• Broadcasts
  • Interviews
  • Gridiron Now
  • Straight Talk No Chaser

The Sports Den

  • Home
  • About
  • Partners
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Updates
  • Gridiron Now
  • Will Florida State Look to California to Fill Out 2018 Recruiting Class?
February 8, 2023

Will Florida State Look to California to Fill Out 2018 Recruiting Class?

Will Florida State Look to California to Fill Out 2018 Recruiting Class?

by James Coleman / Thursday, 18 January 2018 / Published in Gridiron Now

“The world is mine, fool get back. Don’t mess with my stack the gauge is racked. I’m ‘bout to drop the bomb, I’m the West Coast don. Big fish in this small pond!” Ice Cube, “Westside Connection”

One of the key elements to consider when hiring a head football coach is his connections. It’s why you see coaches spend time in different regions of the US in order to develop more widespread relationships in various recruiting hotbeds.

Florida is already the hottest of hotbeds with an unreal 10 percent of eligible student-athletes going on to sign FBS offers, but this year, FSU was behind the eight ball with the previous staff not even offering some of the state’s best prospects. Taggart and his staff have made up a lot of ground in their short time on campus, but started too late, too far behind, and too many of Florida’s best players are spoken for or anticipated to go elsewhere.

The Taggart Effect is a nationwide phenomenon, however, and he is using his relationships to reach into other hotbeds, including California.

Florida State hasn’t had much success in California lately.

Outside of Malik Henry’s brief stay, technically, FSU hasn’t had a Cali prospect sign since some guy named Joe Tonga in 2008. That’s a hell of a drought.

Since 1999, FSU seems to only have signed seven players total from out West. Fans of Florida high school football would say, “so what;” I would say that lack of geographic diversity can be dangerous. California schools have taken some of Florida’s best players during that same time and even Miami has had great players from out West make an impact for them: DJ Williams – straight beast.

RELATED: Did Willie Taggart make the right move with his new offensive coordinator?

FSU’s track record with California guys was solid at one point.

Travis Johnson and Lorenzo Booker went on to the NFL and Kenny O’Neal had a good track career. Chris Rix wasn’t as bad as folks think, he just couldn’t beat those great Miami teams; he tore up Florida. Dominic Robinson was a contributor, switching from defense to play wide receiver.

The talent Florida State has mined out West was solid, but with the emergence of USC, UCLA, Oregon, Stanford – Pac 12 football in general – it has been tougher to get Cali kids to leave there.

“Whenever there’s a drought get your umbrellas out because that’s when I brainstorm,” Jay Z best described what Taggart is currently doing.

When Taggart came to FSU, he offered Oregon targets, not only the Florida kids, the West Coast ones as well. Taggart almost got a clean sweep, only missing out on Brendan Radley-Hiles (Bookie is from Cali but played at IMG). He landed Jaiden Woodbey (four-star safety from Los Angeles) and Camren McDonald (four-star tight end from Long Beach).

I think he has a realistic shot of bringing Jalen Hall (four-star wide receiver from Long Beach) and a puncher’s chance at Olaijah Griffin (four-star safety from Mission Viejo).

Some anticipate FSU will sign four California players in this class and another in next year’s. That would make as many California kids in two years as the Noles have had in almost the last 20.

Having numbers matters. Having multiple recruiting areas to draw from matters.

When I played at FSU, we had the Cali guys, but we also had an infusion of talent from Texas, which created a pipeline. From Tallahassee, we had a Lincoln and North Florida Christian pipeline. We’ve always had Miami guys. If Taggart lands as many California guys as I think, you can see that he’ll have inroads for years to come there.

Not being able to lock down Florida is a problem in 2018, but in Taggart’s effort to claw the Seminoles back into the Top 10 or 15 this year, why not try finding gold out West?

RELATED: How many of Florida’s top remaining uncommitted prospects will sign with FSU?

Article Originally Appeared on Gridiron Now: http://gridironnow.com/will-florida-state-look-california-fill-2018-recruiting-class/

  • Tweet
Tagged under: Chris Rix, Florida State Seminoles, Jaiden Woodbey, Jalen Hall, James Coleman, Lorenzo Booker, Olaijah Griffin, Travis Johnson, Willie Taggart

About James Coleman

James played fullback at Florida State University where he was a three-year starter and a member of 3 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships between the years of 2002–2005. James was the go to short yardage back and scored 10 career touchdowns while playing in 46 career games at FSU. He used his skills to realize his dream of playing in the NFL while playing with the New Orleans Saints for one season. James received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science in only three years. James used sports performance training during his high school and college years before coming into the field after his playing career was finished.

What you can read next

Seminoles May Not Beat Miami, but F(orget) You if You Think They’ll be Blown Out
Bobby Bowden-era mat drills made a difference in those Florida State teams
Willie Taggart Working Wonders on FSU Recruiting Class, with Best yet to Come

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Broadcast 11-19-18

    Denny and James complete the post mordem of the...
  • Broadcast 11-18-18

    Denny and James break down the Jaguars’ l...
  • Seminole Fans Should Keep an Eye on Class of 2019 RB DJ Williams

    I typically stay out of the crowded recruiting ...
  • Florida State’s Blueprint for Beating Boston College

    FSU enters Saturday’s contest against Boston Co...
  • Broadcast 11-15-18

    Denny and James discuss the Jaguars matchup wit...

Categories

  • Blog
  • Gridiron Now
  • Interviews
  • Radio
  • Straight Talk No Chaser

Contest powered by:
Contest Burner

INFO

  • Home
  • About
  • Partners
  • Contact
  • Events
  • Shop

Recent Broadcasts

  • Broadcast 11-19-18

  • Broadcast 11-18-18

  • Broadcast 11-15-18

  • Broadcast 11-12-18

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

By subscribing to our mailing list you will always be update with the latest news from us.

We never spam!

Straight Talk No Chaser

  • STNC Episode #11

  • STNC Episode #10

  • STNC Episode #9

  • STNC Episode #8

  • GET SOCIAL
The Sports Den

© 2015. All rights reserved. Designed by Remarkable Marketers

TOP