Florida State football recruiting: How loaded will the receiver group be on National Signing Day?

Tomahawk Nation will be reviewing each position of Florida State's recruiting as National Signing Day approaches. We realize that for some, this information is already known. But others only follow recruiting around National Signing Day, and for those Florida State fans, it should be pretty useful. Tuesday, the focus is receiver.

I am confident that FSU is going to sign one of the best receiver groups in the country. I am not confident in exactly who will be in the class. Let's review.

Signed

Travis Rudolph

6'1, 185 | 4-star

West Palm Beach Cardinal Newman HS

Florida State landed a commitment from Travis Rudolph on Jan 2. He was at one time committed to Miami, and the main competition for him was Alabama. Rudolph has excellent everything except for speed, and he's not exactly lacking in that area. He is one of the five or six best receivers I have seen this year. The hands are excellent, his ability to change direction is great, he runs very good routes, has great football instincts, will block, and will even win a jump ball. Think a much better, more polished version of Preston Parker. I said he Rudolph was 2" taller or 0.1-seconds faster in his 40-yard dash, he might be the top receiver in the country. I do believe he could be the most college-ready receiver in the country, and I project him to play immediately.

Ermon Lane

Homestead (Fla.) High School

6'3, 185 | 5-star

Lane was a long-time Florida Gators commitment who decommitted shortly after Dalvin Cook decided to play for Florida State. All indications point to him committing to Florida State, so much so that the drama at his ceremony might be from which other hats he decided to put on the table.

Lane is a very smooth player and good deep threat with the knack for making the big play. He is not, in my estimation, as college-ready as Rudolph, but he has a gear that Rudolph does not which may give him a slight edge in terms of ultimate ceiling. Lane's high school team was terrible and struggled to get him the ball, but he has a ton of talent and is pretty much universally regarded as one of the five or six best receivers in the country, like Rudolph (above) and Dupre (below). Lane had every major offer in the Southeast, and while I am not quite as high on him relative to other players as I once was, I can count on one hand the number of receivers I would take over him.

Javon Harrison

Lakeland Kathleen HS

6'2, 195 | 4-star

Harrison is a player I really like. He is explosive and strong with the ball in his hands, and he plucks pretty well. He could also play DB, but wants to be a receiver and FSU is recruiting him for receiver. He does not necessarily profile as an instant-impact guy, and needs to polish his route running skills, but he is a fantastic athlete and someone whom FSU was really trying to flip from Virginia Tech. On National Signing Day, he got it done.

Signed elsewhere

Malachi Dupre

New Orleans (La.) John Curtis

6'3, 195 | 5-star

Two guys stand out to me as the best receivers I've seen on film and in person this year: Josh Malone (Tennessee) and Malachi Dupre. Dupre is extremely good. He has good speed, good hands, good quickness, and in the red zone, he is an absolute beast due to his body control and vertical leap. He also gives good feedback to every school he visits, which makes him tough to read. It is encouraging that he brought his family with him to his one and only Florida State visit, but I still think he will be quite difficult to pull away from LSU given he geography and playing time the Tigers can offer. That I'm including him here says there's a chance.

Probably not going to have room

Myles Autry

Norcross (Ga.) HS

5'9, 176 | 3-star

At one point, Autry may have had a spot in the class, but now, it seems very unlikely and I expect him to head to Georgia Tech. FSU brought him in on a  visit over the weekend, but I think that has a lot to do with impressing him and others at the Norcross (Ga.) program. I have no reason to believe that FSU is pushing for a commitment.

Final thoughts

Signing just Rudolph and Lane would be a big. Adding Harrison to that is a three-run homer. All four is a grand slam. Some of these guys are going to have a chance to play early with the loss of Kenny Shaw and Kelvin Benjamin.