Updates from FSU football’s crucial Saturday Night Live recruiting event

A massively important recruiting event is underway for the ’Noles, as they’ll host their annual Saturday Night Live this weekend in Tallahassee.

Of course there are always camps, but this is really the gem of Florida State’s summer recruiting calendar, as the Seminoles will attempt to amass a plethora of talented prospects in hopes of furthering the recruits’ existing relationships with coaches. But furthermore, this gives prospects the chance to meet and hang out with current Florida State players, which can be an incredibly helpful recruiting tool, since these are prospective new teammate relationships essentially being auditioned.

Yes, the ’Noles will have a lot of these guys back for official visits during the season, but because recruits have different interests and varied schedules, it can be trickier to get so many elite prospects on campus at the same time during the fall. Plus, this event can really help create momentum before the season even begins. As of Friday night, FSU’s 2020 recruiting class is ranked 13th nationally, and 3rd in the ACC.

But this isn’t just a huge weekend for the Seminoles: this is “Nights” season, and the Gators are hosting their Friday Night Lights right now. This can be an interesting dynamic to observe, as UF often tries to keep players in Gainesville and talk them out of heading to Tallahassee at all.

I say all of that to say this: SNL is big for FSU. So we’ve decided to provide you with some bullet points of what transpires over the weekend. In addition to the many players already expected, here are the latest developments.

Thursday

• The arrivals began with a bang on Thursday, as the nation’s No. 1 2020 outside linebacker, five-star Sav’ell Smalls, made his way in from Washington state. He’s supposed to remain on campus until Sunday, giving the Seminoles a nice extended window with which to work.
• The son of FSU great Deion Sanders, Shedeur Sanders, made a Thursday visit. Sanders is a three-star QB prospect for the 2021 class.
• Damarjhe Lewis, a 2020 three-star DT recruit, also made a Thursday visit.

Friday

• The big news of the day came from Jaylan Knighton, the No. 3 all-purpose back in the 2020 class, who confirmed that he’d be attending SNL.
• Top-20 2020 (sorry, couldn’t resist) offensive tackle Issiah Walker is thought to be on campus, but not confirming.
• The nation’s No. 2 2021 receiver, five-star Agiye Hall, arrived on campus in the afternoon.

Saturday

• Keyvone Lee, a bluechip running back in the 2020 class, is expected to show up.
• The top player from the state of Mississippi in 2020, DT McKinnley Jackson, is now no longer expected on campus.
• That mention yesterday about suspecting that OT Issiah Walker was on campus? Yeah, this works as confirmation:

• 2020 FSU LB commit Jayion McCluster has hit town to lend a hand with recruiting his future teammates:

• The aforementioned top 2020 OLB, Sav’ell Smalls, looks to be having a good time:

• Lee and Knighton, two big-time targets mentioned above whom we expected, are on campus.
• Five-star receiver Agiye Hall, who’s been in town since Friday:

• FSU’s highest ranked 2020 commit is here to help:

• 2020 QB commit Jeff Sims is greeted by 2020 OLB target Sav’ell Smalls:

• 2020 defensive tackle commit, Manny Rogers, is in town:

• FSU commits are pouring in to SNL. Ja’Khi Douglas, Zane Herring, and Isaiah Dunson are all on campus.
• 2020 WR target Jaheim Bell has made the trip down from Valdosta.

• FSU legacy target Shedeur Sanders has arrived with FSU legends Deion Sanders, his father, and Corey Fuller.

• 2020 offensive tackle target Thomas Shrader has joined the crowd at SNL.

• Deyon Bouie, one of the top players in the 2022 class, is now on campus.

• 2020 defensive end target Morven Joseph has arrived.

• Miami decommit Bryan Robinson, a bluechip 2020 WR, is ready for SNL:

• Lloyd Willis, a 2020 OT, has arrived on campus.

Stick around, we’ll keep adding updates as events transpire.

Some observations/highlights

Players are heading to dinner and we will chat with them after, but here are some highlights. Observations to come as time permits.

Notes from Bud:

• QB Holden Geriner (‘22) was my top QB on the day, factoring in age.
• QB commit Jeff Sims (commit) had a good connection with ‘21 star Aygie Hall.
• RB Jaylan Knighton worked out and looked good.
• WR Jaheim Bell, a recent UF decommit, was strong going up to get the ball, which is encouraging.
• WR Aygie Hall was the best player at the event regardless of position.
• I didn’t see many reps of WR Malachi Wideman (commit), but he was working out.
• OL Thomas Shrader had some good reps along the offensive line.
• OL Zane Herring looks to have shed some bad weight.
• OL Lloyd Willis is raw, but was receptive to coaching. And he’s since committed to FSU.
• DL Morven Joseph had some explosive rushes:

• DL Eric Thomas, a previously unknown player from Pensacola Booker T. Washington had some wins.
• LB Keyshawn Greene (commit) was my top LB on the day.
• DB Demorie Tate (commit) was fluid for such a large corner.
• DB Marques Buford, a safety from Texas, received a lot of praise.
• DB Charles Brantley also had some wins.

There are others, but I want to watch the film before I say whom else because I don’t want to have to backtrack.

Sunday

It’s been a nice follow-up day for the Seminoles. After gaining a Saturday commitment from offensive lineman Lloyd Willis, a pair of other SNL attendees have verbally pledged to Florida State as well.

The first to pop for the ’Noles was defensive end Morven Jospeh. He was committed to UF less than a month ago.

Offensive tackle Thomas Shrader committed to FSU next, and he discussed his commitment process prior.

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Stay tuned— we’ll continue to post updates here.