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Happy Tuesday, Seminole!

Here’s what we’ve got for you today — the quick-hit rundown before we dive in 👇

⚽ FSU Soccer’s Pro Pipeline Keeps Rolling ⚽
National title momentum continues as Solai Washington turns pro, joining a growing list of Seminoles cashing in on FSU’s elite development track.

🏀 Men’s Hoops Faces a Defining Road Test at Miami 🏀
Winless in ACC play and still searching for a breakthrough, FSU heads into a hostile environment with history — and urgency — on the line.

⚾ Three Questions That Will Define FSU Baseball’s 2026 Ceiling ⚾
From replacing elite middle-infield stability to sorting the pitching staff, Link Jarrett’s preseason answers will shape the entire season.

🏆 Where Indiana’s Perfect Season Ranks All-Time 🏆
A 16–0 national champion forces a historical conversation — and Indiana’s run stacks up with the best teams of the century.

🧱 FSU Quietly Wins the Retention War 🧱
Despite portal chaos, the Seminoles kept the core that mattered most — protecting upside instead of chasing headlines.

🏈 Portal Winners, Losers, and What It Means for FSU 🏈
The dust has settled on the 2026 transfer cycle, revealing which programs solved real problems — and which ones didn’t.

🧲 Junior Day Sends an Early Recruiting Signal for 2027 🧲
New assistants, elite edge targets, and committed recruits recruiting others — FSU’s next class is already taking shape.

Let’s get into it.

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Florida State soccer’s pro pipeline keeps rolling. Sophomore forward Solai Washington has signed with the Orlando Pride of the National Women's Soccer League, the club announced Monday.

🔥 Why This Matters

📊 Two-Year Impact at FSU

🎓 More Than Just Production

🌍 International Pedigree

Read more here

Florida State men’s basketball is back on the road Tuesday night, facing Miami Hurricanes men's basketball at the Watsco Center with tip set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

🔥 The Stakes

📊 The Challenge

🧠 A Fun Subplot

📈 History Says…

🧠 Why It Matters
FSU has been competitive late but hasn’t closed. Miami presents the toughest road test yet — and a real chance to flip the narrative if the Noles can finally finish.

Read more here

Florida State baseball is back on the field with an extended four-week preseason — and while the schedule looks familiar, the questions shaping the 2026 season are anything but.

🔥 1. Who Replaces the Lodise–Faurot Stability Up the Middle?

FSU isn’t just replacing talent — it’s replacing elite consistency.
Alex Lodise and Drew Faurot combined to start every game last season, made just nine errors, and anchored a defense that flipped from ACC liability to strength.

Myles Bailey is locked in at first. Everything else is open.

The wildcard: freshman John Stuetzer, whose athletic testing has jumped off the page and could push for reps at second base early.

Finding the next dependable middle-infield pairing will directly determine FSU’s defensive ceiling.

🔥 2. Which Arms Separate From the “Bulk” Group?

Link Jarrett plans to build up 10 pitchers for extended outings — not just the “best arms,” but the ones trusted to carry innings.

The early favorites for the weekend rotation:

But the competition is real.
John Abraham, Payton Manca, Cole Stokes, and Gabe Nard all bring starter traits — with command, health, and consistency as the separators.

This preseason is about defining roles early so Jarrett isn’t forced to improvise in March.

🔥 3. Can Elite Stuff Finally Turn Into Execution?

This is the question hovering over everything.

FSU’s pitching staff has ranked among the nation’s best in strikeouts the last two seasons — but near the bottom in walk rate. Talent hasn’t been the issue. Execution has.

Additions like Nard and Brodie Purcell were made specifically to stabilize innings and reduce free passes. Now the challenge is building a bullpen Jarrett can trust — not just to miss bats, but to throw strikes when it matters.

🧠 Why It Matters
The pieces are there — again.
Middle-infield stability and pitching execution will decide whether this team merely competes… or actually breaks through.

👉️ See how the infield battle is taking shape, which pitchers are trending toward bigger roles, and why command — not velocity — may decide FSU’s season.

Apple is rolling out Face-ID door locks and robotic smart displays. Elon Musk is quietly building the Tesla Smart Home. A.I. and robotics are driving the next wave of smart home innovation — and the window is open to invest in the companies that can define it.

One category is far bigger than most people realize: window shades. There are billions across homes, offices, and hotels — and almost all of them are still manual.

The last wave created major outcomes. Google bought Nest for $3.2 Billion. Amazon bought Ring for $1.2 Billion. Investors are now hunting for the next category leader — the one that can deliver real exit potential.

RYSE is leading this market with 10 patents, $15 million in revenue, and 200% annual growth. Their a prime acquisition target in a massive, untouched market. And RYSE is pre-IPO with a reserved Nasdaq ticker, giving investors exposure to multiple potential exit paths.

At $2.35 per share, this is your moment to get in before the next wave hits.

College football got something it wasn’t sure was still possible in the expanded playoff era: a true wire-to-wire champion.

Indiana finished 16–0, capped by a 27–21 national title win over Miami, and now finds itself firmly in the conversation with the sport’s greatest teams of the 21st century.

