I'll continue to update this throughout Sunday night and Monday.
Florida State hosted three five-stars over the weekend, plus three commitments. I'll address the uncommitted prospects first. Remember that FSU is fully on pace to meet its needs and land a tremendous class even if it doesn't land any of the trio.
Malachi Dupre
The five-star receiver from New Orleans (La.) John Curtis school spoke briefly with Chad Simmons, of Scout.com($):
"The visit to FSU was my best visit ever," said Dupre. "I got to hang with Jameis Winston and the coaches a lot - It was great."
...
"I am a need to them, not a want, and that stood out to me. That makes sense to me because they are looking to fill the void of Kelvin Benjamin leaving."
It is incredibly difficult to be confident in FSU landing Dupre, despite whatever private assurances he may have made to people in Tallahassee. LSU has a major need at receiver as well, losing its top two to the draft. But if ever FSU had a shot, it would be with a returning Heisman winner and coming off a national title. But I'd be a lot more confident in FSU's chances had this not been his first and only visit to Tallahassee.
Chad Thomas
The Miami (Fla.) Booker T. Washington High School defensive end is a Miami commit, and I expect that to remain that way. The vibe out of Tallahassee is not all that positive, and I don't think this is a situation which the player is simply trying to keep the chatter down in his hometown so that he is not inundated with texts and calls. He does have an Alabama visit on deck, but i think the Hurricanes keep him home. He might instantly be the best defensive lineman on Miami's team.
Lorenzo Carter
I think promoting Charles Kelly, Carter's recruiter, to defensive coordinator is a big deal in Carter's recruitment. I still think Georgia will be his ultimate landing spot, because UGA's relationship with his family. I'll have a better feel for Carter's status in the next 24-48 hours. after Mark Richt goes in-home with him Monday night. And remember, Carter still has his official visit to Georgia doing up on the final weekend.
Committed players
C.J. Worton
The receiver really enjoyed his visit to Florida over the weekend ($). He will visit FSU and Oregon in the next week, before deciding what to do. I am unsure about whether he flips. He is a very good recruit, but all recruits are conscious of playing time, and FSU is in the running to land three five-stars in Rudolph, Ermon Lane and Dupre. Worton also tweeted at Travis Rudolph to ask if he was visiting Florida, as had been rumored, then deleted the tweet. I do not believe that was an attempt to recruit Rudolph to UF, but just a general curiosity, as the rumor was making the rounds that Rudolph would visit.
JoJo Robinson
Robinson visited Arkansas over the weekend and I have not expected the athlete from Miami Northwestern to be in the class for at least six weeks. I think Arkansas is a likely landing spot for him.
Treon Harris
The FSU QB/Athlete commitment visited Auburn over the weekend, one week after seeing UF. He has Miami on deck.
"The visit went great," Harris told AuburnSports.com($). "Coming in, I had a different expectation, the whole school different. They proved me wrong, it was great. "I met great coaches and great dudes. Auburn made a big impact. I'm solid still, just experiencing different places. The week before signing day, whatever comes out on top comes out on top. I can't call it yet because I still have one more visit."
Auburn showed Harris how he would fit as a QB, and obviously he is a better fit for a spread-option than a pro-style. That is essentially the pitch. I don't have a great feel as to the chances of him flipping
Targets elsewhere
Derrick Nnadi
The four-star defensive tackle visited Virginia Tech. There is no indication that he committed to the Hokies, but I still think Virginia Tech will be tough to beat for the star from Virginia Beach. He did tweet that he would commit on National Signing Day.
Javon Harrison
Harrison remains committed to Virginia Tech. He has yet to say whether he is shutting down his recruitment after the visit, but FSU will continue to pursue the four-star receiver from Lakeland (Fla.) Kathleen.
Marlon Humphrey
The five-star cornerback from Hoover is pretty much down to Alabama and FSU, and he took his visit to Tuscaloosa over the weekend. The story with him remains the same. FSU's track program is still better than Alabama's despite the Tide pumping money into its team of late. Does Humphrey want to leave the state and not just be "Bobby Humphrey's boy" at Alabama? Does he want to blaze his own trail like Jameis and go to FSU? Or does he want to be personally coached at cornerback by Nick Saban? Playing time will be a lot easier to come by at Alabama in Year 1.
I hate when Coach photobomb my selfies pic.twitter.com/b1ipuatwEv
— Fruit PUNCH (@marlon_humphrey) January 25, 2014We'll see. I do think he is a unique kid who is not automatically a lock to go to Tuscaloosa like to many others from the Birmingham area.
J.C. Jackson
Florida four-star defensive back commit J.C. Jackson visited Miami over the weekend. His dad, who has been anti-FSU for weeks, spoke about his recruitment.
Jackson says he believes his son's recruitment is now down to Florida and Miami. Jackson is currently committed to Florida. He does not believe J.C. will be taking an official visit to Florida State next weekend.
"I think he is down to two schools right now with Florida and Miami," Jackson said. "Florida State is going to try to get him on a visit, but I don't know if that is going to happen. We will see."
I don't believe that Jackson's dad will keep him from visiting FSU. Official visits are paid for by the school. I still expect Jackson to visit this coming weekend.
Malik McDowell
The five-star defensive tackle from Detroit visited Michigan State over the weekend. I had heard that McDowell really liked Michigan State, but that his parents did not much before this visit. I feel Florida State is running second, and that McDowell's parents accompanying him on the visit may have helped the Spartans in a big way. It is so tough to pull a kid from Michigan to Tallahassee.
Commits not visiting anywhere
This really should not need its own category, but it has one.
Travis Rudolph
FSU five-star receiver of Palm Beach, did not end up making a trip to Florida. He even tweeted that it is "all about the Seminoles." However, speculation will persist as long as he keeps taking calls from Florida. And Will Muschamp does have an in-home visit left, so we will monitor if that happens. I do not think Rudolph will flip, but his tweet did not exactly say that he was shutting down his recruitment or that he has no plans to visit anywhere. I do think him not visiting this UF this weekend is a fairly big deal.
Targets not visiting anywhere
Roderick Johnson
I still expect the four-star tackle from St. Louis to sign with Florida State come National Signing Day.
Ermon Lane
Ermon Lane is expected to visit next weekend and Florida State has a massive lead for him. Florida fans have started saying he won't qualify and will have to head to prep school or JUCO, but I don't remember them saying this when he was a Florida commitment.
I will have a breakdown of how the numbers will work out early this week.