys that are gone after 2023. You can only patch so many holes with transfers.
 
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I will say, it makes for a pretty interesting experiment at the very least. The consensus until now has been that in order to maintain long term success and win at the highest levels, you HAVE to recruit elite high school players. It’s clear the FSU is never going to sign an elite recruiting class. (If they can’t crack the top 10 this year after Norvell’s best season, they’re never going to). Can you just keep going heavy in the portal, year after year and build multi year success? Nobody’s done it yet in the portal era. At least nobody with championship aspirations. FSU, as much as I hate to say it, is one of the programs capable of winning a national championship. (Most teams never will, even in their best season) But can they do it without being a big time recruiting school? Probably not but at least it’s interesting
 
I will say, it makes for a pretty interesting experiment at the very least. The consensus until now has been that in order to maintain long term success and win at the highest levels, you HAVE to recruit elite high school players. It’s clear the FSU is never going to sign an elite recruiting class. (If they can’t crack the top 10 this year after Norvell’s best season, they’re never going to). Can you just keep going heavy in the portal, year after year and build multi year success? Nobody’s done it yet in the portal era. At least nobody with championship aspirations. FSU, as much as I hate to say it, is one of the programs capable of winning a national championship. (Most teams never will, even in their best season) But can they do it without being a big time recruiting school? Probably not but at least it’s interesting
Their absolute ceiling is the national championship tournament, where they would get obliterated by a Georgia or Alabama.
 
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I will say, it makes for a pretty interesting experiment at the very least. The consensus until now has been that in order to maintain long term success and win at the highest levels, you HAVE to recruit elite high school players. It’s clear the FSU is never going to sign an elite recruiting class. (If they can’t crack the top 10 this year after Norvell’s best season, they’re never going to). Can you just keep going heavy in the portal, year after year and build multi year success? Nobody’s done it yet in the portal era. At least nobody with championship aspirations. FSU, as much as I hate to say it, is one of the programs capable of winning a national championship. (Most teams never will, even in their best season) But can they do it without being a big time recruiting school? Probably not but at least it’s interesting

I’ve made this post numerous times in the past year. They’re a fascinating case study going forward.
 
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This is whats going to happen when you have a HC that mostly prioritizes the portal, and doesn’t have the relationships, nor knows how to recruit HS.

You can’t keep neglecting HS players in Florida. Gotta find the balance.

To be fair, they're not neglecting them, the program is just radioactive to them.

Norvell is a horrible crooter, and the only dudes he brought it who know Florida are 900 year old O'Dell, ornery *** Dugans, and Randy, who is beyond clueless.

So I actually somewhat commend them for realizing early on that this dude has no shot recruiting HS players, so they're using their money to pay their good players to stay, and to attract portal kids from smaller schools who want to play in a good offense. I just don't know if you can build a very good, sustaining program this way. Nobody has ever done it, but we never had the portal in the way we have it today. So maybe you can, maybe you can't. But if he does, it'll be the first time in CFB history anyone has won at a significant level without recruiting elite HS classes.
 
To be fair, they're not neglecting them, the program is just radioactive to them.

Norvell is a horrible crooter, and the only dudes he brought it who know Florida are 900 year old O'Dell, ornery *** Dugans, and Randy, who is beyond clueless.

So I actually somewhat commend them for realizing early on that this dude has no shot recruiting HS players, so they're using their money to pay their good players to stay, and to attract portal kids from smaller schools who want to play in a good offense. I just don't know if you can build a very good, sustaining program this way. Nobody has ever done it, but we never had the portal in the way we have it today. So maybe you can, maybe you can't. But if he does, it'll be the first time in CFB history anyone has won at a significant level without recruiting elite HS classes.


I think that this is a very relevant commentary, that Norvell has simply not surrounded himself with strong recruiters.

You know, they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting different outcomes.

Here is a 4-year listing of the F$U assistant coaches, from 2020 through 2023.

2020-----------------------------------------------------2021--------2022----------------------------------------------------------------2023--------------
Kenny Dillingham – OC/QBsSameAlex Atkins - OC/OLsSame
Adam Fuller – DCSameSame, but now Co-DC with RandySame
John Papuchis – ST/DEsSameSameSame
Chris Thomsen – TEsSameSameSame
Odell Haggins – DTsSameSameSame
Alex Atkins – OLSameTony Tokarz - QBsSame
Ron Dugans – WRsSameSameSame
David Johnson – RBs/RCSameSameSame
Chris Marve – LBsSameRandy Shannon - Co-DC/LBsSame
Marcus Woodson – DBsSameSamePatrick Surtain - DBs


---Kenny Dillingham left to be the head coach at Arizona State.
---Chris Marve left to be the DC at Virginia Tech.
---Marcus Woodson left to be the Co-DC at Arkansas.

Other than that, Norvell has rolled out the same staff every single year, with no changes, and with the same crappy high school recruiting results.

Oh, and the F$U fans are already complaining about Surtain.
 
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The funny thing is that no one is noticing - Miami has more portal players this year than FSU (by one).

I meant overall and their high impact players. Verse is probably going Top 5 (portal). Johnny Wilson is a possible 1st rounder (portal). Coleman is getting a ton of pub (portal). Benson is RB1 on some NFL draft boards (portal). Their starting TE was one of the most sought after portal guys, they got him. The UVA corner was wanted by everyone in the portal, they got him. Even Travis is a portal kid, although he was there when Norvell got there. They've been very successful in the portal, because they're prioritizing it, realizing Norvell has no shot to beat out the elite schools for HS kids.

Can you compete for championships annually with this blueprint? Nobody ever has in the past, but again this hasn't been a feasible strategy in the past because of the rule that you had to sit out a year after a transfer. I'm very interested to see their trajectory for the next 2-3 years. They're doing things differently than almost anybody else right now, and certainly differently than anybody else ever has traditionally.
 
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