Florida State Seminoles Thread - Page 712
Naturally I might as well begin with the lone public commitment in WR Keyshawn Helton, who as I stated throughout the week I thought FSU would take him regardless of what the other targets on campus did. Helton is the type of player that FSU doesn't have a lot of and this staff fell in love with his exceptional speed, and dynamic play. Helton actually told me he was going to commit last night in a brief text message, but I wanted to give him his time. I don't think the actual offer was extended today, but I think he knew it was coming.
Let's stay at receiver where there was plenty of talent. WR Tre'Shaun Harrison had the longest visit out of everyone and that trip I'm told went extremely well per some people close to the recruitment and even official visit throughout the weekend. Yes Harrison rushed off to catch his flight, but I did notice Harrison's Mom give Taggart a very long Hug and the vibe I've gotten is that FSU should be getting good news there. Funniest part of today was when Harrison took off for the airport. FSU forgot to give him the LOI so we saw an FSU rep fly through Moore athletic center and race back to head out to the Airport. My vibe is that Harrison wants to do it his own way publicly, but I feel very good about that prediction to FSU.
I also got the vibe that WR Jordan Young looks quite good for FSU. He was rushed to his car by FSU receiver coach David Kelly right after the visit. I'm told by a few recruits that were on the visits that they also feel that Young will likely be picking the Noles when a decision is made. FSU side pretty much gave the same sort of vibe from what I got throughout the visit. Now I haven't confirmed that he told the staff yet, but I believe he was one of the Bat signals that Taggart sent out on twitter.I would call him likely to being in this class and he will certainly be added to our prediction list for Monday. I'm told he will announce, sign at 1:00 PM at his school.
Then there is QB James Foster, who gets the award for leaving in the best ride as a Van Limo showed up to scoop him, and the family up before departing. Foster left sporting the FSU visor and I even heard several congrats to Foster from his family as he climbed into the Limo. Not hard to read the tea leaves there, but I would say FSU should get good news from him on NSD as well. I started hearing very good things on Foster on Friday where he and his Mom had a very strong meeting with Taggart on things outside of football that really connected with the family. I think it's also pretty telling that Taggart was solely focused on Foster for a while compared to other schools recruiting multiple quarterbacks. One contact also told me that out of all the schools he officially visited FSU had the best, and most intense meeting with the head coach.
Now the two I'm not 100% sure on yet would be LB James Miller, and RB Anthony Grant. First with Miller he was joined on the visit by his father and several other family members. I think there is a good amount of confidence coming from FSU. But like I said in the Mill last night I don't think it's a guarantee he's in the class as his Mother and Father are not together anymore and sometimes that might have a negative effect depending on how active the Father has been throughout the recruitment. I still think he ends up at FSU though as the Noles are his dream school, he has a strong connection with Woodie and there's a good chance he would be playing with his two teammates from Armwood. I haven't heard who the main competition is with FSU, but do know Iowa, and Indiana are the main teams.
Then with Grant FSU did a tremendous job today as it showed in our updates on Grant. I don't think this kid sticks with the Vols so I will be changing my prediction at least on him. I think it comes down to FSU and North Carolina at the end of the day. Grant didn't really sound like a kid committed and he didn't even bring up the Vols that much. Now maybe he could pull a surprise and stick, but I just don't see it. FSU side felt very good about the connection with his family, and even more so off the field connection with Grant. Those close to this recruitment that has direct knowledge of the visit says Grant mentioned FSU feeling at home, and also mentioning this is a school he feels very comfortable with. But I don't have a final call there yet.
Closing out the official visitors there is OL Chaz Neal and OL Christian Meadows. I didn't really catch up with Meadows because the family was all packed up and ready to go. Not to mention he's already shut things down anyway. I was told that he's excited to sign and get over to FSU.
With Neal I was actually quite surprised how put together this kid was with his body. He's certainly a legit 6-foo-7 and said he weighed in at 255 pounds. Chaz says he will add 50 pounds and wants to be right near 300 pounds at FSU in playing the offensive tackle position. Said he wasn't sure if he would end up at FSU, but that Frey played a big role because they had a good relationship when he was at Michigan. Neal loves the Noles, but I also got the impression that he wanted to play defense at first, but knows the best position for him is at offensive tackle and he confirmed that to the media today. He has great size with his arms, shoulders, and even backside. So you could tell the added weight is not going to hinder him that much.
"I'm going to do whatever they want and need me to do here to help us win. Doesn't matter to me where I play. I trust Coach Frey a lot, but my focus is winning a national Title and I know Coach Frey to get me where I need to be, "said Neal.
Lastly, there is the Armwood duo of DE Malcolm Lamar, and WR Warren Thompson. Both, along with James Miller will sign at a 10 am ceremony at Armwood high school. I'll begin with Thompson. He, along with Lamar spent a lot of time with the team. Thompson really worked hard on QB James Foster I'm told. Talked about their connection together and how they can take this offense to another level.
On Lamar, I got the impression that he left FSU around 2:00 or 3:00 PM today so it was basically a 24 hour visit for him and I'm told he really loved this trip. FSU, along with myself feel very good that he will be in this class. Lamar showed up today with a lot of his family wearing a big FSU sweatshirt and got a chance to really see the culture at FSU one source told me and that was a big thing for him because I don't think he experienced that as much before. That was one of the biggest differences from his official visit. Family also loved the visit and per an FSU contact I hear FSU accomplished everything they wanted to do on this visit with him. I'm told he wants to do his decision on NSD, which is likely why we didn't get him either.
So that pretty much sums up the visits. I think this class is closing to being done. I think the only other target that is a good possibility for FSU would be DL Jamarcus Chatman, who visited Miami this past weekend. He had a great time and everything went well on the Canes hitting on the things they wanted to for this visit. I also know there are several that think he's likely going to pick the Canes, but for now I'm sticking with my FSU pick. I also hear that FSU is going to visit with him one more time for an in home trip before the big day on NSD.
I don't expect FSU to get LB Andrew Chatfield. This is not something where I've heard any new information but he's just not a name I've heard that much. I would say Miami or UF are more likely for him. Although Chatfield did talk a good bit with FSU on Sunday I'm told. If anything arises I will update you guys. I also never heard him confirmed as visiting Miami this weekend.
Based on the stuff I've covered for the 2018 class I think the Noles finish between 9-12 in the final rankings. But we'll see how things shake out. Whatever the final mark is this is a tremendous job by the FSU staff. I've also seen a much more positive and different vibe I've ever seen from FSU. There is a lot of passion from the people on campus, people that work inside FSU and a much bigger feel. Just thought I would share that.