🔥 Why This Indiana Team Was Different

This wasn’t a blue-chip juggernaut built on five-stars. It was experience, cohesion, and timing.

By the numbers, Indiana posted the best point differential of the CFP era — even better than 2019 LSU and 2018 Clemson.

📍 Where They Slot Historically

Among national champions since 2000, Indiana lands inside the top five, trailing only:

And ranking ahead of multiple dynasty-level champions — including Florida State’s 2013 title team.

That alone tells you how rare this run was.

🧠 Coaching Made the Difference

Curt Cignetti’s season is being framed as one of the best coaching jobs of the last 25 years.

Indiana didn’t dominate with superior recruiting classes — it dominated by:

In an era obsessed with talent accumulation, Indiana won with execution and alignment.

Read more here

December’s priority list was ambitious — and turbulent.
But when the dust settled, Florida State retained 9 of the 11 players it identified as must-keeps.

That alone matters. How it happened matters more.

Several of those players entered the portal, declared intent to leave, or flirted publicly before ultimately staying. It wasn’t smooth. It wasn’t quiet. But it worked.

🔑 The Core That Stayed Intact

📉 The Ones FSU Let Walk — By Choice

🧠 The Bigger Picture
This wasn’t about keeping everyone.
It was about keeping the right ones — and using buyouts, timing, and select aggression instead of panic.

FSU didn’t win the offseason headlines.
But it protected its spine, preserved upside, and avoided bleeding its most important assets.

That’s how rebuilds actually survive January.

Read more here

The 2026 transfer portal cycle is essentially over — with one last wrinkle: a small batch of late entries will still process through the next couple days (deadline-day submissions), and Indiana/Miami players get a short extra window after the title game.

Still, the big picture is clear:

🔥 Biggest Winners: Teams That Used the Portal Like a Weapon

Texas went shopping like a contender with a clock — filling real roster holes with top-end talent and acting like a program that knows the title window is open.

LSU did what LSU had to do: stabilize a roster that was leaking, land elite talent (including at QB), and get itself back into “championship conversation” territory — even if the offensive line still feels like the swing point.

Notre Dame might’ve had the cleanest cycle: few takes, high hit-rate, and no starter losses, which is almost unheard of now.

Indiana didn’t just stay hot — it leveled up: fewer transfers, higher quality, and portal behavior that screams “real contender.”

Oklahoma State went full rebuild-mode: 50+ portal adds, a massive culture/system reset, and a “we’re burning it down to build it right” approach — high risk, but probably necessary.

🧊 Biggest Losers: When the Portal Exposes Your Weak Spots

Alabama is living the post-Saban reality: it can’t stockpile elite depth anymore, and losing premium backups is now part of the new normal — even if the incoming class is still solid.

Clemson finally used the portal… but the offensive approach is the red flag: no QB addition, minimal help in the trenches, and a big bet that internal development fixes what clearly slipped last season.

Florida State lands here for one simple reason: “good” wasn’t enough.
FSU had wins (Wisner, Chaplin, Gbayor; avoiding disaster with the Desirs/Rawls), but also real losses — and didn’t stack impact help at key spots the way a “win-or-else” offseason demanded.

Iowa State got gutted — the kind of roster turnover that forces Year 1 to be survival, not progress.

Duke took the kind of QB hit that breaks an offseason: losing a centerpiece late creates a problem you can’t just solve in January.

🧠 Why It Matters
This cycle made one thing obvious: the portal isn’t about “adding talent.”
It’s about solving specific problems fast — and the teams that did that with precision look like contenders. The teams that didn’t… are spending the spring trying to explain why.

👉️ See the full winners/losers breakdown, which portal strategies actually worked, and where FSU’s offseason came up short compared to the true contenders.

Florida State’s first Junior Day of the 2027 cycle wasn’t about headlines — it was about traction. And across the board, the message from elite visitors was consistent: relationships are strengthening, new coaches are landing, and FSU is very much in the race with top-tier programs.

🔥 Nick Williams Makes an Immediate Impact on the Edge

If there was a clear winner from the weekend, it was new edges coach Nick Williams.

The takeaway: FSU is a real factor with multiple edge players already committed elsewhere — and Williams is the common thread.

🧱 Defensive Line: Real Staying Power with Elite Targets

FSU continues to sit in a strong position with Sam LeJeune, one of the top defensive linemen in the country.

Beyond LeJeune, the staff handed out offers to Wesley Gover and continued building with Charles Nance, reinforcing that the DL board is both deep and active.

🧠 Skill Positions Quietly Gaining Ground

🧩 Commits Acting Like Recruiters

Linebacker Gregory Batson, a firm FSU commit, continues to operate like a cornerstone:

🧠 Why It Matters
This Junior Day wasn’t about flipping commits on the spot. It was about credibility.

FSU showed:

That’s how elite classes start forming long before signing day.

Read more here and here

The loudest offseason wins don’t always age the best.
FSU didn’t chase every headline — it protected its spine, built quietly, and let leverage do the work.

Now comes the hard part: turning stability into execution.

We’ll keep tracking it all — one development, one decision, one edge at a time.

— Chief