FSU Football Recruiting: Meet the Seminoles' 2016 Class

Brian LeighFeb 4, 2016

Before national signing day, Florida State had a strong class.

After national signing day, it had an amazing class.

Head coach Jimbo Fisher landed four of his eight Top 100 recruits on the last day of the cycle, including one he flipped from rival Florida. Behind that, he also added a pair of Top 170 recruits.

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Even the losses of 4-star athlete Jamel Cook and 3-star athlete Clifford Chattman, to USC and Texas A&M, respectively, couldn't offset a banner Wednesday for the Noles.

Let's meet the class that has Tallahassee buzzing.

Full List of Players

HS Player	State	Star Rating	OVR Rank	POS Rank	Enrolled?
Non-HS Player	State	Star Rating	OVR Rank	POS Rank	Enrolled?
CB Levonta Taylor	VA	*****	7	1
OT Landon Dickerson	NC	********	31	4
OC Baveon Johnson	FL	********	42	1
QB Malik Henry	CA	********	48	4	✓
WDE Brian Burns	FL	********	51	5	✓
DT Shavar Manuel	FL	********	67	9
WDE Janarius Robinson	FL	********	85	7	✓
ILB Dontavious Jackson	TX	********	90	4
WR Keith Gavin	FL	********	111	17
CB Carlos Becker	FL	********	153	15
TE Naseir Upshur	PA	********	155	5
OT Jauan Williams	DC	********	164	15
DT Cedric Wood	FL	********	197	22	✓
OT Josh Ball	VA	********	199	19
OLB Josh Brown	NC	********	206	13	✓
OLB Keion Joyner	NC	********	208	14
RB Amir Rasul	FL	********	220	9
CB Kyle Meyers	LA	********	249	24
OLB Emmett Rice	FL	*******	389	26
OT Andrew Boselli	FL	*******	730	31	✓
K Logan Tyler	MO	*******	1,574	7
K Ricky Aguayo	FL	*******	1,656	11	✓
ATH Gabe Nabers	GA	*******	2,034	139
DT Walvenski Aime (JUCO)	KS	*******	38	5	✓
OT Mike Arnold (PREP)	NY	*******	1	1

Signing Day Breakdown

Key Offensive Playmaker

Credit: 247Sports

He's not the highest-rated offensive signing (more on that to come), but California quarterback Malik Henry, by virtue of his position and his talent, is the key offensive playmaker in this class.

Before him, FSU's future staked a lot on Deondre Francois' development. Francois, a redshirt freshman, is supposed to be the future at quarterback—either this year or once Sean Maguire graduates—but if any sort of injury, suspension or developmental failure happened, the Noles would have been screwed under center.

Now they have this to fall back on:

Henry and Francois were both Top 70 prospects, which makes them potential cornerstones. They're also linked by IMG Academy, where Francois played two years ago and Henry transferred from California to replace him. But then, four weeks after arriving at IMG this summer, Henry left under debated circumstances and returned to play his senior year in the Golden State.

Henry is enrolled for spring ball, so he and Francois will spend the next seven months pushing Maguire to start. If Maguire wins and keeps the job all year, Henry and Francois would wage a fun QB battle next offseason. Or one could unseat Maguire this summer.

Either way, the Noles appear set.

Key Defensive Playmaker

Credit: 247Sports

Looking for someone to step in and play as a freshman?

Levonta Taylor is the safest bet.

Even with roadblocks at cornerback, Taylor's too good to waste on the sideline. He's the No. 7 overall prospect and No. 1 cornerback in the class. Florida State has signed similar players under Fisher, and those players—with the exception of Tarvarus McFadden, whose story is stilling being written—have all turned into megastars:

Player	Year	OVR Rank	POS Rank	Grade
S Derwin James	2015	5	1	.9981
S Karlos Williams	2011	4	1	.9976
CB Levonta Taylor	2016	7	1	.9921
CB Jalen Ramsey	2013	15	2	.9921
ATH Lamarcus Joyner	2010	12	2	.9920
CB Tarvarus McFadden	2015	15	3	.9908
CB Ronald Darby	2012	25	2	.9872

Karlos Williams now plays running back, so maybe it's cheating to include him. But perhaps that's actually fitting, since Taylor also has the skills to play offense. That's one of many things that has endeared him to Noles great Deion Sanders.

"I expect him to walk in there Day 1 and learn the game and to be able to play and contribute," Sanders said of Taylor at the Under Armour All-America Game, per 247Sports' Kevin Flaherty. "He has the attitude. He has the swagger. He has the work ethic."

It takes one great Nole to know one.

Best Offensive Line Class in the Country

Credit: 247Sports

Thanks in large part to national signing day, Florida State closed with the nation's best offensive line class.

The alpha is offensive tackle Landon Dickerson, a 5-star on 247Sports' site rankings who barely missed that distinction on the composite. But despite that, even the composite scale—the one that ranks him lower—rates him higher than any lineman Fisher has signed at FSU.

Behind that there's Baveon Johnson, the No. 1 center in the class. He's the highest-rated center in the country since 2008 (Michael Brewster, Ohio State).

Then, for depth, there are two 6'7" tackle prospects, Jauan Williams and Josh Ball, who rank inside the national Top 200; a third tackle prospect, Mike Arnold, who ranks No. 1 among prep schoolers; and a guard prospect, Andrew Boselli, whose father is an NFL Hall of Fame candidate.

And that's to say nothing of their other talents, per Safid Deen of Noles Sport:

"It's a tremendous haul," Fisher said of his offensive linemen, per Tomahawk Nation's Bud Elliott. "We've been putting a lot of guys in the NFL, and we run a pro system."

By Elliott's count, the Noles will enter fall camp with 19 scholarship linemen. That would be a record under Fisher.

2011 Redux?

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Depth is the key to this signing class.

Twelve Top 250 recruits join the six already mentioned above. In total, that makes 18. Seven percent of the Top 250 is coming to Tallahassee.

As a result, this class ranks second among Fisher's seven at Florida State. Only the 2011 class graded higher:

Credit: Brian Leigh/Bleacher Report

That 2011 class was special. It's one of the best of the Internet recruiting era. The big names it produced include:

QB Jake Coker
RB Karlos Williams
RB Devonta Freeman
WR Kelvin Benjamin
WR Rashad Greene
TE Nick O'Leary
OT Bobby Hart
OG Josue Matias
DE Tank Carradine
DT Timmy Jernigan
LB Terrance Smith

Many of those players formed the spine of Florida State's national championship team. They helped the Noles win 29 straight games. Even though Jameis Winston, the face of those great Florida State teams, arrived one year later, the Elevens got the ball rolling.

This new class has similar positional depth. The blue chips are spread like butter across the depth chart. This is how the class looks if you only include Top 250 recruits: