When In Roam: FSU football scours nation for 2016 class

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If he didn't know it already, Naseir Upshur gained a clear understanding of how far Florida State would travel for elite talent once he arrived on campus for his official visit.

"It blew me away when I got in the classroom and asked all the tight ends where they were from," said Upshur, who is rated by Rivals as the No. 2 tight end in the nation. "I don’t think any of them were really from Florida. One (Ryan Izzo) was from New Jersey. One guy (Mavin Saunders) was from [The Bahamas]. And someone (Jalen Wilkerson) was from Georgia."

Although Jeremy Kerr is from St. Petersburg, Fla., there is something to be said for Upshur's observation. Three of the team's four scholarship tight ends in 2015 were from states other than Florida.

That trend will continue with the arrival of Upshur, who is from Philadelphia, Pa., and the rest of the Seminoles' 2016 signing class. FSU coach Jimbo Fisher and his staff took advantage of a nationwide search by grabbing 25 players from 11 states (including Florida) and Washington, D.C.

Those efforts certainly paid off. The Seminoles finished with the nation's No. 2 class, according to Rivals, while some media outlets had it rated No. 1.

"Mars, Pluto, Venus and Saturn must have all been lined up. I joke about that because it wasn't intentional. It's just the way it fell out," Fisher said about assembling a class with so many moving pieces and several last-minute decisions. "I think part of it is you had 10 different states represented. Sometimes guys are farther away, so they don't get down [to Tallahassee] as much. Still taking visits, still seeing things. I think sometimes that has a lot to do with it."

During Fisher's first six recruiting classes, the Seminoles have signed players from 17 states ranging from California to Virginia, North Dakota to Texas. And the Seminoles' coaches certainly racked up some frequent-flyer miles to land this group.

Including Florida-based players, Fisher and his staff traveled a combined 13,620 miles from Tallahassee to the various locations of the 25 signees -- in most cases, they made several trips. By comparison, the Seminoles traveled 2,881 miles for their entire 2015 schedule and will roam 3,498 miles for their regular-season schedule in 2016.

Upshur is one of several signees who represent the unique nature of the class.

While he hails from one of the nation's largest cities, Upshur's high school -- Imhotep Institute Charter School -- is a program on the rise. The school was founded less than 20 years ago and has competed in football for little more than a decade, yet Upshur helped Imhotep to a 15-0 record and a Class 3A state title this past season.

During his visit to Tallahassee, Upshur said FSU tight ends coach Tim Brewster made it clear that the players' backgrounds would have no impact on their chances for success in college.

"He was going to play the best player at the position no matter where they are from," Upshur said.

FSU went in a much different direction geographically to land linebacker Dontavious Jackson. The nation's No. 5-rated inside linebacker played at Houston's Alief Elsik High School, located in one of the nation's larger recruiting hotbeds in Texas.

While the Seminoles might have appeared to be a longshot against some of the in-state powers who were recruiting him, Jackson said FSU's coaches did a great job of building a relationship with him when he was a junior. The four-star prospect, who held more than 50 offers including Alabama, Oregon and Texas, said there can be a different feel when it comes to receiving attention from out-of-state schools.

"For them to come out of the state of Florida [to recruit me], that means a lot," Jackson told Warchant. "It was still kind of a shocker because they can get guys from all over. What they cannot get in Florida, for them to come to the state of Texas, it makes me feel important. And that's why they were high on the board."

* Check out FSU's Offensive Hot Board for 2017

That certainly was the case for fellow signee Logan Tyler, who is the early favorite to replace Cason Beatty as FSU's punter in 2016. Tyler hails from Nixa, a town of 20,000 people in southwest Missouri, and he said it's not very often schools like FSU come around looking for prospects.

"The closest big colleges are Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri," Tyler said. "For [FSU to show interest] is a pretty big deal. The school I am at, the area ... it's a big deal to be recruited. Our high school wrestling coach works on the football staff, and when [special-teams coach Jay Graham] came to see me kick, he told me that if nothing came out of it, it is still awesome to have an FSU coach watch me."

Before Tyler, FSU had signed only one player during Fisher's time from Missouri, and that was starting left tackle Roderick Johnson, who is from the St. Louis suburb of Florissant.

"I feel like the area is a little under-recruited, and Coach Graham made that point to me one time," Tyler said about prospects from Missouri. "I feel like it's pretty big for our state that Rod and I were both recruited by FSU and for a successful program to come to Missouri. I hope I can follow in his footsteps in coming from Missouri and repping us well."

* Don't miss our just-released Defensive Hot Board for 2017

Recruiting throughout the nation does more than benefit Fisher and his staff.

Upshur said one of the reasons he chose FSU was so he could start building a better life for himself away from North Philadelphia, one of the city's most crime-stricken areas. In 2015, more than 1,900 violent crimes -- acts classified as assaults, homicides and robberies -- were reported in North Philadelphia, according to Philadelphia Inquirer crime statistics for the area's eastern section and western section.

"There's a lot of killings and shootings going on around my way," Upshur said. "I'm not mad at all about leaving. I am going to miss my family, but I feel like I am picking the right school. It's very important. My mom, even to this day, wants to know from Coach Brewster that nothing will happen to her son. [My parents] know it's kind of big for me to get away from the 'hood and the ghetto. I can become a better person without any trouble."

Upshur, who cited a strong relationship with Brewster as a primary reason for his decision to sign with the Seminoles, said he was impressed by how much he learned from his new position coach every time they spoke. He also appreciates the commitment Brewster has made to him.

Brewster, who is FSU's recruiting coordinator and easily the Seminoles' most active coach on social media, has tweeted with the hashtag #NorthPhilly throughout the year as a homage to Upshur.

Upshur viewed it as a sign of a respect and a reminder of a number of things.

"He knows where I am from and he knows it goes down here with a lot of people," Upshur said. "When he came to visit me, there were bullet holes in the window three houses down from me. He saw that as well. I am coming from nothing and I want to be something."

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