Amir Rasul’s flip from Miami to Florida State on Monday gave the Seminoles something else to feel good about, but the biggest attention grabbing headline this week is the decommitment of the nation’s top tight end, Isaac Nauta.
Nauta tweeted Tuesday that he had backed off his commitment to FSU and was opening up his recruitment. Rumors are swirling that the main contenders are Georgia and Texas. Either way, the Seminoles lost one of their 5-stars and overall best talents of the class.
Florida State fans however, might need to step back from the ledge for a second. Losing a 5-star prospect is tough — no one is debating that. It’s especially tough when it is someone as talented as Nauta, who was reportedly recruiting hard for Florida State while he was committed.
But one decommitment, even a highly rated one, does not mean the sky is falling for the Seminoles. Well, not yet anyways. Unless the Seminoles absolutely bomb down the stretch and lose multiple recruits, they will still end up with a top 10 class at the least. Florida State is also still in play for a few more highly-rated recruits, so this one occurrence does not destroy a class.
It’s hard for fans of a highly successful program to look at the big picture and realize that not everything is lost. When you win as much as the Seminoles have these past three years, one becomes adapted to getting everything they want. Florida State fans need to realize that there are times where recruits change their minds and realize they want something else.
Now, if this sort of thing becomes recurring year after year to Florida State specifically, then there can be a conversation about a problem. Some on Twitter are proposing that the coaching staff needs better recruiters and that might be a viable tactic. But once again, that’s an issue that can be fixed and will not take effect until the next recruiting cycle.
As far as the future situation with tight ends goes, this doesn’t immediately hurt. What it does do is make the future of the position less secure and forces the team to look elsewhere. Every indication points to Mavin Saunders as the player who will get the nod for the next couple of years, largely because of his limitless potential.
It would have been nice for Nauta to be the next guy in line but that just doesn’t look very likely right now. Defensive back commit Levonta Taylor tweeted that Nauta will be back, though that might have just been a conciliatory statement for the outraged Seminole fans. Right now Florida State just needs to move on and get the next best option at tight end. Naseir Upshur seems to be the name floating around.
He’ll be visiting Tallahassee next week.
Featured image courtesy of Chris Nee/247 Sports
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