Florida State offered 2025 defensive end prospect Nicolas Clayton in May. And despite his relationships being relatively new with head coach Mike Norvell and defensive end coach John Papuchis, the Seminoles have placed themselves firmly in Clayton's top 5, which also includes Nebraska, UCF, Wisconsin and Tulane.
And it won't be long before all five of those schools know where they stand with the Gainesville (Fla.) Buchholz product. Clayton plans to take the next 48 hours to sit down and look at his options and plans to announce which school he will sign with in December on Saturday.
"I want to say it went really good," began Clayton when asked how is visit with FSU went this week. "Just being there, seeing Coach Norvell's energy all the time, I really loved everything about it. Being around Coach JP (defensive end coach John Papuchis), seeing him showing me how I fit in with this defense and with this team."
Norvell's energy on these official visits has always been something prospects have continually talked about and according to Clayton is one of the things that impressed him most about his time in Tallahassee.
"I would like to say, definitely Coach Norvell's energy," Clayton continued. "I've never had a coach do that, how much energy he has all the time. And I've asked players, I've asked coaches if he is like that every single day, and he is. So I definitely believe that."
Despite being offered late, by today's standards, the relationships he has formed with Norvell and Papuchis were the catalyst to getting him in for an official visit.
"I would say how much they came and talked to me and how much they really showed that they wanted me," said Clayton. "That definitely showed a lot of energy towards me, so I wanted to give them a chance. They're a team in Florida and I live here and only two hours down the road, so I definitely wanted to give them a chance.
"It's definitely appealing," said Clayton of the opportunity to stay in state to play in front of his family. "My family is a Florida (family), they're Florida, but it doesn't matter to me now that I'm in the recruiting (process). I don't really have a favorite team anymore. It kind of just depends on where I am going. And my dad's side of the family is FSU fans. So, I have both sides of the family kind of coming after me. So, I just definitely wanted to take a chance and come see what you guys are talking about."
One of the questions Clayton wanted to get answered on his official visit was how the defensive coaching staff plans on utilizing him if he were to come to FSU.
"I just asked (what) different kinds of packages they have in their defense and stuff like that and see how I would fit," Clayton said. "And I would fit really well because that's how my defense is. So I definitely think I would fit in really well here."
He also had questions about how much of a priority he was for FSU, but Norvell and Papuchis seemed to have answered that question.
"So, Monday I was kind of coming in here thinking that I wouldn't be the main priority, but they definitely showed that I was a priority to them...they definitely showed that I will be a priority. So at the end of this, I definitely think this is a good place and really nice place to be if I were to commit here. I would definitely consider myself family here, if I was (to commit)."
Clayton plans to spend the two-hour ride home and the next two days to discuss his options with his family.
"I don't know just yet to be honest with you, because we sit down as a family and kind of talk over that," answered Clayton when asked where FSU ranked with the aforementioned schools. "I would say that my decision into committing will be June 22, so it's coming up soon, it'll be around Saturday. That's when our decision will be."
Clayton had plans to take an official visit to Illinois this weekend but informed the Illini coaching staff that he was cancelling his visit.
He said the relationships he has formed with each school will be the most important factor in his decision-making process.
"I wouldn't say just yet," answered Clayton when asked if FSU or any of the other four schools had identified themselves as the leader coming out of his visit to Tallahassee. "Pretty much every teams kind of have the same thing, the same mindset. So it's kind of just based off of the relationship's I've built with them. I've built pretty good relationships with everybody. But, like I said, I kind of just want to sit down with the family and kind of distribute everything that I've seen and witnessed and went through with those teams."
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