Final: Which FSU football players are going pro and which are staying at Florida State

Now that FSU’s 2017 football year has concluded, we’ve moved on to another campaign: declaration season. That is, finding out which draft eligible players will take off to pursue their dreams of an NFL career, and which will return to Tallahassee for another season.

Players have to spend three years on campus to be draft eligible, meaning that redshirt-sophomores and juniors can jet if they see fit. Now that the January 15 deadline to declare early has come and gone, we finally have all of our answers:

Players’ decisions

• Redshirt-sophomore safety Derwin James (leaving)
• Junior defensive end Josh Sweat (leaving)
• Redshirt-junior defensive tackle Demarcus Christmas (returning)
• Redshirt-junior tight end Ryan Izzo (leaving)
• Junior receiver Auden Tate (leaving)
• Junior cornerback Tarvarus McFadden (leaving)
• Redshirt-sophomore defensive end Jalen Wilkerson (leaving)
• Junior running back Jacques Patrick (returning)
• Junior receiver Nyqwan Murray (returning)

Of course, for some, there was no decision as at, as their eligibility simply ran out:

Players who’ve exhausted their eligibility

• Redshirt-senior linebacker Matthew Thomas
• Senior receiver Ermon Lane
• Redshirt-senior running back Ryan Green
• Senior linebacker Jacob Pugh
• Senior defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi
• Senior safety Trey Marshall
• Senior offensive lineman Rick Leonard
• Redshirt-senior linebacker Ro’Derrick Hoskins
• Senior defensive back Malique Jackson
• Redshirt-senior defensive back Nate Andrews
• Senior long snapper Stephen Gabbard