1/1/2023 football Edit

Florida State lands Virginia DB transfer Fentrell Cypress

Patrick Burnham • TheOsceola

Football/Recruiting Analyst

Florida State's highly-touted transfer class keeps getting better.

The Seminoles landed another huge transfer pickup Sunday with the addition of Virginia cornerback transfer Fentrell Cypress. He announced the news on his Twitter and it was confirmed by FSU shortly thereafter.

Cypress, who is 6-foot and 184 pounds, was one of the most highly coveted players in the NCAA transfer portal. He is currently ranked by Rivals as the 25th-best overall player and No. 4 defensive back in the portal. He'll arrive at FSU with two years of eligibility left.

“This is another fantastic addition to our program,” FSU coach Mike Norvell said via press release. “Fentrell is a great player who possesses the unique combination of length and athleticism. He has a huge upside and brings a proven track record of consistent playmaking into our defensive backfield. He has collected incredible experience at the college level while proving himself to be a smart and disciplined player whose success has shown up on the field, in the classroom and in the community. Fentrell is a tremendous fit for the Nole Family as we continue on our CLIMB moving forward.”

Cypress was named to the All-ACC second team for his play this season after making 39 tackles and totaling 15 passes broken up in nine games.

Pro Football Focus graded Cypress at 87.8 for the 2022 season (No. 8 among FBS cornerbacks) with a coverage grade of 87.6. PFF says he did not allow a touchdown this past season and allowed just 18 catches for 179 yards on 40 targets. Considering FSU's coverage problems at times this season, that's another significant need addressed through the portal.

In 18 games over four seasons at UVA, Cypress totaled 57 tackles and one interception. He signed with Virginia out of Rock Hill (S.C.) Northwestern High. The former Cavalier made an official visit to FSU in December. At that time, he was unsure whether he would be signing before January.

FSU beat out some premier programs to land Cypress' commitment. The only other visit he took was to UCLA, but LSU, USC, Ohio State and Tennessee all tried hard to get him on campus for a visit.

Cypress is FSU's fourth top-40 transfer pickup in this year's cycle according to the Rivals portal rankings. He's just behind Shorter tight end transfer Kyle Morlock (No. 23) and ahead of Penn State running back transfer Caziah Holmes (No. 36) and South Carolina tight end transfer Jaheim Bell (No. 38).

He becomes FSU's sixth defensive back in this recruiting class along with five incoming freshmen in Edwin Joseph, Conrad Hussey, Kenton Kirkland, Ja'Bril Rawls and Quindarrius Jones. Of those, though, he's the most likely one to contend for a starting spot immediately.

Pat Burnham on Cypress: FSU and Mike Norvell continue to strike it rich through the portal, having landed another all-conference standout. Cypress will compete right away for a starting role at one of FSU's three cornerback spots. Of course, the worst case scenario is he gives FSU some experienced depth at cornerback and will provide leadership to the defensive back room.

Curt Weiler on Cypress: Quite a few things to like about this take. There's a reason so many elite programs wanted him. He has long arms for his size and uses them effectively in coverage on a consistent basis, keeping close enough to make catches tougher with his length and breaking up quite a few passes. He's also physical against the run, much like returning FSU starter Renardo Green.