Willie Taggart has made it clear, through his words and actions, where Florida State's primary focus will be when it comes to recruiting.

Before the Seminoles spend a great deal of time and effort chasing prospects around the country, he wants his staff to spend most of its resources on targeting players in Florida and Georgia.

Fifteen of the Seminoles' 16 commitments for the class of 2020 come from those two states (the lone exception is Louisiana four-star athlete Ja'Khi Douglas). And in the 2019 class, there were 20 of 22 prospects from the states of Florida and Georgia.

The only potential problem with that approach is that it's become harder than ever for in-state schools to secure commitments from the elite prospects in the Sunshine State.

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Of the top 10 recruits in the state of Florida for 2020, only three have committed to in-state schools -- Miami has two of those commitments, and Florida State has one (receiver Malachi Wideman). Clemson actually has pledges from the No. 1 and No. 2 prospects in the state, and the others are going to Alabama, Georgia, Oregon and even Kentucky.

The story was very much the same in the 2019 recruiting cycle, when seven of the top 10 prospects went out of state. FSU got two of the remaining three (defensive backs Akeem Dent and Brendan Gant) and Florida got one, while Miami landed zero. Alabama, meanwhile, snatched up three of the Sunshine State's top 10, Georgia landed two, and Clemson and Penn State each grabbed one.

It's almost a complete reversal from a decade ago, when only a handful of top players would venture beyond the state lines.

In 2010, eight of the top 10 prospects in Florida signed with in-state schools. In each of the past five recruiting cycles, however, more than half of the top 10 have gone elsewhere.

"Now you're seeing schools like LSU, Ohio State, Alabama and Clemson be able to come into South Florida and recruit -- and recruit well -- and actually cherry pick some of the top talent," former Florida State linebacker Henri Crockett said. "Back when I was growing up, you either went to Florida, Miami or Florida State. That was your goal since you were a kid."

Crockett, who was in attendance at the ACC Kickoff event in Charlotte, N.C., this past week as a representative of the Orange Bowl Committee, said he hardly remembers coaches from outside of Florida spending much time at high school practices or games when he and his brother, Zach, were being recruited out of Pompano Beach in the early 1990s.

Colleges might have sent letters and made phone calls, but they knew better than to waste much time on the state's best prospects.