Very few of us could have predicted that the Florida State football team's 2021 season would play out the way it did.

An 0-4 start. A stunning home loss to Jacksonville State. Then five wins in the next seven games, including surprising upsets at North Carolina and Boston College, along with a streak-busting victory against rival Miami.

There were other surprises as well, including many at the individual level -- especially if you use our Warchant Top 40 list from this past summer to judge.

With the benefit of hindsight, we are now taking a look back at some of the biggest hits and misses from our 2021 Warchant Top 40 -- our annual preseason list of the most important 40 players in the Seminoles' program.

Watch the video discussion right here, and continue below for a written breakdown:

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We have been producing the Warchant Top 40 for many years, and sometimes the highest-rated players are very obvious, and sometimes there is much more uncertainty.

This year fell in the latter category because the Seminoles were bringing in so many Division-I transfers to go with a relatively young roster overall. And the results of our top five players reflected those circumstances.

The No. 1 player on our list was UCF quarterback transfer McKenzie Milton. Based on the fact that the former Heisman Trophy contender was able to make it through spring practice healthy and due to all of the intangibles he brought to the table, we felt he would end up winning the starting job and leading the entire team in 2021.

And after the fourth quarter of the season opener against Notre Dame, we felt pretty good about that pick.

Then the rest of the season happened.

Milton never was able to regain his earlier form as a passer or runner, and the Seminoles wisely made the transition back to Jordan Travis after the first month of the season. Milton still brought some good things to the program -- not only his leadership skills, but also stirring up interest in FSU for other high-profile transfers -- but the No. 1 pick was way off the mark.

That honor should have gone to defensive end transfer Jermaine Johnson, who we had at No. 2. In his one year in Tallahassee, Johnson produced one of the greatest single-seasons for a pass-rusher in school history.

Among our five panelists -- Gene Williams, Ira Schoffel, Corey Clark, Jeff Cameron and Aslan Hajivandi -- only Gene had Johnson at No. 1 on his list (Ira had him lowest at No. 3). Corey, Jeff and Aslan all rated him No. 2 behind Milton.

Gene deserves a second honor for having Jordan Travis at No. 2 -- he and Ira were the only ones to have Travis that high. Corey received the distinction of having him lowest at No. 7. That disparity left Travis at No. 4 on our list, which wasn't a huge oversight, but he should have been No. 2.

Checking in at No. 3 on our list was Devontay Love-Taylor, who was FSU's best returning offensive lineman and also the most versatile of the group. He was slated to start at guard but also had the ability to play tackle, which we thought was a huge benefit for a thin position group. Unfortunately, an injury early in the season limited his mobility, and the sixth-year lineman never seemed to be as effective as he had been in 2020.

The fifth player in our top five was another big gamble that came up short of expectations. Kansas wide receiver transfer Andrew Parchment, who we thought had the potential to be a 1,000-yard receiver in FSU's offense, finished nearly 700 yards shy of that. He did come through with arguably the biggest play of the season -- a fourth-and-14 catch over the middle to set up the Seminoles' winning touchdown against Miami. That play probably doesn't merit him a spot in the top five ... but hey, maybe it should.

Gene again deserves credit for ranking Parchment down at No. 16 -- the lowest of all the voters. Corey and Jeff had him highest at No. 4.

Gene's ballot was not perfect either, however. He had defensive back Travis Jay at No. 6, which was a big part of the reason Jay ended up at No. 11 on our list. He ended up being a non-factor, however, due to injury and lack of production.

And while Corey had some picks that missed the mark, he deserves credit for having the highest vote for defensive end transfer Keir Thomas at No. 3. As a staff, we listed Thomas at No. 9, and that was probably a few spots too low.

Among the other panelists, Jeff deserves props for having freshman defensive back Kevin Knowles highest of any voter at No. 31. Gene took an L here for being the only panelist to leave Knowles off completely; Knowles ended up being a starter for most of the season as a true freshman.

Aslan was most on target when it came to Travis Jay, listing him at No. 18, while three others had him in the top 10. On the flip side, Aslan had running back Lawrance Toafili up at No. 4, and he ended up being the Seminoles' fourth-leading rusher.

And Ira gets credit for casting the highest vote for safety Jammie Robinson at No. 5; Robinson, of course, ended up being the Seminoles' leading tackler and starting at two different positions during the year. Ira's biggest miss was the aforementioned No. 3 vote for Jermaine Johnson.

* DB Jammie Robinson checked in at No. 6 on our list, and perhaps he could have been a little higher, but that was a pretty good pick for a first-year transfer.

* DE Keir Thomas was voted No. 9, which again could have been a little higher. But considering he was coming back from an injury and didn't participate in spring drills, this was a solid vote.

* LB Amari Gainer was on the mark at No. 10. While he continues to be one of FSU's top tacklers, Gainer didn't make a ton of high-impact plays as a fourth-year junior.

* DL Robert Cooper (No. 12), DL Fabien Lovett (No. 14) and OL Robert Scott (No. 15) were other high picks that performed about where the panel expected.

* RB Lawrance Toafili was rated too high at No. 7 overall. He showed great potential in limited action the year before as a true freshman, but he produced only a few nice moments in 2021.

* DB Travis Jay was expected to start at cornerback and as a return specialist, but he didn't have much success in either spot. We had him at No. 11, which was far off the mark.

* RB Jashaun Corbin was rated No. 13 on our list, which was a huge whiff. He ended up being the Seminoles' most consistent player on offense and should have been in the top five.

* LB Stephen Dix Jr. checked in at No. 20 after starting the year before as a freshman; he moved into a backup role in 2021 and finished outside the top 20 on the team in total tackles.

* OL Dillan Gibbons was ranked No. 21 on our list after transferring from Notre Dame, where he was a top backup. He ended up being arguably the Seminoles' top lineman this past season.

* DB Kevin Knowles was rated No. 34 on our list after an impressive spring as a true freshman. He ended up being a starter and should have been in the top 20.

* OL Darius Washington (No. 27) and LB Kalen DeLoach (No. 33) both should have been rated higher, and OL Dontae Lucas (No. 22) should have been lower.

* RB Treshaun Ward -- The former walk-on didn't make the list despite earning a scholarship in the spring and shining repeatedly during that month of practice. Ira was the only one who cast a ballot for Ward; he had him at No. 27.

* DB Akeem Dent -- After bouncing back and forth between corner and safety, there were questions about whether the former five-star recruit would fit in with Adam Fuller's defense. After a slow start and some hiccups along the way, Dent ended up having a pretty solid season at safety. Jeff (No. 29) and Gene (No. 31) were the only ones to have him on their ballots.

* DB Omarion Cooper -- This is one we couldn't have seen coming since he was a true freshman who did not enroll early, but Cooper ended up claiming a starting cornerback job and picked off a pair of passes late in the season.

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Talk about this story with other Florida State football fans in the Tribal Council