Melina Vastola-USA Today Sports
The Florida State Seminoles have four verbal commitments from wide receivers for the class of 2014. Heading into this recruiting cycle, that was the estimated number of receivers the Noles were expected to sign. However, just because they have four verbals at this point, doesn’t mean they are done recruiting the position.
Instead, the Noles have turned up the heat on some of the top receivers in the class of 2014, including Travis Rudolph of West Palm Beach, Florida. The four-star receiver (and one time Miami commitment) visited Tallahassee on an unofficial visit recently and came away impressed. Until the trip, the Noles were unlikely to make the top five list that he’s expected to name soon. Now, it appears that they very well could.
In addition to Rudolph, the Noles are actively recruiting Myles Autry, Malachi Dupre and Josh Malone. Autry is perhaps the most likely to end up a Seminole, but they’ll have to beat out Georgia Tech who has an advantage because his brother goes there. He’s a four-star talent, who is a tad undersized but makes up for it with his dynamic playmaking abilities.
Dupre has the Seminoles in his final four, even though he hasn’t even visited. That should change this fall, and if it does, the Louisiana product could pull the trigger for the Noles. Finally, Malone could be another late addition to Florida State, but it is behind a few teams at this point. Some thought he would have committed by this point, and the fact that he hasn’t is a good sign for the Seminoles.
It seems quite likely that at least one of those players will sign with Florida State, meaning one or more of the current commitments might get squeezed out of this class. That’s the danger in taking early commitments like the Seminoles have done under head coach Jimbo Fisher. Sure, it’s nice to get kids to make a commitment, but you run the risk of losing out on better receivers in the process.
The alternative is to tell a current commitment that you are no longer interested, but that doesn’t play well in recruiting circles and can give a school a bad name.
Either way, there are plenty of big name wide receivers still considering Florida State, so with six months to go until National Signing Day, it’s safe to say the Florida State wide receiving class is a long way from finalized.
B.L. is an ACC Football writer for Rant Sports and can be followed on Twitter @coachlip and on Google.
