Drew Faurot grew up in Tallahassee in the shadows of the Florida State baseball program.

Much of his time growing up was spent hearing stories about his father Adam’s time as a member of the FSU baseball program in the mid-1990s and attending games at Dick Howser Stadium.

And yet, Drew didn’t originally follow in his father’s footsteps. After a prolific high school career in both baseball and football, Faurot elected to leave his hometown to begin a baseball-focused career at UCF last fall.

After a year away, though, the timing lined up this time. UCF head coach Greg Lovelady was dismissed May 27 and Faurot entered the transfer portal shortly after. It just so happened that FSU was in need of middle infielders and Faurot, coming off a very impactful freshman season with the Knights, fit the bill.

Faurot announced last Thursday he’s transferring to play for the Seminoles. Of FSU’s five transfer additions announced so far, whether Faurot is the most impactful is up for debate, although his case is compelling. What is not up for debate is that his transfer addition is the most sentimental as he returns home to play for his hometown team and follow in his father’s footsteps as an FSU baseball legacy.

“It means a lot (to play for FSU). I like it because I know it matters a lot to a lot of people there,” Faurot told the Osceola. “Growing up there, the fan base is awesome, everybody's into it and I think that's always something that people love playing for. I'm really looking forward to it.”

Faurot came out of Florida High as the No. 128 overall prospect, No. 28 shortstop and No. 26 prospect from Florida in the 2022 class according to Perfect Game. While FSU was recruiting the local product along with a host of other schools, Faurot felt the most connection with the UCF staff.

“It wasn’t necessarily that FSU didn’t recruit him. He just felt like (UCF) was a better fit for him at the time…” Adam Faurot told the Osceola. “UCF had committed him from Perfect Game Junior Nationals. He did well there and they were like, ‘You’re our guy.’ They made him a priority and he felt like if I’m their guy then let me go where I feel good about making an immediate impact.”

After a high school career balancing baseball and football – Drew threw for 1,079 yards, ran for 538 and accounted for 17 total touchdowns as a senior quarterback at Florida High in 2021 – this past year was his first focusing solely on baseball.

That made a significant difference for Faurot, who set a UCF freshman record with 15 home runs this past season to go along with 51 runs batted in, 41 runs scored and a .252 batting average.

“I would say just early on, my dad being a big part of my baseball career,” Faurot said when asked what helped him make such an instant impact at the college level. “I think I've had a lot of great coaches, a lot of great people in my life that have led me in the right direction as far as what to be working on and that really helped me set a good trajectory for myself at UCF.”

It wasn’t a perfect freshman season by any means. Faurot did strike out a team-high 78 times and posted a .917 fielding percentage with 17 errors. But through that, he learned some valuable lessons during his first season in college baseball which he will now carry over to FSU.

“I learned a lot just about taking care of my body playing that many games because it was the first time I played a full year of baseball,” Faurot said. “Coming from playing football and baseball in high school, it was definitely an adjustment for my body. I think the reps really helped me a lot and I think I'm just a different player than I was going into it now for the better.”

Adam Faurot, who hit .331 over the 1995 and 1996 seasons at FSU and made a pair of College World Series appearances with the Seminoles, made quite a few trips to Orlando and on the road to see his son play for the Knights this past season. He would frequently watch games with his former teammates and hear one common refrain from these former Seminoles.

“I have a bunch of good buddies that I played with at FSU so I never heard the end of it (with them saying), ‘Man, it sure would be nice if he was in garnet and gold,’” Adam said. “A good buddy of mine, Mickey Lopez, we were sitting together when UCF played Miami down in Miami and he (jokingly said), ‘He needs to be in Tallahassee.’”

That may not have happened were it not for the series of events that followed. But after Lovelady was fired at UCF, FSU was one of the first schools to reach out to Drew when he entered the transfer portal May 30. Even at the onset of his recruitment, he knew a major similarity between himself and FSU head coach Link Jarrett.

“I had quite a bit (of familiarity),” Drew Faurot said. “Coach Jarrett, playing at the same high school as me and then also being a switch-hitting shortstop, I found a lot of similarity with him.”

Adam Faurot, having arrived at FSU in 1995 as a junior college transfer just after Jarrett finished his four-year playing career with the Seminoles, had more familiarity with the FSU head coach.

“I did know him because I’m from Blountstown and every time I’d come over to Tallahassee to a football game with my dad or something, I'd see Link taking groundballs on the Florida High field,” Adam said. “It was kind of like I knew more about him than I knew him early. And then as I played at FSU and I think we were both playing pro ball at the same time and then he moved back to Tallahassee before he started coaching, I always really liked him. He's just a good guy and I always thought that he was a very focused person.”

All the good things that the Faurot family thought of Jarrett were proven correct as the FSU head coach further recruited Drew as a transfer portal prospect.

“He told Drew that he had watched every groundball and every swing he took during the entire season. I was pretty impressed with that,” Adam said of Jarrett. “Link being a switch-hitting shortstop and a hard worker, Drew's like that. I felt like Link would match Drew’s focus for himself. I just don’t think it could be a better fit for Drew and Drew thought that, too.”

Growing up, Drew fondly remembers the frequent occasions when his dad would regale him with stories of his two-year career with the FSU baseball program before his four-year professional career in the minor leagues.

In the time since deciding he would transfer to FSU, those stories have come up again and taken on a different meaning for Drew.

“I think since I recently committed to FSU, I think we've been talking more about it and just kind of how much it means to people in Tallahassee, stuff I've known my whole life. It’s really cool talking to him about that…” Drew said. “He just wanted me to do what I thought was going to be best for me. Whatever decision I made, he was going to be happy with, but yeah, he was really excited when I told him that’s where I wanted to go.”

“He was excited. I've only seen Drew really excited in football. He would get emotional in football and in baseball, he was just level. I was excited because he was excited, really,” Adam added. “He wants to play in the big leagues and he wants to make good decisions on the way there because it can matter…I feel like being home, having a familiar environment, being able to play in front of his family, but also his community where he went to school and what it means to this community to have a program that's doing well, he knows what that is like. I think he wanted to be a part of that as well as his own development at the same time. It’s both of those worlds colliding.”

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