Say what you will about Florida State’s efforts in the transfer portal so far (and my goodness, many of us have a lot to say), but offensive line recruiting has been rolling along. Florida State has just added its fifth transfer addition to Herb Hand’s unit, with Chimdia Nwaiwu committing to join the Tribe. Noles247 first reported the commitment.
Nwaiwu is a 6-foot-5, 305 pound offensive tackle originally from Aledo, Texas. He played high school ball at Coppell before signing with Stephen F. Austin.
He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Nwaiwu started 14 games at right tackle for the Lumberjacks this past season and was on the field for 805 snaps. He was named a First Team All-SBC Offense honoree after a season that saw him earn PFF grades of 68.6 (total offense), 81.4 (pass blocking) and 57.5 (run blocking). He only allowed one sack and 10 pressures.
Nwaiwu will factor into FSU’s tackle rotation immediately and has a good shot at starting along the right side. You can’t teach wingspan, and his is 88 inches. He showed major leaps between 2024 and 2025, indicating strong coachability, which should be music to Herb Hand’s ears.
From the press release announcing his all-conference honor:
Chimdia Nwaiwu, OL
Nwaiwu, a native of Aledo, Texas, holds PFF’s highest grade among SLC offensive tackles which includes the highest overall offensive rating among tackles as well as a league-best 82.5 pass block rating. He protected the outside edge of an SFA quarterback room that rated fourth in the SLC, while protecting the gunslingers at an SLC-best effort of 1.42 sacks per game: which rates inside the FCS top 30. His run blocking provided space for the SLC’s fourth-best overall rushing attack (162.8), an FCS top 20 redzone offense (89.4%) and an FCS top 25 first downs offense (257).
