Florida State recruits, targets at The Opening

BEAVERTON, Ore. — Thursday, Nike’s The Opening kicks off. It is the premiere showcase for elite college football recruits in the nation. And while it might not have every top player in the country, it has a lot of them. The weather this week should be absolutely beautiful, so the conditions for highlights are ripe.

Make sure to follow @SBNRecruiting on Twitter, and live updates from SB Nation can be found here.

Testing takes place on Saturday, along with 1v1s, and 7v7 and OL/DL competition happens Sunday and Monday. It is not televised on ESPN this year, so be sure to stick with Tomahawk Nation and SB Nation for full coverage.

Florida State has several commits at The Opening:

• A.J. Lytton, CB, Maryland
• Amari Gainer, LB, Florida
• Asante Samuel Jr., CB, Florida
• James Cook, RB, Miami
• Robert Cooper, DT, Georgia (Cooper will actually not be coming now, due to a flight issue)

This is a charismatic group of recruits, and one of the better commit groups of any school at the event. They will be looking to recruit other stars to the cause.

Nike also did FSU a solid here. As with other schools who have a lot of commits, all five are on the same 7v7 team (there are six teams in total), nicknamed “Hyper Strong”. This has the makings of a good team, with two solid QBs, two running backs who can catch the ball (including Cook), and a loaded secondary.

Several FSU targets are also on the team, including:

• Patrick Surtain II, DB, Florida
• Tyson Campbell, DB, Florida
• Tommy Bush, WR, Texas
• Daniel Faalele, OL, Florida (Australian native)

Additional targets at The Opening

FSU’s commits will also be working on other top targets, including:

• Justin Fields, QB, Georgia
• Houston Griffith, DB, Florida
• Dennis Briggs Jr., DL, Florida
• Kearis Jackson, WR, Georgia
• Teradja Mitchell, LB, Virginia (Ohio State commit)
• David Reese, LB, Florida
• Reuben Unije, OL, Florida
• Trey Hill, OL, Georgia
• William Barnes, OL, Florida
• K’Vaughn Pope, LB, Virginia
• Justyn Ross, WR, Alabama
• Jordyn Adams, WR, North Carolina
• Micah Parsons, DE, Pennsylvania
• Rick Sandidge, DT, North Carolina

In particular, Fields will be someone FSU’s commits plan to chat up a lot this week. They have been actively pursuing him on social media.

Young guns

Two young stars to keep an eye on will be Nolan Smith, a defensive end from IMG Academy committed to Georgia, and Owen Pappoe, a linebacker from Georgia who is high on Florida State.

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