Notre Dame-Florida State: Beyond The Recruiting Data
If one goes strictly by recruiting rankings, only Clemson has a more talented roster on the 2020 Fighting Irish regular-season slate than Florida State. The last four Seminole classes, from 2017-20, were ranked No. 5, No. 10, No. 17 and No. 20.
In comparison, Notre Dame’s recruiting classes over that time were No. 13, No. 11, No. 14 and No. 22.
The discipline and steadiness with the Irish have been a huge difference, though, on why they have fashioned a 35-6 record since 2017 while Florida State is 19-22.
You can’t win without talent … but you can lose with it frequently if the culture of the program is unhealthy. That’s been the case the past several years with the Seminoles, who are on their third head coach in four years with Mike Norvell, after Jimbo Fisher bolted in 2017 and Willie Taggart (2018-19) was bought out reportedly for $18 million while producing a 9-12 ledger.
Following last year’s 27-10 loss at home to Miami, ESPN/ABC college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit ripped the entire FSU operation for its showboating identity without having anything to back it up.
“I hate the way they represent themselves,” Herbstreit said. “They’re the most undisciplined team you’re going twatch. And they’re a terrible team. They need to focus more on execution and less on chirping. All they do is chirp.”
Following the 52-10 loss to Miami this year, Norvell (who was not at the game while recovering from COVID-19) also noted how the attitude between the ears and inside the chest probably is more concerning than physical talent.
“The thing I’m as disappointed in as anything else is just some of the emotional responses that are not up to the standard of what it takes to play winning football,” Norvell said.
Part of discipline and culture is also reflected in the classroom. Over the past four years, including this spring, Florida State was the lowest-rated Power Five (65 schools) program in multi-year Academic Progress Report with a 942 score.
The next-lowest among the Power Five is Texas Tech at 949, and the Division I average in football is 969.
It reached as low as 922 in Fisher’s final season (2017), with 930 as the benchmark for postseason action. Under Taggart, the mark did improve to 956.
Defensively, in particular, the Seminoles on paper are replete with future NFL talent — yet opened this year’s Miami game on Sept. 26 allowing five consecutive touchdown marches by the Hurricanes in the 52-10 wipeout.
Meanwhile, Football Championship Subdivision foe Jacksonville State took a 14-0 lead on Florida State last week before Norvell’s troops recovered and, inspired by a quarterback switch, came away with a 41-24 win.
“From a defensive standpoint… there's probably six, seven, first-day draft picks,” said Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly this Monday of Florida State.
• Consider that the defensive line alone has two former five-star recruits from 2017 in tackle Marvin Wilson (No. 2 overall player by Rivals in 2017) and end Josh Kaindoh (No. 5 overall player), plus four-star and 332-pound Robert Cooper (161st nationally).
• Cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. was the nation’s No. 46 overall player, while rover Amari Gainer was 79th. Like Wilson along the line, Samuel is a highly rated NFL prospect. The other corner, Jarrian Jones, also was a four-star prospect, and end/linebacker Janarius Robinson was the No. 107-ranked recruit overall in his class.
• Although still recuperating from an ACL injury last November, 2019 first-team All-ACC safety Hamsah Nasirildeen is listed on FSU’s two-deep this week.
“They played some different defenses over the last couple years, so they're starting to get more accustomed to the system that they're playing,” said Kelly of a unit that has fluctuated with three or four down linemen. “I have a lot of respect for the talent that we’re going to see.”
However, despite the quality recruiting rankings, they don’t always reflect how well a team fills its most pressing needs. One area where Florida State has come up short is along the offensive line.
In the 23-man class signed in 2017, only one was an offensive lineman (three-star Brady Scott, currently the No. 2 right guard). Over the last four cycles, the Seminoles have signed only two four-star prospects up front, and this year Florida International graduate transfer Devontay Taylor was viewed as a significant upgrade to the group.
Imagine just five years ago thinking how FSU badly needed someone from FIU for protection. The starting left side and center this year are all sophomores, although left guard Dontae Lucas was ranked the nation’s No. 67 player in the 2019 haul.
Last year. the Seminoles allowed 48 sacks, ranking 125th among 130 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, and the year prior it was 111th while permitting “only” three sacks per contest. The run game wasn’t anything to brag about either, finishing 126th in 2018 with 91.1 yards per game and 93rd last year (140.7) despite the presence of second-round running back Cam Akers.
The protection remained abysmal in the 16-13 opening game loss at home to Georgia Tech — 3-9 last year and projected to finish last (15th) in the ACC this year — and in the wipeout versus Miami. Among 72 FBS teams after those two contests, FSU was 70th in yards per play (4.16).
The insertion of No. 3 quarterback Jordan Travis, a dual-threat transfer from Louisville, against Jacksonville State produced an instant spark and five straight touchdown drives. The question is will it be sustainable versus much stronger competition.
Norvell, whose understudy included 2017-19 Notre Dame offensive coordinator Chip Long, produced prolific offenses at Memphis from 2016-19 while fashioning a 38-15 record, notably 12-1 last season while averaging 40.1 points per game. His top weapon is slot Tamorrion Terry, a constant big-play threat — even though he was listed as “only” a three-star prospect.
“I think they have found somebody they feel comfortable with at the quarterback position,” Kelly said. “Now that kind of allows them to get into a rhythm offensively … This is a team that will continue to get better from week to week. It's an established head coach … Mike will get this team playing better football. I just hope it's not this weekend.
“We're coming off a long layoff, and we're going to have to be at our very best and get off to a really good start. We didn't get off to a good start in our opener against Duke, and it factored into the game. We got off to a great start against South Florida and it did factor into the game.”
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