Boom! Florida State has landed a commitment from Illinois transfer wide receiver Deuce Spann. He announced the news via his social media accounts as soon as midnight hit on New Years Day. Spann says the timing of his pledge was purposeful.
“I could have done it [earlier on] Friday but I wanted to do it to start the year off good,” Spann told Noles247 prior to announcing.
After entering the NCAA Transfer Portal last Wednesday, Spann had a number of schools — like South Carolina, Utah, Houston, and several others — reach out to express interest in his talents. According to Spann, the Seminoles quickly separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
“When I entered the portal, there were a lot of school that reached out to me,” he explained. “But when I was talking to Florida State’s coaches — like coach [Mike] Norvell and coach [Alex] Atkins — they were talking with me the most and they were telling me the things that I wanted to hear to be able to play at that school. I feel like I can be successful at Florida State.”
A major factor in Spann’s decision to transfer to FSU is the fact that he is originally from the state of Florida. The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Lakewood high school product is excited for the increased opportunity for his family to see him play in Tallahassee.
“It’s important to be me because it’s going to be easier for my family to watch my games because I’ll be in Florida,” Spann noted. “Last year I played in Illinois so it was kind of hard for them to come up there and be at every game to watch me play.”
After making the transition from quarterback to wideout this past season, Spann has clearly caught on quickly. He’s excited to be able to showcase his talents within Norvell’s offensive scheme this upcoming season.
“They said they want to use me as a go-to guy,” he claimed of FSU’s message about how they want to use him. “They want the ball in my hands. You know you’ve got to go in there and work. I just got to go in there and work and hopefully it’ll all pan out.”
Despite switching away from the quarterback position at Illinois, it seems like he could be a situational signal caller for the ‘Noles.
“They said I’d be playing some packages at quarterback and I’ll be playing receiver the whole time,” Spann stated.
Spann, who played in nine games and had five catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns for the Fighting Illini this past season, plans to enroll in Tallahassee next week before class start back up on January 5.