With Dalvin Cook returning for his junior season next season, Florida State was not in need of an immediate contributor at running back in its 2016 recruiting class. However, that didn't stop the Seminoles pursuing and landing a promising prospect in 2016 running back Amir Rasul.
Rasul, a Coral Gables (FL) Senior High School product who measures in at 5'10, 200 pounds, was originally a Miami commit for over six months before decommitting from UM last July and promptly committing to Florida State only two days later on July 27th. Surprisingly, Rasul took no visits during the course of senior season, instead waiting until his high school playing career was over. Plenty of doubt arose from the Seminole faithful when Rasul took visits to Alabama and UNC the weekends of January 15th and 22nd, respectively. However, Rasul assuaged all fears on Sunday, stating that he is 100% committed to Florida State after his final official visit to Tallahassee this past weekend, choosing the Seminoles over such established programs as Alabama, USC, Notre Dame, UNC, Miami. Florida, Georgia, Louisville, Tennessee, and eight other schools.
Rasul is rated as a consensus four-star recruit by all major recruiting services. The 247Sports composite ranking has him listed as the No. 9 running back, No. 34 player from the state of Florida, and No. 220 overall player in the 2016 recruiting class.
Although Rasul's chance to play early will be limited with Florida State returning Cook, Mario Pender, and Jacques Patrick on next year's team, his upside comes in the form of him being a change-of-pace back. For as fast as FSU's stable of running backs may be, Rasul will likely enter Tallahassee as the Seminoles' pure speed running back. He has an established history of running track and has been clocked at 4.51 in the 40-yard dash.
If you would like to follow Rasul on Twitter, you may do so here.