Ranked sixth by Rivals, Florida State's 2017 recruiting class already was among the best in the nation. It improved Monday with running back Khalan Laborn moving up from a four-star to a five-star prospect in the final rankings.
FSU now has three five-star prospects in its class of 2017, the most since it signed five five-star players in 2015.
There's more to Laborn's rise than an aesthetic improvement to FSU's rankings, however. It also gives Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher the distinction of recruiting the most five-star running backs of any program in the nation since 2010, the year he took over the program.
Fisher and the Seminoles have now landed five five-star running backs -- a group that includes Cam Akers and Laborn for 2017 alone. The Seminoles also signed Jacques Patrick in 2015, Dalvin Cook in 2014 and James Wilder Jr. in 2011
The only school in the country with near that type of success is Alabama, which has landed four five-stars since 2010. After that, several schools, including Auburn, Georgia, Texas and Southern California, have had two.
"It's difficult because all these kids want immediate playing time. You have to temper their confidence with realism," Rivals national recruiting director Mike Farrell said of signing two five-star running backs in a single class. "The kids think they're all better than anyone else. They don't fear competition, but there are other schools in their ear saying, 'Why would you go there?'"
Since 2010, Rivals has granted 33 running backs the five-star distinction; FSU has landed 15.2 percent of them, while the other 120-plus schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision have combined to snare 84.8 percent. FSU and Alabama have combined to land 9 of those 33 (or 27.2 percent).
