Recruiting

After closing out the first day of the Early Signing Period in style, Florida State kept the momentum rolling with two additional blue-chip signees on Friday — 4-star edge rushers in LaJessee Harrold and Tylon Lee:

Lee had been committed to Ole Miss for a little over a month after flipping from the UCF Knights, but a major push by the Seminoles and subsequent official visit to Tallahassee for the UF game sealed the deal for the Seminoles. He will now reunite with former UCF head coach Gus Malzahn after a brief stint committed to the ‘Sip.

A four-star prospect, 247Sports Composite ranks Lee as the 287th best player in the country (30th best edge, 40th best player in Florida).

This season, Lee has 87 tackles (40 for loss- yes, 40!), 28 QB hurries, six sacks, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. As a junior, he finished with 61 tackles (20 for loss), 24 QB hurries, five sacks, and two forced fumbles. As a sophomore, he tallied 88 tackles (10 for loss), 24 QB hurries, three and a half sacks, and three pass break-ups.

Harrold had been committed to the LSU Tigers since June 22, but reopened his recruitment after a major push by the Seminoles and subsequent official visit to Tallahassee.

247Sports Composite ranks Harrold as the 182nd-best player in the country (18th-best edge, 28th-best player in Florida). He also plays basketball and runs track for his high school, hitting personal bests of 6.0 feet in the high jump (good for regional qualification), 40-1.5 feet in the triple jump, and 21-2.75 feet in the long jump.

Harrold is an intriguing prospect. His film shows good athleticism and a willingness to be patient and scan the line for gaps. He shows strong pursuit and doesn’t give up on plays, often leading to down-field tackles. He looks a bit raw in terms of pass-rush moves but the traits are there for an eventual starter or effective role player at minimum. Based on how this season has gone though, it’s a great addition for the Seminoles.

With the transfer portal window officially opening today and remaining open until December 28, there should be some more names joining — and departing — the Seminoles. You can keep up with all the changes in our offseason player movement tracker:

Offensive player subtractions so far

Defensive player subtractions so far

NFL Draft declarations so far

Class of 2025 Signees

Football

Usually when I do Noles News, I pretty much strictly focus on Florida State stuff — you guys more than handle anything else in the realm of sports in general in the comment section — but I would be remiss if I didn’t take the chance to laugh at Alabama finally figuring out the reaping sucks way harder than sowing. The pure presumption on their end that they deserved to be in the playoff this year despite three losses is the even more desperate version of last year’s clamoring that led to FSU’s snub, considering that Miami arguably got hosed even harder!

And the audacity to claim that now Alabama will not only be leading the charge on scheduling “easier” non-conference games (as if the Crimson Tide haven’t been at the forefront of fugazi tough non-con matchups, let alone the fact all three losses came in conference play and two to the hands of 6-6 squads), but also the eventual breaking off of the SEC to form their own country club invitational, is disgusting and lame and perhaps a realization on their end that Daddy Saban isn’t around to earn the benefit of the doubt anymore. The arrogance, the pure disregard for what makes college athletics amazing (anybody, presumably, has a shot) by complaining that teams that actually won games earned a spot, the inability to recognize just how much of a baby you’re being when screaming about “THE BEST 12 TEAMS AREN’T IN!!!” when you couldn’t even score a touchdown against Oklahoma — it’s that attitude that will lead to the eventual Power 2, watered down, private equity funded future.

I’ve seen actual analysis that revolves around the idea of “the committee giving too much weight to win-loss records” which is ridiculous on its face before even acknowledging that just a year ago, they did the exact opposite. I’ve seen more than a few people say that Alabama should sit out its bowl game, which, lol. The easy schedule argument is tired, especially since I feel like it’s something we’ve been hearing since the early days of the BCS and the people pushing the major matchups (TV network) are the reason why your conference has deluded itself into this idea of untouchable superiority.

