Why Florida State Being Second In Recruiting Matters
In the age of the transfer portal, finishing second in a player recruitment matters.
“There is no prize for second place in recruiting”. That quote has been bandied about by many folks who cover high school recruiting for a living. For many years, they were correct. High school recruiting has been a winner take all game for the vast majority of its existence. A player transferring schools wasn’t common and even if they did, they would have to sit a year. The graduate transfer rule remedied this to some degree but not enough to make an overall impact. That all changed with the creation of the transfer portal in 2018 and the subsequent rules and regulations that followed.
The NCAA created the transfer portal database to streamline the process for athletes to transfer between member institutions. The process is simple enough. A player announces his intention to transfer, the school has two days to place him in the portal, and other member schools contact said player to gauge their interest about visiting their school. Three years later, the NCAA voted to give all athletes a one time transfer exemption. This meant that an athlete could transfer to another school without having to sit for a year. Needless to say, the impact on the sport has been massive.
Newly hired coaching staffs now have the means to build rosters that are capable of having success immediately. I believe no staff has used the transfer portal more effectively than Coach Mike Norvell and the Florida State football staff. Coach Norvell and his staff used to the portal to get a competitive roster on the field in early years, and to build a championship contender in recent years.
In this new era of college football, finishing second in a player recruitment does not mean you’ve lost it. If anything, it may just mean delayed gratification. Florida State has already seen the results of how finishing second in a recruitment matters. FSU landed Marvin Jones Junior out of the portal after finishing second in his high school recruitment. The same goes for Jalen Brown who recently committed as well. FSU has even gotten Earl Little Jr. on campus which was another second place recruitment. If he elects to transfer to FSU, it is just more proof of concept.
Is there no prize for second place in recruiting? Maybe that is still true to a certain extent, but perhaps the prize is just a delayed reward.