Ten most-needed recruits for FSU football to add to its 2026 recruiting class
INITIAL THOUGHTS
Florida State football did not finish the way that it wanted to during the 2024 season. It limped to the end of the year with a 2-10 record. That is not the standard of a program used to compete for conference and national championships.
The Seminoles are ready to turn the corner and gain sustainable success. This decade has been something that has not been as memorable as the tenure of Mike Norvell has been a rocky adventure of 3-6, 5-7, 10-3, 13-1, and 2-10 in five seasons.
There was a large majority of the fan base and general public that thought Norvell had everything going in the right direction as he was achieving more victories each year, but 2024 left most scratching their heads.
The head man knew that major changes had to be made. It was suddenly the biggest offseason that Mike Norvell has had since he has been in Tallahassee.
One of the major changes happened when Norvell decided to make six new coaching hires. This was relatively surprising to most as he was the voice of reason for continuity, unity, and a family environment in Tallahassee.
The coaching changes couldn’t have been easy for him as he developed lasting relationships with the various coaches and their families. However, this is a business, and Norvell has to do what’s best for the future of the program that wants to eat a W (in the words of the great Jameis Winston).
The previous regime valued the transfer portal (the current one still does), but it neglected high-school recruiting at times. When its first option went in a different direction, it often resulted in the transfer portal.
It is encouraging that the Seminoles finished on a high note within the 2025 recruiting cycle with flipping prospects such as LaJesse Harrold, Tylon Lee, and Shamar Arnoux. The new coaching staff did well with the circumstances as they finished with the 18th-best class, according to 247Sports Composite.
The 2025 recruiting cycle is over now, and it is time to navigate our attention to the 2026 version. The only high school prospects from the 2025 class that will be enrolling at Florida State would be preferred walk-ons.
With that being said, the Seminoles rank as the 14th-best recruiting class in the 2026 cycle. They have a ton of work to do if they hope to be one of the best classes in the country. It can be a daunting task to compete with the likes of Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, and others.
Florida State had its first set of bad news when five-star quarterback commit Brady Smigiel backed off of his pledge. Then, four-star signal-caller Bowe Bentley decided not to include the Seminoles in his final three schools list. Lastly, three-star defensive end Kamron Wilson committed to Syracuse, who was a high priority by the coaching staff.
This was something that made the fan base frustrated about Florida State football recruiting. In a light-hearted conversation from the hot topic that is the state of the situation, let’s discuss the ten most-needed recruits for Florida State football to add to its 2026 recruiting class.
FOUR-STAR QB JADEN O’NEAL
Florida State still does not have a quarterback in its 2025 class after five-star Brady Smigiel de-committed after offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn was hired by the Seminoles. I don’t blame Smigiel for seeing other options, with Malzahn’s calling card running the football.
The coaching staff had to scramble to offer other quarterback prospects in the 2025 cycle with four-star Bowe Bentley and four-star Landon Duckworth. Duckworth is trending to Ole Miss, which is his last official visit of the summer (technically not over). Four-star Bowe Bentley is down to LSU, Georgia, and Oklahoma for his final three schools list.
The Seminoles could keep in contact with Bentley also, but they just had him on an unofficial visit for Legacy Weekend. This is a bad sign since he recently visited and then dropped the list.
Speaking of a school that Bentley is interested in, Oklahoma, the Sooners are interested in Bentley. The program already has a quarterback committed to the program with four-star Jaden O’Neal from Mustang, Oklahoma. The Seminoles offered him back in February 2024, and he camped in Tallahassee in the summer of 2024.
If Bentley chooses Oklahoma, I would watch for O’Neal to flip to another school.
Florida State already has a running back prospect committed to the program in four-star rusher Amari Thomas from Marianna, Florida. He was a recruit that position coach David Johnson wanted to solidify in the class.
Thomas has the potential to take it the distance in a backfield. With the addition of offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, he loves to scheme around the idea of running the football which attracts highly-touted running backs.
Four-star Jae Lamar from Colquitt County High School in Moultrie, Georgia, is one of the better prospects at the position where he is a top-100 recruit in the 247Sports Composite rankings. The Seminoles hosted him for an unofficial visit for Legacy Weekend.
Then Florida State will have him on an official visit for the final weekend in June. The Seminoles’ coaching staff needs to knock the trip out of the park as the home state Georgia Bulldogs were crystalballed to acquire Lamar’s services last month.