Anyways — here’s the full, final bracket:

2025 College Football Playoff: First-round byes

1. Oregon Ducks (13-0, Big Ten champion)

2. Georgia Bulldogs (11-2, SEC champion)

3. Boise State Broncos (12-1, Mountain West champion)

4. Arizona State Sun Devils (11-2, Big 12 champion)

2025 College Football Playoff: First-round matchups

• No. 12 Clemson Tigers (10-3, ACC champion) at No. 5 Texas Longhorns (11-2, at-large) [Dec. 21, 4 p.m. ET, TNT]
• No. 11 SMU Mustangs (11-2, at-large) at No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions (11-2, at-large) [Dec. 21, noon ET, TNT]
• No. 10 Indiana Hoosiers (11-1, at-large) at No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (11-1, at-large) [Dec. 20, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN]
• No. 9 Tennessee Volunteers (10-2, at-large) at No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes (10-2, at-large) [Dec. 21, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN]

ICYMI: Florida State officially announced the hiring of another former Nebraska Cornhuskers staffer — this time, Evan Cooper as the Seminoles’ new safeties coach:

Basketball

FSU women’s basketball managed to snag a win over SMU on Sunday, outlasting the Mustangs in a 93-85 victory:

Florida State earned the victory and that is obviously the most important take-away from this game. Nevertheless, there were some warning flags seen this afternoon. The defensive performance in the first half would not have been good enough to beat the top teams in the ACC. The Noles were allowing too many open shots (most distressingly including a number of straight-line drives) as well as too many offensive rebounds. FSU was somewhat fortunate to be down only six points at the half.

The good news for Florida State is that they responded well in the third quarter scoring 30 points on the way to that 18 point lead. The Seminoles tightened up the defense in that stretch perhaps most importantly cleaning up the defensive glass.

Florida State has the top scoring offense in the nation at 94.3 points per game. That is obviously fantastic and that level of offense will win FSU a lot of games by itself. However, the Noles rank 209th in scoring defense. That will be a problem against the top teams. Part of that is due to pace but still FSU needs to play better defense consistently to secure a spot in the top tier of the ACC.

SMU was game today but the bottom line is that the Mustangs are not as talented as Florida State especially since they only had nine players available. SMU is not the type of team that FSU needs to beat if they are to break through in the NCAA Tournament (because SMU will not be in the NCAA Tournament). The type of team that FSU needs to beat will take full advantage of the sluggish first half performance that we saw today.

Florida State is a good team that has the potential to be really good. However, to reach that potential they need to improve defensively and they need to start soon.

The men, meanwhile, dropped their ACC opener, losing to NC State in overtime:

All Sports

FSU soccer’s Taylor Huff (first team), Jordynn Dudley (second team) and Heather Gilchrist (fourth) all earned United Soccer Coaches All-American honors this past weekend:

Huff and Dudley earned All-American honors for a second consecutive season, both claiming first and second team honors in that span.

Huff completed her collegiate career with an incredible final season as she was named to the All-ACC First Team, ACC All-Tournament Team, and United Soccer Coaches All-Atlantic Region First Team along with being named the ACC Tournament MVP. Huff was also named a 2024 Hermann Trophy semifinalist. She led the squad with 12 goals and 10 assists for 34 total points as a midfielder. Huff has scored over 104 career points and became the fastest to reach 20 points in one season in the past decade. She also earned all-conference honors in all four seasons in collegiate play.

Dudley further emphasized her place as one of the greatest forwards in the country, securing a second consecutive 25-point season. The reigning national freshman of the year registered 29 points off nine goals and 11 assists in 15 games played. She was also named to the All-ACC First Team, ACC All-Tournament Team, United Soccer Coaches All-Atlantic Region First Team, and a two-time Hermann Trophy semifinalist. The forward scored multiple goals for the United States to help record a bronze medal at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup through the early stretch of the collegiate season.

Gilchrist solidified the core of the Seminole defense and helped claim a fourth consecutive double-digit shutout season for the team. Gilchrist made 15 appearances for the garnet and gold and was named to the All-ACC Third Team, ACC All-Tournament Team, and United Soccer Coaches All-Atlantic Region First Team. The defender made multiple starts for the United States backline and recorded a bronze medal at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

Sophomore Florida State cross country athlete Bieke Schipperen will compete in the 30th annual SPAR European Cross Country Championships on December 8 in Antalya, Turkey: