TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — No one needed to tell Willie Taggart how much his new program meant to his home state, but he recently received a reminder anyway.



Driving through Bradenton on a recruiting trip, Taggart pulled up to a red light. A long red light. Long enough that he could see a car decked out in Florida State gear drive the other way, then get spooked as that same car — in the span of this same red light — rushed its way around the opposite side of the street and pulled up beside him.



“He stopped in the middle of the street and rolled down the windows and Tomahawk-chopped: ‘Yeahhh! Welcome! We’re glad you’re here!’ ” Taggart says with a laugh at the memory, sitting in his new office overlooking the north end zone of Doak Campbell Stadium. “The cars are waiting and everything. I’m like: You’ve got to be kidding me right now.



“I did the chop back really quick and then by that time...