High school football recruiting still matters in 2026.
In fact, it is the most essential part of building a championship roster.
Yes, you can point to Indiana football winning a national title in 2025 through the transfer portal to counter the point. But the end of Mike Norvell's tenure at Florida State points to why building a national title contender starts with prep football.
The Seminoles ended an abysmal three-year run by firing Norvell on Sunday, Nov. 1. Over the last three seasons, FSU posted a 10-22 record, following a 23-4 stretch between 2022 and 2023 that convinced many in college football that the Seminoles were back.
While it worked for Indiana and Curt Cignetti to build a national champion via the transfer portal in 2025, the reliance
on the portal hurt Norvell, as the foundation for a national contender was never there in Tallahassee, FL.
Norvell's struggles with recruiting ultimately helped lead to his firing. Especially when you break down his struggles in the state of Florida, a usual talent-rich hotbed for the top recruits.
Mike Norvell, FSU fall from national grace
Maybe the 2023 College Football Playoff snub for the Seminoles caused some major damage the program was never able to fully recover from.
After winning 19 straight games in 2022-23, Norvell and FSU have gone 4-18 against Power Four programs since 2024.
The quality of FSU's high school recruitment under Norvell was something I questioned when I covered the Seminoles in 2022 and 2023, even while FSU was playing its best football.
"Yes, there’s the transfer portal that Norvell and his staff have utilized as well, if not better than any other staff in the country, but is that sustainable?" was the question I posed on June 27, 2023.
While FSU continued to prioritize the portal, other teams with more resources caught and started using the portal to supplement their high school recruiting, rather than just building through it.
Florida State recruiting rankings
According to 247Sports composite team recruiting rankings, under Norvell, the Seminoles have ranked 22nd in 2020, 21st in 2021, 20th in 2022, 19th in 2023, 12th in 2024, 20th in 2025 and 17th at the time of the firing in 2027.
Even in the high-water mark, which was No. 12 in 2024, that class also featured Norvell losing two five-star recruits — safety KJ Bolden and defensive lineman Armondo Blount, on or near signing day.
While seeing recruits flip seems the norm in today's college football, losing two-way star Travis Hunter to Deion Sanders and FCS Jackson State in 2022 always left a black eye for Norvell when it came to recruiting on a national scale.
While Florida State faces stiff competition from Miami and Florida for in-state for recruits, and nationally with Georgia, Alabama and Auburn not too far away, that never slowed down Jimbo Fisher and legendary coach Bobby Bowden from selling the dream of wearing garnet and gold, while fans tomahawk chop away at the historic Doak Campbell Stadium.
It also does not help matters that Booker High School (Sarasota) cornerback Chauncey Kennon — FSU's highest-ranked recruit from the 2026 class — was kicked off the team already following a felony arrest.
Misses at quarterback
While there was not only a struggle at high school recruiting, development was a major issue as well. None of that was more apparent than the quarterback position.
Norvell's success at Florida State essentially boiled down to one position, and specifically one player: Jordan Travis.
While Travis was not a high school recruit for the Seminoles and a player Norvell inherited from Willie Taggart, he was the key to FSU's successful teams in 2022 and 2023.
Norvell went 29-10 overall with Travis as his quarterback, which included 11 wins in the perfect 13-0 season in 2023. Without Travis, Norvell's record at FSU ended at 12-29 without Travis starting.
Since he arrived at Florida State in 2020, Norvell signed eight quarterbacks out of high school. Those guys made a combined 10 starts:
- 2020: Chubba Purdy: 0 starts; transferred
- 2020: Tate Rodemaker: 2 starts; transferred
- 2022: AJ Duffy: 0 starts; transferred
- 2023: Brock Glenn: 7 starts; transferred
- 2024: Luke Kromenhoek: 1 start; transferred
- 2024: Trever Jackson: 0 starts; transferred
- 2025: Kevin Sperry: 0 starts
- 2025: Jaden O'Neal: 0 starts
FSU went 3-7 in the games started by those eight quarterbacks. Rodemaker beat rival Florida the week following Travis' devastating career-ending injury, Glenn beat Louisville in the 2023 ACC Championship Game and Kromenhoek beat Charleston Southern.
Instead of developing one of these signees into the next Travis, Norvell and his staff relied on the portal and three quarterbacks — DJ Uiagalelei, Thomas Castellanos and Ashton Daniels — who all had their warts at other stops.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: High school recruiting, development ultimately sunk Mike Norvell at FSU | Opinion
