As speculation swirled that Florida State coach Mike Norvell would replace Nick Saban at Alabama last month, TJ Ferguson found himself watching from the other side. He was in the transfer portal, considering transferring from Bama to FSU.
“Coach Norvell's message to me was just, 'I'm here,'” Ferguson said.
Now Ferguson is here too – along with four former Crimson Tide teammates.
This quintet injected talent from Tuscaloosa to Tallahassee. All were blue-chip transfers in his No. 4 ranked portal class by 247Sports. Three were top-100 recruits nationally in high school: running back Roydell Williams, linebacker Sean Murphy and offensive lineman Ferguson. The fourth (defensive back Earl Little Jr.) was ranked No. 106 and the fifth (receiver Malik Benson) was the nation's top junior college prospect.
This group is as big as the teams from Alabama who play at Ohio State (second-team All-American Caleb Downs) and Texas (Isaiah Bond, an Iron Bowl hero, and Lakewood High School graduate Amari Niblack). They're not top-class players, but no team has signed more players. More from the Tide diaspora than the Seminoles.
“I honestly feel like all of us here could bring some of Alabama to Florida and mix our cultures together,” Murphy said. . “I think that’s great for all of us.”
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/KIJSMUTC35HJLNVTLCRZJ6KAGY.jpg "Sean Murphy is one of five Alabama players who transferred to FSU.")
Murphy is an outlier among the group. He was the only one to enter the portal after Saban's spectacular retirement. Benson and Little had already committed to FSU by that time. Coach Ferguson chose the day after Norvell announced Saban was retiring, and the day before Norvell announced he would remain at FSU.
So Saban isn't the central figure in this transition. It's Nobel.
He and his FSU staff extended offers to all five players for the first time. Noles was a strong candidate for Ferguson, Little and Murphy in high school.
“I don't think it was the right time at the time, but it played a big part in why I'm here now,” Ferguson said. “And we feel like now is the right time.”
You don't have to look too hard to understand why.
When Little was deciding on his first college, “Bama was on its way to the national title game (again).” FSU was 5-7. Since then, Florida State is 23-4. The turnaround that Nobel talked about during Little's first recruitment efforts has paid off.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/V7Z52ME2UVCDBGFFCX4AZ3HRWU.jpg "Earl Little Jr. (right) strongly considered FSU as a high school freshman, but chose the University of Alabama instead.")
“Coach Norvell said he was going to do it and he actually lived up to his word and achieved great goals and brought success to the program?'' Little didn't say. “That was great.”
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/3KMXMNZYE5ATTCL2AYP224QPHU.png "Stay up to date on the Tampa Bay sports scene")
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Of course, it could have been bigger. FSU started 13-0 last season and won the ACC, but was eliminated from the College Football Playoff in favor of Alabama. While that dynamic may sound awkward, it actually doesn't have to be. Everett Golson stopped Notre Dame's last-second loss at QB in a top-five showdown at FSU in 2014 and started for the Noles the following year. It happens.
All members of the “Bama group” individually chose FSU, but their connections also played a role.
After Little committed the crime on January 6, Benson asked Little what he liked. Two days later, Benson committed to and began responding to calls and text messages from other teammates in the portal. They wanted to know what Tallahassee was like and, in Williams' case, where to eat.
“Come see for yourself,” Benson told them.
A week later, the remaining three were also on board.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/3UP2UZCH55HXZKI5SKTV2HF6R4.jpg "Malik Benson had 13 catches (one touchdown) for the University of Alabama last season.")
“This makes it much easier to transition into everything that’s going on,” Murphy said. “We see some familiar faces, but we’re not doing this alone.”
Their decision comes at a critical time for the new program. FSU lost 42% of its production last season, ranking 83rd nationally and third from bottom in the ACC, according to ESPN. Unless the rookie is a star player, it's natural to expect the Noles to stall after this many turnovers.
The addition of Alabama brings a total of 100 games of experience. At least once he started three. There's little to add to a secondary that's missing three starters, but Williams and Benson could fill in for NFL-bound stars Trey Benson and Keon Coleman.
But any optimism is based on potential rather than proven ability. Williams was Alabama's No. 2 rusher and scored the first touchdown at USF, but the other players were more role players than stars. Again, Jermaine Johnson was a role player at another heavyweight (Georgia) before attending FSU. He left as the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-round NFL Draft pick.
“It's like a little brotherhood that's already formed that we're all here,” Benson said. “We can bring that here and bring what we know to this team and it’s going to make the team stronger.”
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