Florida State finished its 2020 recruiting class on Wednesday with 25 total signees and a couple of transfers. When the dust settled, FSU had an unremarkable No. 19 class ranking but was able to load up at several positions of need.
Here's five takes on the newest group of Seminoles, including which position groups benefited the most, FSU's relatively low recruiting ranking, which players have the best chance to contribute early, the geographic breakdown of the class and more.
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1. Filling needs to build foundation
Here are the sobering facts -- Florida State has suffered through two straight losing seasons and has an 18-20 record going back to 2017. Prior to that year, the Seminoles had five straight 10-win or better seasons, which included a national championship and three ACC titles.
The past few seasons have made it clear that FSU needs to rebuild the program from the ground up. A big part of building that foundation is making sure needs are met, and that there is adequate depth at every position. Meeting those needs was a huge goal for the 2020 recruiting class. Here are the positions of need that were prioritized by the new coaching staff.
Running Back: Four/Five added. Florida State played its bowl game without a healthy scholarship running back on the roster. With a huge group of newcomers, including a D-I transfer and a junior college transfer, there should be plenty of depth and fierce competition.
Offensive Line: Five added. Including graduate transfer Devontay Taylor, FSU will have five new linemen on the roster this fall. It’s anticipated that a sixth player will be added to this group through another transfer. If I’m adding up the numbers correctly, FSU should have 18 offensive linemen on scholarship this fall. Most importantly, many of those new linemen will be tackles, where there is a desperate need for capable bodies.
Linebacker: Four additions. Florida State added three signees and one transfer (Cornel Jones from Purdue). Linebacker has been a massively underachieving position the past few seasons, partly because of inadequate depth and talent. This past season, FSU had just 11 linebackers on scholarship and three were seniors and another was Jaiden Lars-Woodbey, who moved back to the secondary. To put that into perspective, Georgia had 15 linebackers on scholarship in 2019. The unit needed a major shot in the arm and got it with four new additions.
Florida State also needed help at quarterback and tight end and got it with two additions at each position.
