Florida State just scored its most significant verbal commitment on the recruiting trail this cycle, as elite defensive back Ta’Shawn Poole has given his pledge to the Seminoles.
Poole is a 6’2, 185-pound defensive back who plays for Howard High School in Macon, Georgia. Poole is considered the 64th best player in the country by 247Composite (6th best safety, 5th best in GA) and chose FSU over fellow finalists Georgia and Tennessee, in addition to nearly every other significant power program in the nation. He is easily the most notable commit in Evan Cooper’s recruiting history.
While verbal commitments certainly aren’t binding and plenty of things can change, Poole represents a massive recruiting victory for a program desperately in need of them. He almost perfectly fits the rover position in Tony White’s defensive schemes. If you were building an ideal rover prospect from scratch, he’d look an awful lot like Poole. While early playing time gets thrown around a lot more often in recruiting pitches these days, Poole would immediately become one of (if not the) most talented safeties in the room and could work his way into a starting position sooner than later as he learns the schemes. And no doubt, the Seminoles are also showing him significant love through NIL opportunities.
Poole is an extremely talented safety who tallied 37 tackles (two for loss) two interceptions, and a sack despite not being targeted as often as his teammates in the backfield. On offense, he notched 30 catches for 454 yards and seven touchdowns along with 33 rushes for 200 yards and another four scores. He even added a punt return touchdown to his resume.
And yes, we know it’s a verbal commitment and FSU needs to weather many storms to hold on. We know about KJ Bolden. We know all those things. Welcome to the Tribe, Ta’Shawn!