Tallahassee's Devin Rispress is 'right at home' as FSU football's new Director of Recruiting

Tallahassee’s Devin Rispress is ‘right at home’ as FSU football’s new Director of Recruiting

Posted by author February 25, 2025 Football

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Home, sweet home.

Tallahassee’s Devin Rispress is back in the Capital City as Florida State football’s Director of Recruiting.

Rispress was hired away from Deion Sanders’ coaching staff as the Colorado Buffaloes’ Assistant Director of Player Personnel and High School Relations.

The Rickards High School alum’s role with the Seminoles is vital in their aim to have a turnaround season in 2025 after finishing 2-10 in 2024.

“It’s been a blessing,” Rispress told the Tallahassee Democrat in a one-on-one interview. “I don’t look at the title. I see myself as a guy coming in to help get this thing back on track. I wouldn’t mind doing this job anywhere in the country, but it means a lot to do it right here at home for Florida State.”

Rispress joining FSU football’s coaching staff has been years in the making, dating back to the early days of Mike Norvell’s tenure as the Seminoles’ head coach.

In 2019, Norvell invited Rispress on campus.

Then, working as Gadsden County High School’s associate head coach, Rispress dressed in a suit and tie and thought Norvell would offer him a job. However, the FSU head coach wanted to meet with Rispress due to his new recruiting coordinators’ connection to Big Bend and Florida talent.

“I think that was my interview, to be honest,” Rispress reflected on that 2019 meeting.

That nearly six-year-old encounter all culminated last December while Rispress was in contact with FSU football general manager Darrick Yray.

“It started with some small talk between D-Yray and me. He told me that an opportunity may come open soon,” Rispress explained. “We talked for a couple of days here and there, and Coach Norvell beeped in one day. That’s when I knew it was real. Coach Norvell told me it was time.”

Rispress spent his childhood walking distance from Doak Campbell Stadium and hearing the Warchant at the FSU football games while living in the Joe Louis Street projects and the Bond Community.

Rispress often spent weekends with his first cousin, former FSU wide receiver Tamarick Vanover (1992-1993), and the 1993 FSU national championship team at Burt Reynolds Hall.

Now, the 44-year-old has an office with an overhead view of Doak Campbell Stadium.

“I remember when the bleachers were wooden, and they had carnival fair tickets to the game. I’ve been a lifelong Seminole,” Rispress said. “It still feels unreal that I can wear the Garnet and Gold.”

Florida State football director of recruiting Devin Rispress is a part of many coaching trees

After starring as a running back for the Rickards Redskins, ‘The Rispress Express’ went on to play college football for Bethune-Cookman after graduating high school in 1999.

A little over a decade later, former Godby High School head coach Ronnie Cottrell offered Rispress a coaching job. Then, Rispress joined his alma mater, Rickards, under head coach Quintin Lewis, who pushed him into recruiting.

Rispress then left Rickards to join Corey Fuller’s Gadsden County High School staff as the associate head coach.

Rispress joined his longtime friend Willie Simmons’ Florida A&M football staff as the Rattlers’ Director of Recruiting in 2022.

But that wasn’t originally the plan.

Simmons initially interviewed Rispress to become FAMU’s running backs coach.

The interview didn’t go well for Rispress.

“I bombed it bad,” Rispress said, chuckling about the interview.

Simmons went a different direction with the running backs coach job.

However, the former FAMU and current Florida International head coach Simmons noticed Rispress’ link to college football prospects and had other plans.

“Willie Simmons called me back and told me that he was going in another direction on the running backs coach job, but I’m going to create a position for you ― the Director of Recruiting,” Rispress said. “I learned a lot from Coach Simmons, and Dan Lemke taught me some stuff too.”

Rispress and Fuller have the distinction of working for both of Tallahassee’s college football teams. Fuller was the interim head coach at FAMU in 2014 and now works as FSU’s Director of Football Relations.

In 2023, Rispress recruited a Rattlers team that would sweep through HBCU football on the way to winning the Southwestern Athletic Conference and Celebration Bowl titles ― both firsts for FAMU ― on the way to claiming the program’s 16th Black College National Championship.

Rispress’ recruit, Kelvin Dean Jr., won the Celebration Bowl’s Offensive Most Valuable Player. Rispress coached Dean at Rickards.

“I took that thing, made it my own, and helped build those rosters to win a national championship,” Rispress said of his time at FAMU.

After ruling HBCU football, some of FAMU’s championship coaching staff disbanded.

That included Simmons leaving to become Duke’s running backs coach for the 2024 season. And Rispress left to join Colorado’s staff.

It was the second straight year Colorado offered Rispress a job. He didn’t leave FAMU for Colorado the first time because he had a good feeling about the Rattlers’ 2023 team, which he was correct about.

Once Rattlers hoisted the trophy, Rispress was ready to take ‘Coach Prime’ up on his offer to come to Boulder, which went official in January 2024.

He uprooted to Boulder, nearly 2,000 miles from his hometown of Tallahassee, and had to leave his son, Devin Jr., behind for the remainder of the 2024-2025 school year.

Rispress helped the Buffaloes’ improve from 4-8 to 9-4 in 2024, which ended with Colorado earning a bowl game for the first time since 2020 and a winning record since 2016.

“I ended up getting another call from Coach Prime. There’s no way I could turn this thing down twice. I doubt he’ll spin the block three times,” Rispress explained. “It was a sacrifice I made for me and my son to receive an opportunity like Florida State or something on that level.”

Devin Rispress helped Florida State football land one of the nation’s best recruiting classes

FSU netted the No. 18 recruiting class in the 247Sports rankings and No. 19 in the 247Sports composite industry rankings.

Rispress won’t take all the credit, though.

He says Norvell and staff already had set the framework for the Seminoles’ 2025 roster.

“I like to think I’m the best in the country. But I’m learning a lot under Darrick Yray and Coach Norvell,” Rispress said. “I have an eye for talent, but there are still things I could brush up on to be better at my job.”

Rispress is ready to see everything play out on the field, starting with spring football.

The Seminoles’ 2025 season opens on Aug. 30, when they host the Alabama Crimson Tide at Doak. It’ll be the first look at Rispress recruiting products and a new-look FSU football staff that includes new hires Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator and Tony White as defensive coordinator.

“I expect a successful season,” Rispress said. “Many holes that needed to be filled from last year to now have been filled. I feel confident in the guys and the new coaches that we brought in. And for me to be around Coach Norvell consistently, I see a fiery guy. He has that passion to right that ship.”

Florida State’s 2025 Football Schedule

Saturday, Aug. 30: vs. Alabama
Saturday, Sept. 6: vs. East Texas A&M
Saturday, Sept. 20: vs. Kent State
Friday, Sept. 26: at Virginia
Saturday, Oct. 4: vs. Miami
Saturday, Oct. 11: vs. Pitt
Saturday, Oct. 18: at Stanford
Saturday, Nov. 1: vs. Wake Forest
Saturday, Nov. 8: at Clemson
Saturday, Nov. 15: vs. Virginia Tech
Friday, Nov. 21: at North Carolina State
Saturday, Nov. 29: at Florida

Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.

Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.