Gainer helps anchor Seminoles’ slim class
TALLAHASSEE — After landing in Tallahassee on an overnight flight from Oregon and a lengthy day filled with appearances after being introduced as Florida State’s new head football coach on Dec. 6, Willie Taggart finished his first day of his new tenure by visiting one of the key pieces to his first recruiting class.
On Wednesday, Taggart’s grit paid off.
Tallahassee Chiles High linebacker Amari Gainer, a four-star prospect whose father played under Bobby Bowden at FSU, signed with the Seminoles, securing one of the most outgoing and steadfast pledges in FSU’s 2018 recruiting class.
“It meant a lot,” Gainer said of his visit with Taggart. “I found out who my coach was, and I could go back and tell my players that coach Taggart is going to look out for us. He’s the best for us. And hopefully, we can win a national championship next year.”
As former coach Jimbo Fisher wavered from FSU to a new job at Texas A&M, Gainer began to scope out other schools like Miami, Texas and Oklahoma because of the uncertainty of FSU’s coaching situation.
But once the Seminoles hired Taggart, Gainer once again realized he could achieve his childhood dream and continued his working to recruit other players on social media to bolster FSU’s 2018 class.
“It feels good to be locked in, signed and I’m ready to start practicing now,” said Gainer, who is ranked as a Top 20 linebacker by 247Sports.com.
After Fisher’s coaching staff nearly brought FSU’s recruiting efforts to a screeching halt in the final month of his tenure, the Seminoles’ class tumbled from being ranked eighth nationally to outside of the top 50 until Jaiden Woodbey, the nation’s No. 2 safety from California, announced his decision to sign with FSU late Wednesday night.
Gainer and Woodbey were two of four players to sign early with the Seminoles on Wednesday. FSU’s 2018 class was ranked 64th nationally and last among 14 schools in the ACC before landing Woodbey, pushing the Seminoles to No. 44 overall and seventh in the ACC.
While FSU would like to sign more players by Friday’s early-signing-period deadline, Taggart and his new coaching staff will likely turn their attention to quickly cultivating relationships with uncommitted players ahead of February’s National Signing Day to salvage the recruiting class.
And Gainer plans to continue helping the Seminoles secure new talent to help him on the field in the future.
“I’m telling them [Taggart is] down to earth, and he’s a good dude,” Gainer said of his message to other recruits. “He’s not going to lie to you and he’s not going to sugarcoat anything. I’m just telling them he’ll tell you straight up, you can earn a new spot because it’s a new staff.
“The stage is set. We’re going to go to the national championship. If they’re in, they’re in.”
Gainer sat alongside several members of his family during a signing ceremony at Legacy Toyota car dealership in Tallahassee, where his father, former FSU wide receiver Herb Gainer, now works.
Herb Gainer, who played under Bowden from 1984-87, relished in the fact his son will have a chance to follow in his footsteps.
“Seeing him as a young kid and sometimes getting knocked down. But I would always tell him, ‘One day, I’m going to see you running up and down Doak Campbell Stadium,’ and he’d look with me with a little smile,” Herb Gainer said of his son.
“I’m glad to know it’s going to happen for him. I’m excited.”
Taggart will have to hustle to continue building his first recruiting class at Florida State, which signed four-star defensive tackle Robert Cooper and three-star offensive tackle Christian Armstrong on Wednesday.
But the prospects of Taggart’s leadership and the future of the Seminoles continue to foster excitement, especially among the Gainers.
“I’m going to tell you like I heard Willie tell one of the kids on the phone that night we were sitting together: ‘It’s about to get ugly in Tallahassee,’” Herb Gainer said of Taggart’s potential as new FSU coach.
“I think it’s going to get real ugly in Tallahassee — in a good way.”