TALLAHASSEE -- Mike Norvell learned to be creative at Memphis.

He had to, because Memphis requires outside-the-box thinking when it comes to recruiting and evaluating.

Now he’s doing the same at Florida State, to an extent, in his first cycle with the Seminoles. Norvell and his staff played catch-up compared to most Power Five programs -- which is the norm in a transition class with a new coach -- and this forced FSU to explore different avenues in trying to round out the 2020 recruiting class. Finding value where others didn’t in a Moneyball-ish fashion is something Norvell specialized in at Memphis, and that style was evident on Wednesday as FSU wrapped up the No. 22 recruiting class in the country.

“There are guys in this signing group class that might not be the highest rated, but have a chance to be some of the superstars of this class,” Norvell said Wednesday. “We're definitely excited about how they've developed throughout their careers.”

Even with good recruiters who were coveted by SEC programs like Georgia, Auburn and Tennessee, recruiting at Memphis presents challenges that force coaches like Norvell to stretch if they’re going to be among the highest-ranked classes in college football’s top Group of Five conference. Tennessee isn’t a powerhouse when it comes to producing prep prospects, and the best recruits in Memphis’ backyard are always going to be courted by nearby Ole Miss or the top draw in the state, Tennessee. To win on the field, you have to win some battles you aren’t supposed to AND find value in places where others do not on the recruiting trail.

Norvell managed to get Memphis to finish 3rd, 2nd, 6th and 2nd in the AAC during his four years guiding the Tigers. A re-ranking of the 2016 class by The Athletic placed the Tigers’ 12th...NATIONALLY, showing Norvell’s chops as an evaluator and developer of talent.

His top gets in that class were WR Damonte Coxie, OL Dustin Woodard, QB Riley Ferguson, DT Jonathan Wilson and DE Bryce Huff. Ferguson was a JUCO transfer who ended up passing for 7,955 yards in two seasons. Coxie was an LSU commit who suffered a knee injury during track his senior season, and the blue-bloods who recruited him pulled out. Woodard is a player Norvell knew from his time in Arizona, he was the No. 2,839 prospect nationally and his only other listed offer was Army. Wilson was a 240-pound defensive end prospect who also was an accomplished wrestler and track standout. Huff was a two-star middle linebacker who grew into one of the most productive defensive ends in the country at Memphis.

Norvell had to take a similar approach in finishing up his first class in Tallahassee, because it’s the route you have to take when your staff lacks organic ties to the state you’re based in and you have less than two months to complete a class.

We saw this in December when FSU landed two quarterbacks, essentially trading in long-time commit Jeff Sims for a shot at two: Valdosta’s Tate Rodemaker and Arizona’s Chubba Purdy. Sims and Purdy were comparably rated at the time, but Rodemaker wasn’t. As it turns out, 247Sports ended up dropping Sims and bumping up Rodemaker to get them both in the same range. This is because 247Sports evaluator Charles Power values the performance of senior statistics, and it’s something OC Kenny Dillingham puts a ton of stock into as well (check out the statistical trends among FSU QB commits under Norvell).

“The senior film, and that’s something that gets undervalued now,” Dillingham said in December. “All these early signees, recruiting starts now freshman year, sophomore year, that very few people actually watch senior tape of guys. A lot of kids go under the radar because that senior tape comes out two weeks ago and Signing Day is today.

“To me, it was almost a blessing a refreshing to go back and watch senior tape of prospects and say ‘who was this kid this year’ and not ‘who was this kid as a sophomore.’”

And it wasn’t the only area in which FSU searched for value.

The Seminoles added eight signees on Wednesday, and none of those eight fell within the four-star or five-star status that makes up the all-important blue-chip ratio.

But all have different aspects to their game that are appealing, although they have their obvious downsides as well:

--ATH Corey Wren is a legit track star, although he’s been knocked for his lack of size by evaluators.

--ATH Darion Williamson was a Tennessee pledge and has absurd length, but he’s coming off a season-ending knee injury.

--DB Sidney Williams had offers from LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, and Texas A&M early in his recruiting process, but injuries limited him as a senior. Would he have been available to FSU in January had he not been injured?

--RB La’Damian Webb is undersized (5-8) and from the JUCO ranks, but he’s also a JUCO All-American.

