It all started on December 12th with one little tweet.
2018 five-star defensive back Jaiden Woodbey was in the midst of deciding between his 30 offers where he would play college football. At that point, Florida State was not even in the conversation.
Woodbey was receiving tweets from fans of various schools persuading him to enroll at the school they rooted for, as many high-profile recruits do. When one Florida State supporter, @Seminolelifer, tweeted to Woodbey that he should consider coming to Tallahassee, the No. 26 overall prospect in the nation said he couldn’t — Because Florida State hadn’t offered him under previous coach Jimbo Fisher.
in Garnett & Gold!
— FSU (@SeminoleLifer) December 12, 2017
No because @FSUFootball was dumb enough to never offer me ♂️ https://t.co/Gqhx3DuJze
— ⚡️THOR ⚡️ (@JaidenWoodbey) December 12, 2017
Just five hours later, Woodbey posted that he received an offer from Florida State.
Wow.. just received an offer from Florida State #Tribe18 pic.twitter.com/Z310ecCqD4
— ⚡️THOR ⚡️ (@JaidenWoodbey) December 12, 2017
Four days later, he was in Tallahassee on an official visit.
Eight days after receiving his offer, Woodbey was committed to FSU.
Woodbey had publicly tweeted about his desire to follow in the footsteps of former Florida State cornerback Jalen Ramsey, who was just selected to his first NFL Pro Bowl.
All I want to do is be a newer version of @jalenramsey
— ⚡️THOR ⚡️ (@JaidenWoodbey) July 24, 2016
He also compared himself, of all players, to FSU safety Derwin James, soon to be a first-round draft pick.
Derwin 2.0 ‼️@derwinjames6 pic.twitter.com/mwZG6rihoZ
— ⚡️THOR ⚡️ (@JaidenWoodbey) August 3, 2017
The tweet was realistically not the only reason why Woodbey will play at Florida State. However, had the newest FSU pledge never tweeted that message out, it’s quite possible his recruitment would have ended completely differently.