Florida State got their shot with 5-star WR Kaliq Lockett on his official visit this weekend... Where do things now stand?
Zach Blostein
It's usually a challenge when you recruit out of your region.
That's what Florida State is doing with the recruitment of five-star wide receiver Kaliq Lockett -- who plays his high school football at Sachse High School in Texas.
With Texas, Texas A&M and LSU as the main competition, the Seminoles got their shot with the nation's No. 2 ranked pass catcher this weekend as Lockett spent several days around head coach Mike Norvell and his coaching staff.
Do the 'Noles have a real shot? He spoke with Noles247 about his trip to Tallahassee below:
The 6-foot-2, 175-pound Lone Star State native visited Tallahassee for the first time back in March. That trip is what vaulted the 'Noles up into the top portion of Lockett's recruitment.
Lockett has two more official visits remaining on his slate with Alabama and Texas scheduled to host him on campus over the next week.
Scouting Report via Dane Draper:
Lockett is an especially intriguing prospect given his impressively smooth and athletic skill set within a very long but wiry frame. Wielding a 79-inch wingspan and standing 6-foot-2,, he has the length and body control to showcase an awesome catch radius. He possesses the speed and subtle quickness to get separation at different levels of the field without a ton of effort and can bring down difficult catches even without that separation with strong, massive hands. Lockett is interesting in how he lacks size but has the skill set to be a dynamic and well-rounded WR which he has already previewed as a productive playmaker in a high classification of football in Texas.
In the past, he's mentioned FSU's tendency to move their WRs around the field as something he likes about them, and this holds especially true for how they could use a player like Lockett. He likely projects best as a "2" in Norvell's offense, which is an outside WR who also gets motioned around often to favorable positions and can stretch the field vertically. Given his ability to win one-on-ones in a variety of ways and play above his size, I think it's reasonable that he could stretch to the "9" WR spot as well, which is typically a bigger framed pass-catcher like Johnny Wilson, Kentron Poitier, and Hykeem Williams.
Keon Coleman was FSU's "2" last season, and Lockett referred to Coleman in how he could be used by Norvell and FSU's staff at FSU. Coleman also was one of the few WRs last season to work at both the "2" and the "9," which might again be similar to Lockett. Mike Norvell runs an offense with a lot of vertical passing, and this would further fit with Lockett as well.
How was your official visit to Florida State?
"Oh man, I enjoyed it a lot. I loved it, actually. I got a lot of my questions answered, like all of my official visits. I got to hang out with a lot of the current players like Malik Benson, Hykeem Williams, Jalen Brown, guys like that. Getting to be in the film room with coach [Ron] Dugans, he showed me a lot of his philosophy. Seeing how he'd use me in the offense -- getting me to put me in slot, boundary, all that."
What questions did you have for FSU?
"Definitely the dynamic with the players out of state. It's a lot of people in my ear telling me that Florida State doesn't have anybody not from Florida but that's not true. And I learned that over the course of this year. Because a lot of people in the receiver are from different states like Malik, he's from Kansas. Guys from Georgia, Tennessee. There is some guys from Florida but there is a lot of diversity in that room."
With Mike Norvell being from Texas, what does that mean?
"That plays a big part in why I'm considering Florida State as well. Him being from the DFW area, him also being a receiver guy, it's a big coincidence he grabs a guy from DFW to Tallahassee and recruited him. That plays a big factor in it as well. Coach Norvell, he's a receiver guru. Him wanting to coach me says a lot about me as a player and me as a person."
Did Florida State improve their chances with you coming out of the OV?
"Oh yeah for sure. Florida State is all the way up there. So is a lot of my schools. Y'all are just going to have to wait for the commitment."
What's up next and your timeline for a decision?
"I have Alabama [official visit] on Monday, Texas on Friday through Sunday. After my Texas visit on Sunday, I'm going to drop my commitment date. I'll have that list narrowed down and it'll probably be about three, four schools that's going to be on the table."
Confident that this place is going to be one of those four?
"Oh yes, for sure. They're definitely in [there] for sure."
Why is that?
"It felt different here. All of the out-of-state schools, in my opinion, it's going to be hard for me to leave the state of Texas. But coach Norvell and coach Dugans are really making it hard for me to say no to them. Their recruiting pitch was, in my opinion, wasn't recruiting. It's building a relationship. And I feel like I would be succesful here."
