Spring Recruiting Tour stop No. 1: Madison County

MADISON, Fla. -- It has been an extremely eventful -- and incredibly successful -- few months for Travis Jay.

In December, the two-way standout (defensive back and quarterback) led his Madison County Cowboys to their second consecutive state championship. Then he played in the Under Armour All-America game in January and signed with Florida State in February. Then he led his high school basketball team to its first ever state championship in March.

"It meant a lot winning three titles at Madison," Jay said. "It was a perfect ending for my career here."

Now, as he prepares to enroll at FSU and begin his highly anticipated freshman season, it's time for some much-needed rest and some additional time to focus on finishing up his academics.

"I took a little break after signing day to rest my Achilles' since it was a little sore, but nothing really that bad. Just sore," the four-star defensive back said. "I've been locked in with finishing everything on my school work here at Madison. I've also been working out on my own, and I should be doing more DB training the next few weeks."

When he signed with Florida State over Florida, Tennessee and others, Jay still had a bit of work to do to make sure he qualified academically. Since that time, he has made that his primary focus, and everything appears to be well on track.

"I'm good to go. I got the qualifying test score," Jay said. "With my GPA, I just needed to stay locked on it and not let anything drop. I've been really locked in and ready now to get over to FSU. It was just another obstacle I needed to get done. Coach Coe (Madison football coach Mike Coe) always taught me to attack school like I did the football field."

Not one to take any chances, Jay say he's taking the standardized test again in hopes of earning a higher score, just in case his grade-point average drops a little.

Jay didn't get many opportunities to visit Tallahassee to watch spring practice, but he said he heard all about the impressive debut of fellow 2019 signee Akeem Dent. The standout cornerbacks grew close during the recruiting process, and Jay said he can't wait to line up together in the Seminoles' secondary.

"I've heard he's doing really good, but I'm not surprised," Jay said. "I feel like it's going to be even bigger when I get there. We both come from similar backgrounds because we played in small cities. People forget he's from Pahokee, so we have that in common. But even more so, our minds are similar in how we compete.

"I don't care who you are ... I'm going to ball and make plays. Akeem has that same mindset, and that's what we wanted to show [during] the week at the Under Armour practice."

Jay also is fired up about the changes the Seminoles are making on defense from a scheme standpoint.

"We have improved a lot," the Rivals250 defensive back said. "I went for a practice. They have changed the scheme up to make it easier for players to go out there and ball, make plays. You can see it with how much FSU is attacking. They are going to run a 3-4. And then with the DBs and linebackers, they are getting more freedom."

Jay is set to report to Florida State on June 12, and he said he will be bringing the same leadership and competitiveness that helped him win three state titles at Madison. He added that he has no doubt the Seminoles' 2019 class is going to help turn things around for head coach Willie Taggart.

"It's just about competing at a high level, but also have fun," Jay said. "You challenge, push your teammates every day, but understand it's a family and again have fun. That's what I did every day when I was at Madison. Just having energy brings positive motivation for people."