It was only one week.
There is still a long way to go before Florida State’s 2022 signing class is in place. But after nearly 15 months of an NCAA-mandated “dead” period due to the coronavirus pandemic, Mike Norvell was determined to get off to a strong start in June.
And the second-year Seminoles head coach appears to have done just that.
The first six days of the month were a complete whirlwind of four- and five-star visits, punctuated by the smashing success that was FSU’s first-ever “Mega Camp” on Sunday. Nearly 3,000 high school football players from around the Southeast, and beyond, flocked to Tallahassee to be evaluated by coaches at FSU and more than 50 other colleges.
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“It was two-fold,” Norvell said Sunday. “One, we had close to 3,000 student-athletes that got a chance to come here and compete at Florida State, got a chance to have the ‘Seminole Experience.’ And we had 78 different schools out here that had a chance to evaluate them.
“This has been a crazy year for everyone. It’s easy to point to Division-I, to college football players and all the things they had to go through. But you’ve also got to remember the high school players. They’ve missed out with the dead period on an opportunity to be evaluated, an opportunity to help showcase their skills. And we wanted to help provide that.”
*ALSO SEE: Michael Langston’s recruiting nuggets, observations from Mega Camp
It wasn’t a completely altruistic venture, of course. Norvell and his staff get plenty out of the camp as well.
After all, his main focus is to win football games for Florida State University. And getting thousands of high school football players on your campus, some of whom just happen to be four- and five-star talents, is never a bad thing.
But it really wasn’t all about the Seminoles.
Dozens of other programs were represented, from Washington State and Indiana to Division-II and FCS schools, and everything in between. And they got to see kids compete against similarly skilled players.
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“There were kids today that maybe didn’t have the greatest of exposure coming in that are leaving with Division-I offers,” Norvell said. “And that’s special. That’s life-changing experiences. And I’m glad to be able to be a part of that.”
Norvell said he got texts throughout the day from high school coaches thanking him for the event and the exposure — and the coaching — the players were getting. And make no mistake, there was plenty of coaching going on.
Florida State current players were helping out. The Seminoles’ assistant coaches were running drills. College and high school coaches from all over the country were putting the players through their paces.
“This was a display of what our football program is working to be,” Norvell said. “Any time you’re dealing with close to 3,000 kids, there’s a lot of things you have to juggle. But we put time in and invest in the organizational aspect of it in making sure these kids have a great experience.
“So, when they leave here, they have a great sense of what Florida State Football is all about. And there are lot of guys out here on this field that might not ever get the opportunity to play for us, but they’re going to leave here as Florida State fans because of the experience they had.”
There were also a few players out on that field who Norvell very much wants to play football at Florida State.
And he hopes this experience, all that it entailed, helps to that end as well.
“Yes, we got to see some great players,” Norvell said. “We got to see some some guys that we were really in the process of still evaluating, who came out here and did a great job. And we extended some offers here after camps, and it was rally good to be able to see some great players.
“I think it was a success for all of us.”
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