{"id":299179,"date":"2026-06-07T14:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/299179\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T14:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T14:00:10","slug":"four-star-lb-spurns-fsu-football-for-florida-gators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/299179\/","title":{"rendered":"Four-Star LB Spurns FSU Football For Florida Gators"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"64\">The Florida State Seminoles underwent a few significant changes in the linebacker room this offseason, with one of the biggest being the promotion of Ernie Sims to lead the unit.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"67\">The on-field results are yet to be determined. However, the early returns on the recruiting trail haven&#8217;t necessarily been positive.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6a\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/fsu\/florida-state-seminoles-in-the-pros\/former-fsu-star-jared-verse-shares-honest-thoughts-rams-trade\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: Former FSU Star Jared Verse Shares Honest Thoughts on Rams Trade<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">Sims has managed to retain four-star linebacker Gregory Batson, so far. With that being said, he&#8217;s yet to add a commit of his own to the class, and he&#8217;ll have to wait at least a little longer.<\/p>\n<p>Four-Star LB Chooses Florida Over Florida State<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6n\">On Saturday, four-star linebacker Ellis McGaskin announced his commitment to Florida State over Florida and LSU. McGaskin took his lone official visit to Florida last weekend. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6q\">The Seminoles joined McGaskin&#8217;s recruitment over two years ago. He&#8217;s made numerous trips to campus, including an unofficial visit in April to watch a spring practice.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6t\">Florida has added five pledges since the beginning of June, while Florida State holds just seven total commitments. There&#8217;s a stark contrast between the two programs at the moment.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6w\">During his junior season at Williamson High School, McGaskin totaled 160 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks, two forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, one interception, two pass deflections, and four blocked punts.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6z\">McGaskin recorded at least 12 tackles in all 12 of his appearances, including a season-high 18 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss, and one fumble recovery in a 64-9 victory against Elberta High School on September 4.  He added 26 rushes for 258 yards and four touchdowns, while scoring once through the air, on offense.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"72\">The 6-foot-1, 205-pound linebacker is regarded as the No. 353 overall prospect, the No. 28 LB, and the No. 16 recruit in Alabama in the 2027 class according to the 247Sports Composite Ratings.<\/p>\n<p>Information On Florida State&#8217;s 2027 Class<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"78\">Florida State holds seven verbal commitments in #Tribe27, which ranks No. 55 in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Who Is Committed To FSU In The 2027 Class?<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7e\">Three-Star QB Logan Flaherty<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7h\">Three-Star TE Connor Winn<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7k\">Three-Star DE Anthony Cavallaro<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-18\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7n\">Three-Star DL Eric Vaulx Jr.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-19\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7q\">Four-Star LB Gregory Batson<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-20\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7t\">Three-Star DB Jemari Foreman<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-21\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7w\">Three-Star DB DaYon Cooper<\/p>\n<p>Who Does Florida State Have At Linebacker For The 2026 Season?<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-23\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"82\">Omar Graham Jr., Redshirt Senior<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-24\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"85\">Mikai Gbayor, Redshirt Senior<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-25\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"88\">AJ Cottrill, Redshirt Senior<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-26\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8b\">Blake Nichelson, Senior<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-27\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8e\">Caleb LaVallee, Redshirt Junior<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-28\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8h\">Brandon Torrest, Redshirt Junior<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-29\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8k\">Chris Jones, Junior<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-30\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8n\">Chris Thomas, Junior<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-31\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8q\">Ethan Pritchard, Redshirt Freshman<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-32\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8t\">Izayia Williams, Freshman<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-33\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8w\">Karon Mayock, Freshman<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-34\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"8z\">Daylen Green, Freshman<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-35\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"92\">Noah LaVallee, Freshman<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-37\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"99\">Sign up for our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/fsu\/newsletter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">free newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/fsu\/florida-state-seminoles-college-basketball\/facebook.com\/NoleGameday\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0<a 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of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-299179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}