FSU-Mia: The Battle Continues

JUCO signing day began last Wednesday, December 19th. Florida St has arguably the best JUCO class in the nation. With names like Tavares Pressley and Corey Surrency, FSU will be bringing in a solid core of skill position players next season. Pressley is the real deal and might compete for playing time immediately in the backfield. He is very similar to Darren McFadden, 6'1" - 215 with blinding speed.

On Dec. 19th, however, FSU lost one of its prized JUCO recruits. LaGarrett Blount signed instead with Oregon. The East Miss CC prospect would have been a nice compliment to the speedy Pressley. Blount is roughly 6'2" - 230 lbs. He would have been the thunder to Pressley's lightning. Now he is headed to Oregon. A nice pick-up for the Ducks as Blount is much in the mold of Jonathan Stewart, although not quite as fast.

Late last week FSU took another hit. And I don't mean of the peace pipe. That was the 34 suspended players. Actually it was academics not drugs that got them suspended, but they had to have been smoking something...I digress...

Crawfordville defensive back C.J. Holton decommitted from the local Seminoles and instead pledged to play for Miami.

Holton is much in the mold of a Miami safety. Names like Brandon Merriweather, Kenny Phillips and the late Sean Taylor have made The-U an attractive place for safeties to come. Holton has a very similar game to that of Merriweather and Phillips. Holton possesses the speed and agility to cover like Merriweather and Phillips but can also come up and fill lanes against the run.

Holton is comfortable in all situations making him a very versatile player for coordinators. Randy Shannon will be able to drop him into the box when needed, play him in a 2-deep zone or blitz everyone and stick him in a man-to-man situation on the outside. The 6-2, 200 lb safety will be a solid player for Miami.

To a defensive class that might already be the best in the nation, Miami added another stud. Arthur Brown and Co. make the LB class tops in the nation. Now with Holton and Patrick Johnson (at least for now), the DB class is up there as well.

If Miami can add Tommy Streeter, Ben Jones, Brandon Harris and Matt Patchan they will be pushing for the top class in the nation. They would need to keep Johnson as well but that looks like a long shot. (FLA Gators)

How he ranks:

Rivals: #6 safety, #124 overall
Scout: #11 safety, #153 overall
ESPN: #6 safety, #104 overall