--OL Robert Scott Jr. has oodles of upside, but he’s considered an unrefined prospect.

--LB DJ Lundy didn’t play linebacker consistently until this past season, and his lack of prototypical length along with the fact he’s located in rural Georgia made him an under-the-radar prospect. His production as a player, 100-win record as a wrestler and glowing recommendations from those in his hometown of Ocilla got FSU interested.

--TE Markeston Douglas is a converted basketball player. His prep coach played college ball with Norvell, and he gushed over Douglas’ athleticism and smarts to the FSU staff.

--DE TJ Davis has incredible senior film, but he’s also rated in the 1,000s nationally after just moving to defensive end this past season.

This feels like The Replacements in that there are flaws to the prospects FSU brought in to round out the class, but also some truly intriguing aspects to like. Sometimes, the Footsteps Falcos of the football world can shine.

You just have to find them.

“A little bit different. You’d have to go look, in Year 2 or 3, would we have as many scholarships left in the early signing period, all that stuff. And you’re making sure, it didn’t matter that it’s our first year, our first signing period, it’s still ‘this is the criteria we’re looking for at each position,’” said defensive coordinator Adam Fuller. “They need to be met. If we have a need, we still have to meet the criteria that we’re looking for and then he has to check off as a fit, character-wise. We didn’t settle on any of these guys, these are all guys that fit what we’re trying to do on defense.

“There was a lot more players being previewed because there just wasn’t a base-line of evaluation of us as a staff. It would be like ‘hey JP [defensive ends coach John Papuchis], have you watched this kid?’ He’d say ‘oh yeah, I watched him when I was at Maryland.’ Or ‘Coach [Odell] Haggins, have you watched this kid?’ ‘He was at camp.’ Or Coach [Marcus] Woodson comes in and I say ‘what do you think about this guy?’ ‘I’ve been recruiting him.’ So there’s some of that because we just weren’t together from that standpoint. With good communication on staff, it’s very doable.”

Lundy is a prime example of this methodology. FSU wasn’t necessarily looking to add a third linebacker in this class, but some research revealed the value FSU is looking for. His tape impressed Fuller and other assistants, his recommendations from prep coaches did as well. Then came conversations with Lundy, his family and it became “an unbelievable fit for us" even with just about a month of recruiting him.

Fuller joked that the evaluation process came together quickly for the likes of Lundy and Davis, “but hopefully not as quickly in the fall.”

FSU is behind other programs just by the nature of building a new staff in December. It isn’t ideal, far from it. Transition classes have a high bust rate based on the early data points coming from the addition of the Early Signing Period, and embarking on two transition classes in three years creates an inherent disadvantage in the area of recruiting. Most major prospects already know where they’re going when a new staff gets going in December, so the talent pool is extremely limited by the time the Early Signing Period wraps up.

History shows that building around three-star recruits usually isn’t a formula for success. It worked at Memphis, and it portends to Norvell’s ability to evaluate talent and identify overlooked recruits, but it’s also easier to do that because the margin for error is often wider in Go5 conferences.

The Seminoles cannot reside in the same space as Memphis did for long, they can’t afford to heavily rely on finding hidden gems.

But for Year 1, in the feared transition class, FSU is trying to turn the disadvantage into something that plays to Norvell’s strength. Chicken you know what, meet chicken salad. Maybe it can work for now and be a valuable skill set for Norvell as he develops in-roads directly within FSU's natural recruiting footprint.

“That's one of the crazy things with recruiting and how early things start now in the evaluation mode. But you have to continue to evaluate and see how kids develop, what they're doing, whether it's size, speed, athleticism,” Norvell said. “And so as we go through this class, that is one of the benefits of coming in late and having to put some pieces in place, is that you get to really see every aspect of it. There are times you get an early commitment and things might go one way or the other, but we were able to see the total package with these kids.

“That's what gives me such confidence about this class. Some kids might be rated higher than others because they developed later and maybe they didn't get the camp exposure and things that help really fuel some of those national ratings.”

Norvell added: "I'll tell you that I think that even in the short period of time, this was a home-run hitting class. This is one that addressed needs. This was one that I think as it plays out over the years, I mean, the type of football players that these guys will become, it's going to be exceptional. We also look at where a lot of these kids are coming from. It's spread out in some places that were built off the relationships. I'm excited about the relationships that are coming."