Why Florida State has been so successful using the transfer portal

As Florida State took the field for its first snap against LSU, the offense — the one that ended up burning the Tigers for six touchdowns during FSU’s marquee Week 1 win — featured primarily players with something in common.

From the breakout star of the night (Keon Coleman) to the producer of two other touchdowns (Jaheim Bell) and to others like running back Trey Benson, wide receiver Johnny Wilson, tight end Kyle Morlock and three of FSU’s five offensive lineman, all but three of the Seminoles’ 11 offensive starters were found by Florida State through the transfer portal these last two offseasons.

It doesn’t stop there. During this same stretch, Florida State has also added four players that started on defense against LSU as well as other impact performers such as linebacker Tatum Bethune, who delivered a game-high nine tackles and this one particularly big standout moment that probably wasn’t so enjoyable for Tigers star QB Jayden Daniels.

You may be wondering how Mike Norvell has gotten Florida State to this point, how he’s been able to take the Seminoles from 3-6 in 2020 and 5-7 in 2021 to now being a clear top contender for a national championship. The success with the portal has been a huge factor.

Outside of situations that included players following a coach to a new school (i.e. Caleb Williams and USC or Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders with Colorado), there’s likely no one on a national level that’s done a better job upgrading its roster through the portal these last two offseasons than Florida State. That work is now paying off.

“Mike’s built it the right way,” Southern Miss head coach Will Hall, whose team faces FSU on Saturday, told On3. “He inherited a total mess and had to start from the ground up, but they’ve just done a great job recruiting and building. We played Alabama in 2021 and they played for a national title and they were really, really good, but I think this team is better than that ’21 Alabama team just from watching tape.”

The process

FSU is a perfect example of how quickly a roster can be significantly upgraded through the portal if a team can do a good job finding players with both the talent to contribute and that also fit well into a program.

Florida State has done that.

For FSU, it starts with building an understanding of its own roster. There are scouts for both the offense and defense that oversee a process during which the Seminoles place grades on each of their current players. Florida State also has big personnel meetings about three times a year to discuss strictly its current roster.

“The only way you can understand the needs of your team is if you actually understand what’s currently on your team,” FSU general manager Darrick Yray told On3.

The grading system is the same for players outside the program as well, whether it’s potential targets or even players on an upcoming opponent’s roster. In addition to scouting for game plan specific reasons, FSU’s personnel staff also puts grades on opposing players and can then see how that compares to their own roster. 

Like other teams around the country, Florida State is also doing advanced scouting at different points on potential transfers in order to be prepared if a player does ultimately go into the portal and then also acting, evaluating and gathering feedback as quickly as possible on other potential options that end up entering the transfer portal.

Plus, Yray and his staff do studies throughout the year related to both high school and portal recruiting to stay on top of trends and analytics on everything from the types of players other teams are adding, the average size, arm length, etc. of players being signed as well as other areas such as biometrics and player growth potential. The off-field element is an important part of the evaluation process, too.

“There are so many more questions (beyond) just: Is the individual a good player?” Yray said. “You have to understand the why of why that person is leaving (the previous school) to begin with because you don’t want to make a situation worse. Culture still matters in the locker room. Fit still matters in the locker room and on campus. And so we want to make sure we have as many of those answers as we can on the front end.”

The success

It’s all contributed to a big-time hit rate for FSU in recent years.

Of the 11 eligible scholarship transfers the Seminoles landed on offense or defense this offseason, all 11 played against LSU. Of the 10 that FSU added prior to July, seven started. That includes Coleman, a transfer from Michigan State whom NFL scouts view as a potential top-20 overall pick in next year’s NFL draft, as well as Bell from South Carolina, Morlock from Division II Shorter, former UTEP offensive lineman Jeremiah Byers, ex-Colorado offensive lineman Casey Roddick, former Western Michigan defensive lineman Braden Fiske and ex-Virginia defensive back Fentrell Cypress.

While Coleman and Bell made the most noticeable contributions out of that group versus LSU with five combined touchdowns, there were also others like Fiske whose impact went well beyond the two tackles that show up on the stat sheet.

“He was involved in more plays by PFF rating than any d-lineman I’ve seen in the last few years,” Hall said of Fiske. “He’s the hardest playing d-lineman I’ve ever seen.”

As far as Florida State’s previous portal class, that group from the 2021-22 portal cycle featured five current starters, including three potential early-round picks in next year’s NFL draft — Wilson, Benson and star defensive lineman Jared Verse.

Verse, who transferred to FSU from Albany, was selected as the Seminoles’ defensive MVP last year and is viewed by NFL scouts as a first-round caliber talent.

Some others from that 2021-22 portal haul: Bethune, offensive lineman Bless Harris, who stepped in due to an injury against LSU and ended up being chosen as the ACC offensive lineman of the week, as well as wide receivers Winston Wright and Deuce Spann.

Wright, a former West Virginia transfer, missed last season due to an injury but had an 18-yard catch versus LSU. Spann, who transferred to FSU from Illinois, had a 17-yard completion on a trick play.

That list doesn’t even include other Florida State portal success stories from the last few years such as defensive end and 2022 NFL first-round pick Jermaine Johnson, safety and 2023 NFL fifth-round selection Jammie Robinson and others such as 2022 first-team All-ACC offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons and 2021 third-team All-ACC defensive end Keir Thomas.

“I think it’s our willingness for our head coach to be adaptable,” Yray said. “And usually the first time that someone does go into the portal, if it’s someone we have interest in, he’s going to be the first one on the phone. And I think that’s a rarity in today’s day and age to where a head coach is going to make themselves available to do that. …

“Also, I think when people look at the portal, they just look at it: Well, he’s ready-made when he got here, but there’s still development that occurs (thanks to the coaching staff). There are still a lot of things that have been put into place and no one is arriving ready-made by any stretch of the imagination.”

It’s not just the portal with FSU, though.

The Seminoles also have a number of former high school signees that have developed into starters or significant contributors, including even former three-star prospects such as linebacker DJ Lundy, offensive lineman Robert Scott, defensive back Shyheim Brown and others like defensive linemen Josh Farmer. Florida State also now has a 2024 recruiting class that’s currently ranked No. 5 in the On3 Team Recruiting Rankings.

The combination of all that bodes very well for the Seminoles well beyond just this season.

“There’s an old saying that ‘you get what you get in the short term and you get what you deserve in the long term,’” Yray said. “This is just a culmination of years and years of hard work just rising to the surface, where it’s been about being process-oriented and not so much results-oriented. That’s the way we want to be. We trusted the process throughout. Coach Norvell has trusted the process throughout and has known what the goals are and has stuck to that process. And now it’s paying dividends, but it’s not surprising necessarily to any of us.”