http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1994-02-01/sports/9402010056_1_four-dade-recruits-fsu-miami-edison
TALLAHASSEE — There aren't any palm trees around Doak Campbell Stadium. The only sand near Florida State's campus is what's trucked in for construction purposes.
Bright lights, big city... Tallahassee is not.
North Florida compares to South Florida in few ways, but FSU's football program increasingly mines the state's rich vein of talent around Miami.
Following the Seminoles' first national championship, their 1994 recruiting class should display as much of a South Florida flavor as any in recent memory.
When high school football players make their college choices official by signing binding national letters-of-intent Wednesday, no fewer than four highly touted players from Dade County are expected to sign with the Seminoles.
Southridge linebacker Lamont Green, USA Today's Defensive Player of the Year, Miami Beach defensive back Samari Rolle, Miami Springs defensive back Troy Sanders and Northwestern receiver Magic Benton should join FSU's South Florida contingent. FSU also got a commitment from Lake Worth safety Deon Humphrey.
All have given non-binding oral commitments.
"I think what you're looking at is the success of Bobby Bowden," Seminoles recruiting coordinator Ronnie Cottrell said. "We have two consecutive bowl appearances in Miami at the Orange Bowl and one national championship. That's appealing to people."
Time was, Florida State didn't care much about recruiting in Dade and Broward counties. Too far away, too close to the University of Miami and too metropolitan went the theory.
More and more, FSU pried high school prospects out of South Florida. Recently, those athletes made the Seminoles happy they took time to recruit heavily 500 miles away.
Northwestern's Marvin Jones and St. Thomas' Sterling Palmer, members of FSU's 1990 recruiting class, already are in the NFL.
Still at FSU, in no particular order, are starters Devin Bush (Hialeah-Miami Lakes), Tyrant Marion (Ely) and Jesus Hernandez (Miami Jackson), not to mention up-and-coming Danny Kanell (Westminster), James Colzie (South Miami), Dulack Guerrier (Miami Edison) and Zack and Henri Crockett (Ely).
If it appears the Seminoles have had their way around Miami, appearances deceive.
Dade and Broward counties operate 70-plus football-playing schools. Do the math: 70 schools with an average of 30 students per team equals 2,100 players.
If 1 percent are worth of college grants-in-aid, that's 21 players.
"With the NCAA shrinking our total number of scholarships, those players can't all go to the same place," Cottrell said.
"All the kids you recruit have a lot of respect for the state schools," said FSU offensive coordinator Mark Richt, who recruits Broward and Palm Beach counties. "They all think playing for any one of us is a pretty good situation, but you have to like one over the others. We've done a good job recently, but Miami still gets most of their players from that area."
In-state rosters prove Richt's point. In 1993, the Seminoles listed 16 players from Dade and Broward counties in their media guide. Florida showed 13. Miami had 32.