It almost felt like this visit to Florida State might never happen for five-star offensive tackle Julian Armella.

The Seminoles' legacy recruit, who is rated the No. 1 offensive lineman in the country by Rivals, had said he wanted to spend some time at Florida State when the recruiting period opened back up on June 1, but is seemed like he had more firm plans to visit LSU and other SEC schools.

That changed just past midnight on Monday, as Armella was one of the top attractions at FSU's "Midnight Madness" recruiting event.

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Not only did Armella come visit FSU, but it was the first school he checked out in person.

"Long time coming," Florida State coach Mike Norvell exclaimed when he greeted Armella outside of the Moore Athletics Center. "I'm doing great now that you are here."

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Like most recruits, Armella would have loved to have visited FSU at some point in the past 15 months, but all in-person recruiting had been shut down by the NCAA due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As it turns out, it was worth the wait.

"I'm so excited I got to experience it. I loved it all," Armella said. "Coach Norvell is doing a really good job, and the energy he showed tonight was phenomenal. I think he's a great guy, and I got a chance to meet him in person and we can take this relationship deeper."

Right when he got inside the Moore Center, Armella said, he could feel the positive vibe around the FSU program and the excitement from the other prospects and committed players.