Where are Florida State football players from?

The Florida State football roster is nearly complete, with an additional six players signing letters of intent to play for the ’Noles during National Signing Day.

Per my best count, this brings FSU to 81 scholarships for the 2019-20 football season. The NCAA allows for an 85 scholarship limit for football, so we may see a few scholarships awarded to walk-ons before the season begins.

Willie Taggart and his staff were able to capitalize on in-state recruiting in this class, with 13 of their 22 signees coming from Florida. An additional six recruits came from nearby Georgia.

But how does this compare to the rest of the roster?

To no surprise, 40 of the projected 81 players on scholarship are from Florida. However, an interesting note is the breakdown of where the Florida players come from.

Miami has been a great recruiting territory for the ’Noles in recent years, producing players like Dalvin Cook and Matthew Thomas, but only six players on this year’s roster come from the Miami/Dade area.

Florida State is also slowly getting back into Tampa, often a rich recruiting area. Malcolm Lamar and Warren Thompson both played at Seffner (FL) Armwood High School, a school that often gave FSU fits on the recruiting trail.

As expected, the ’Noles have locked down the Tallahassee and Florida Panhandle area. While this area doesn’t historically produce the most college recruits, FSU has landed impact players such as Keith Gavin and Keyshawn Helton from this region.

Finally, Florida State has landed several recruits out of IMG Academy in recent years.

While recruits that play at IMG often tend to return to their home region for college, FSU currently has five IMG alums on the roster. Incoming freshmen Dontae Lucas and Jaleel McRae both played for the Ascenders. IMG kids should never be considered a lock to play college in Florida, but it is nice to see Taggart continuing to build a relationship with the school.

Moving out of state, Florida State has 19 players on the roster who come from Georgia. The majority of those players are from the greater Atlanta area, which is a rich recruiting territory that many schools across the country sign kids from.

FSU has also managed to find “diamonds in the rough” in rural Georgia counties. Cole Minshew from Coffee County (GA) High School and Tamorrion Terry from Turner County (GA) High School did not play against top-tier competition in high school but have managed to become impact players in Tallahassee.

As we move further out, we see that Florida State has managed to enter big metropolitan areas for top-tier recruits.

The Virginia Beach area has produced Levonta Taylor and Khalan Laborn, both of whom were five-star recruits, while Marvin Wilson and Dontavious Jackson both hailed from the greater Houston area.

The ’Noles have also managed to have a presence in the Washington D.C. area, with Jauan Williams, A.J. Lytton and Nick Cross (if he signs with FSU) coming from the vicinity of the nation’s capital.

Lastly, four players on the roster are West Coast kids. Jaiden Woodbey, Camren McDonald and incoming JUCO lineman Jay Williams are from California while Tre’Shaun Harrison has perhaps the longest commute home to Washington.

While it’s not a surprise to see the majority of Florida State players come from Florida, it is nice to see the ’Noles establishing a presence in Tampa while continuing the Orlando and Miami pipelines. Georgia remains a strong recruiting territory and the Seminoles have been able to go out-of-state for top-tier talent.

Now if only FSU could sign a QB.