Florida State announced that it will begin its spring practice on Monday, March 6th. On Thursday afternoon, we at FifthQuarter released our running back spring practice preview for the Seminoles. We continue the position previews by highlighting the wide receiver room today.
HOW IT STARTED
Unfortunately, Florida State struggled to get much production from its wide receivers during the 2021 season. Leading receiver Ontaria Wilson collected just 23 receptions for 382 yards and five touchdowns. During the 2022 recruiting cycle, the Seminoles were not able to acquire a wide receiver prospect to bring young talent into the room as five-star target Kevin Coleman committed to Jackson State and four-star Devaughn Mortimer flipped his commitment from FSU to Louisville.
As a result, the coaching staff decided to acquire veteran talent through the transfer portal with the likes of Winston Wright Jr., Mycah Pittman Jr., Johnny Wilson, and Deuce Spann. The four wide receiver transfers combined for 92 receptions, 1,163 receiving yards, and eight touchdowns during the 2021 season.
HERE COMES JOHNNY!
The wide receiver position improved significantly during the 2022 season thanks to 6-foot-7 Johnny Wilson, who had 43 receptions for 897 yards and 5 touchdowns. Mycah Pittman Jr. also contributed in a major role where he collected 32 receptions for 330 yards and 3 touchdowns. What makes the Seminoles’ wide receiver position improvement even more impressive was that West Virginia transfer Winston Wright Jr. did not play this past season due to suffering an injury from last offseason with a car accident.
PERFECT TIME FOR DESTYN HILL SIGHTING
Unfortunately, the Seminoles will have to find a method of replacing production from graduating senior Ontaria Wilson, who had 30 receptions for 495 yards and four touchdowns, and talented Malik McClain, who transferred to Penn State. Fortunately, Florida State will have the luxury of bringing in three highly-touted high school prospects from their 2023 recruiting class in five-star Hykeem Williams, four-star Vandrevius Jacobs, and three-star Darren Lawrence. Plus, they will likely be bringing in the man, the myth, the legend *cough* Destyn Hill *cough*. According to a report from On3’s Sam Spigelman, Hill is supposed to enroll at FSU in May).
WIDE RECEIVER ROTATION
Here is a look at the wide receiver position group for the Seminoles:
-Winston Wright Jr., RS Sr
-Mycah Pittman Jr., RS Sr
-Fernando Padron, RS Sr (walk-on)
-Johnny Wilson, RS Jr
-Deuce Spann, RS Jr
-Darion Williamson, RS Jr
-Kentron Poitier, RS Jr
-Ja’Khi Douglas, RS Jr
-Jeremiah Giedrys, RS Jr (walk-on)
-Joshua Burrell, RS Soph
-Carson Pielock, RS Fr (walk-on)
-Hykeem Williams, Fr
-Vandrevius Jacobs, Fr
-Darren Lawrence, Fr
– Destyn Hill, Fr (possible)