Florida State lands commitment

TALLAHASSEE — FSU added to its recruiting class Sunday, landing a commitment from New Orleans linebacker/safety Clifford

Chattman.

Chattman, out of McDonogh 35 High, took an official visit to Florida State during the weekend and pledged to the Seminoles Sunday.

“It’s been a long route with this recruiting process, but I have talked to my family and I’m blessed to say that I have commit to play my next 3-4 years at ... Florida State,” Chattman posted on his Twitter account.

Chattman (6-4, 175) picked FSU over USC, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Arizona and others. He is ranked a three-star prospect by 247Sports.com and is the No. 43 athlete in the country according to the website’s composite rating. He was once committed to LSU, but he withdrew his pledge in November.

Although Chattman can play either safety or outside linebacker, FSU has a pressing need at linebacker. Chattman is slight but his length, quickness and range make him a candidate to play weakside linebacker with the Seminoles in a similar capacity as Telvin

Smith and Terrance Smith have in recent years. Chattman played on the same Louisiana-based 7-on-7 team as a fellow FSU commit, safety Kyle Meyers. He also was a prep teammate with four-star defensive tackle Stephon

Taylor.

He is the 19th pledge in FSU’s 2016 recruiting class.

Clarke commits to Syracuse

Devon Clarke committed to the University of Syracuse’s 2016 football recruiting class during a recent official visit to the New York school.

“It feels good to finally be committed to Syracuse,” said Clarke, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound safety at Kissimmee Osceola High.

Committing to the Orangemen, however, wasn’t exactly Clarke’s biggest accomplishment within the past month.

He had tried previously to commit to Syracuse late last year during Kissimmee Osceola’s run to the Class 8A state title game.

There were two issues, however.

The Syracuse coaching staff at that time was on the hot seat and eventually head coach Scott Shafer was fired. The other issue was Clarke’s qualifying marks. He had yet to gain a high enough score on his college entrance exam to reach NCAA requirements and it further prolonged his limbo status as he looked for his future school.

Two days before Christmas, however, that all changed. He had taken the ACT three times, and he finally got what he needed as a qualifying score.

“I saw my score online and I jumped out of bed and showed my grandma,” Clarke said. “She was happy for me, real happy.”