Florida State football, recruiting news: Could Texas flip the No. 1 athlete in the country from FSU?

Recruiting:

• FSU commit Justin Watkins is visiting Texas this weekend, and could potentially flip the current Seminoles commit. Watkins is a four-star prospect, listed as the No. 1 ATH in 247 Sports 2018 composite rankings. Here’s more on the odds of Watkins flipping, and implications of the visit from SB Nation’s Texas site, Burnt Orange Nation.

Florida State commit DE Kayode Oladele has gone a long way since starting to play football, going less than a year between his first high school snap and earning an offer from Florida State.

Football:

• ESPN is reviewing the ACC schedules of each team this week, highlighting Miami’s on Monday. Among its games, Florida State is pointed out as being a potential swing game for the Hurricanes.

Might as well dub this the swing game every season. For the first time since 2009, the rivals will play in September. Based on the last several years, this game also sets the tone for Miami's season. The recent trend has been for Miami to go on a losing streak after losing to the Seminoles. Last year, they ended up losing four straight. Same in 2014. Miami has lost seven straight to Florida State, so there is an absolute burning desire to end that streak while also not letting it affect the rest of the season. On the bright side, Miami places Toledo and Duke right after the Florida State game, so the schedule eases up. But there's no question a win over the Seminoles would put Miami in position to control the Coastal in mid-September.

• We reported on Monday that redshirt senior OL Ryan Hoefeld has moved on from the FSU football team to pursue a degree and a job in the medical field.

Other Sports:

• Sports Illustrated revealed some “anonymous scouting reports” from enemy coaches. Here’s what they had to say about FSU:

“They’re so spread out on defense that if you can take care of the ball, then you can get dribble penetration and get near the rim. [Freshman forward Jonathan] Isaac is a great off-the-ball defender, but he doesn’t give you a lot of resistance. They’re not a great defensive rebounding team because they jump to block shots. And they foul a lot because they’re extended. Guarding Isaac is more difficult than guarding [sophomore guard Dwayne] Bacon because he’s so efficient. Bacon is more of a volume guy. He’s the No. 1 guy in our league in percentage of his team’s shots. [Editor’s note: Bacon is now No. 3.] You can load up on him knowing it’s going to go up. Their overall weakness is outside shooting. If you can slow down the game and take care of the ball like Pitt did, then you can go against their set defense. [Sophomore guard] Terance Mann is a huge key because he gives them a fourth guy on the perimeter who can make a play. They have tremendous size and rim protection, but they don’t play much help defense. They rely on individuals to stop their man. Georgia Tech and Notre Dame carved them up with backdoors and a lot of cutting.”

• Despite Florida State baseball’s opening loss to VCU, the team remains ranked No. 3 in the latest Baseball America rankings.
• Florida State softball continued its perfect season with an 8-0 victory over Nebraska, improving to 10-0 on the season. The No. 3 softball squad will wrap up its 11 game home stand Tuesday evening vs. South Alabama at 6:00 PM.
• In Baseball America’s latest publication, Florida State was picked as one of the eight teams to make it to Omaha and the College World Series.

Eight for Omaha

Cal State Fullerton, East Carolina, Florida, Florida State, Louisiana State, Oregon State, South Carolina, Texas Christian

Seven of these eight teams are the same as the Eight for Omaha I put together following the 2016 College World Series. The lone difference is Cal State Fullerton, which takes the place of Long Beach State. When I put together the initial list, I thought Beach would get righthander Chris Mathewson back for their rotation. Instead, he signed with the Dodgers as a 19th-round pick. Fullerton enters the year as the Big West favorite and has a pitching depth and lineup experience to make a deep tournament run. East Carolina is the lone member of the group to exit opening weekend with a losing record, but that disappointing start should be overcome. The Pirates still have plenty of talent, experience and depth on their roster.