The Battle's End Collective announces first deal with a transfer addition

Florida State has been tearing up the NCAA Transfer Portal over the last couple of weeks. The Seminoles have landed a plethora of experienced players who are expected to start or play significant roles for the team in 2023. However, as we're all quickly learning, these recruitments can continue to unfold until transfers officially enroll on campus and begin classes.

Last month, the Seminoles had to squash concerns that arose around Colorado offensive line transfer Casey Roddick making it to Tallahassee. There was a legitimate worry around when the team won the Cheez-It Bowl against Oklahoma but FSU was able to get things turned back in the direction. Roddick is expected to be on campus at the beginning of the spring semester.

Over the last couple of days, Florida State has been jockeying to hold onto another one of its prized transfers, defensive tackle Darrell Jackson. The redshirt sophomore committed to the Seminoles shortly after the winter transfer portal window opened on December 5. With that being said, the Hurricanes made a late run at retaining him.

On Monday, it was announced that The Battle's End Collective had reached a deal with Jackson, which essentially confirms his addition to the program and ends the drama. It is also worth noting that he's listed in Florida State's Student Directory

The Battle's End is thrilled to announce a relationship with @95productions1! Welcome to the team, Big Man! #ChapterTwo pic.twitter.com/KhKHq3Jmwn
— The Battle's End (@TheBattlesEnd) January 9, 2023

During the Early Signing Period, the Seminoles publicly announced the addition of Jackson, who had planned to transfer closer to home to be near a family member dealing with an illness. Previously, he took an Official Visit to Florida State from December 16-18. He declined to do a full interview at the time but professed how excited he was to join the program.

On Saturday, a social media post from Jackson's account appeared to come from South Florida. That put the writing on the wall for a potential return to the Hurricanes. Instead, the recruitment continued to twist as Jackson went live on Instagram with his former high school teammate, Joshua Farmer, and head coach, Corey Fuller. Farmer and Fuller are both at Florida State.

The Florida native was one of the top options on Miami's defensive line in 2022, starting all 12 regular season games. He totaled 27 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and three sacks. Originally signing with Maryland as a member of the 2021 class, he recorded 22 tackles before transferring to Coral Gables last offseason. Jackson will need to be granted a waiver to play this upcoming season but it's believed to be an attainable option.

Alongside a potential multi-year starter or rotational player like Jackson, the Seminoles have plenty of talent returning on the interior defensive line next season. That includes players redshirt senior Fabien Lovett, redshirt senior Braden Fiske, redshirt junior Malcolm Ray, Farmer, true freshman Daniel Lyons, true freshman Bishop Thomas, true freshman Antavious Woody, and true freshman Ayobami Tifase. Florida State signed four-star KJ Sampson from the high school ranks.

This isn't the only strange recruitment that Florida State has been involved in over the past couple of weeks. Outside of the aforementioned Roddick, the Seminoles landed four-star safety Conrad Hussey over Penn State and Miami. Hussey pushed back his announcement at the beginning of the Early Signing Period before holding a wild and dramatic signing on Instagram Live with concluded with him choosing the Seminoles. The program also lost four-star defensive end Keldric Faulk commit to a new coaching staff at Auburn.

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