Legacy four-star WR Camdon Frier goes into detail on his commitment, why he sticks with the Seminoles

The perception of Florida State around the country and even in the state is shifting at a rapid pace. Just ask rising senior and legacy four-star wide receiver commitment Camdon Frier.

After committing to the Seminoles last January, Frier's talents were recognized on the national stage when Alabama extended him an offer over the summer. At the time, people around his area and even some of his high school teammates were wondering why he stuck with his pledge to Florida State.

Following a ten win campaign that saw FSU win the Cheez-It Bowl and defeat both of its primary rivals for the first time since 2016, the vision in Tallahassee is beginning to become clear. It's something that Frier foresaw over a year ago.

"People would say this like a year ago when I committed, 'Florida State? I know your daddy went there but Florida State?' and I'm just like 'I don't care. They're going to do something this year, just watch' even some Florida State fans were not so sure," Frier said to NoleGameday's Dustin Lewis. "They were glad I committed there but weren't so sure. At the beginning of the season, I had that Alabama offer and people were like, 'oh, Bama, Bama' I've probably got two or three teammates at Columbia right now that are telling me they want to go to Florida State so bad."

"Around here, to me, people have changed their thought about Florida State, something that I've known for a year now," Frier continued. "It does validate my decision of committing, it makes it feel a whole lot more sturdy. I don't want to be one of those guys that flips and all this stuff. I'm going to do what's best for me but at the same time, they're [FSU] making it seem like this is what's best for me."

Over the offseason, Frier decided to transfer from Suwannee High School to Columbia High School. The move put him back in a familiar spot as he was able to team up alongside guys that he grew up playing with prior to beginning his prep career.

Despite some inconsistency with his touches, it ended up being a productive junior year for Frier. He caught 27 passes for 538 yards and five touchdowns as the Tigers compiled a 9-4 record and advanced to the FHSAA state semifinals.

"I feel like when I got the ball in my hands, it went fairly well. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little disappointed with how many touches I got this season. I'm going to have get with coaches about that but when I got the ball, I still think I had the most receiving yards in the area," Frier said. "You know, I probably didn't have any more catches than I did the last two years but I had almost double the yards. I feel like this season was good, it was the farthest I've ever went in the playoffs so that was fun. I really enjoyed it because I grew up with all these guys because I went to Columbia all the way until the start of my high school career. I learned a lot, I did learn a lot during practice compared to my last two seasons. I had other receivers, we teach each other, we help each other out. If one has a flaw, we help each other out. I didn't have that before. Having a couple other receivers over here made it different."

Entering the final offseason of his high school career, there are a couple of aspects of his game that Frier wants to clean up over the next few months. Most of what he wants to work on comes down to how he's going to operate after he's already caught a pass.

"Probably most of the things that I'm going to work on is after I caught the ball, just kind of cutting. I broke a couple tackles this year, I felt a little stronger this year than years before but I'm getting older, people are graduating and stuff, so that's how it should be," Frier said. "It wasn't terrible but I feel like I can probably make a little bit of better cuts. There was probably two deep balls this year that I dropped and it made me so mad. Probably my weakest point was just finishing, I think it was two balls that are probably touchdowns if I caught them, 50-60 yard touchdowns. You know, I didn't see a real thing in the game but all my teammates would tell 'man, if you can just hit that one step cut' so I'll probably be working on that this year."

Throughout the course of his recruitment, Frier has developed strong relationships with head coach Mike Norvell, wide receivers coach Ron Dugans, offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, and defensive ends coach John Papuchis. He says the entire staff is outgoing and treats him like family, something that he hasn't experienced from every program that is vying for him.

"I probably communicate with Norvell and Dugans the most. But when I get there, I can't talk to enough people. When I get there in person, talking to everybody, it's like the whole staff, defense, offense, everyone treats you like family," Frier said. "It doesn't matter if you're a receiver, you've got the defensive backs coach, the defensive line coach. And not all schools are like that, other schools that have offered me, I don't know their staff as well. Yes, I am committed here so I should know the staff more but they are being outgoing to me. Before I committed, the defensive staff was outgoing to me. My relationship with them has grown well, it's a much better connection than it was then [before he committed]."

Prior to the beginning of the season, Dugans was receiving plenty of criticism from the media and fanbase after struggles to recruit and develop wide receivers over the last couple of years. He promptly made everyone insert foot in mouth after guiding transfer wide receiver Johnny Wilson to a breakout season while landing five-star prospect Hykeem Williams in the 2023 class.

Frier was happy to see Dugans prove everyone wrong and cement his place with the Seminoles.

"I did see that stuff and I was like 'dang, I really like coach Dugans' so I was really hoping that he did exactly what he did this season. We had transfer portal guys come in, they balled out," Frier said. "Every time we go up there, we go in the receivers room, he shows us what he's been working on with the guys. That's another thing, I'm seeing that Florida State's receivers are growing. The receivers had a great year compared to what people thought they would have with coach Dugans. We've got five-star Hykeem Williams, we've got Goldie, and Dre [coming in]. He's working hard and it's paying off and I'm glad people are now seeing the coach that he is."

The calendar just recently flipped to the new year but Florida State is already off to a fast start in its 2024 class. The Seminoles hold eight verbal commitments which ranks No. 4 in the country according to 247Sports. Frier believes this is the start of something special for #Tribe24.

"Our goal is to be No. 1 but that's everyone's goal. I feel like we can get a couple more flips. I know we're going to get more commitments, we're going to get the right guys we need because everyone that we got, they're ballers," Frier said. "Our coaches are getting the right guys, they're not just getting anyone and that's what I'm loving. It's something special and even guys that are committed other places, I feel like we can get some flips. This feels like a family and you don't get that everywhere."

The Florida native is already building a rapport with four-star quarterback commitment Luke Kromenhoek. The two are beginning to grow close on and off the field, to the point where they're talking about rooming together at Florida State. Outside of that, he's working on bonding with the other members of the class.

"Me and Luke, we're pretty tight as of right now. If we go up there at the same time, we're planning on rooming together. I don't know if it's going to happen but we hunt a lot and they don't, so we're planning on taking them on a hunting trip," Frier said. "We've got a group chat so when people were winning their playoff games and stuff like that, we'd congratulate them. I guess it's that quarterback-receiver bond as I'm real tight with Luke right now. Kam plays baseball, me and him have talked a time or two about stuff like that through our visits together. I'm excited to get to know everyone."

The chemistry between a quarterback and wide receiver is paramount when it comes to having success between the lines. Frier feels like he and Kromenhoek will be a step ahead once they arrive in Tallahassee.

"I feel like it'll put us a step ahead as freshmen," Frier said. "We'll skip a step of having to bond. I feel like, once you've already got that bond to a certain extent, we can play a little looser, we can communicate better. Skipping that step is really going to help us going into whenever we get there and is going to help us start off better."

It's been nearly a year since Frier committed to Florida State. Outside of his family ties to the Seminoles through his father (Matt Frier) and uncle (Todd Frier), there are a couple of different reasons that he's stayed locked in for this long.

"I feel like I'm already there. I text either coach Atkins, coach Dugans, coach Norvell, coach JP, almost every single day. There's not a full week that goes by that I'm not communicating with one of them," Frier said. "They always keep me updated on everything that's going on. Me and coach Dugans, coach Norvell, we discipleship with each other. The couple times that I've gone up there, it feels like home. They just treat me like family. Watching the season, I'm really loving what the offense is doing. My dad, he says he don't care where but I go but you can kind of tell that he wants me to go to Florida State. He's like, 'Camdon, look at that, look what Norvell's doing, look at that play-call' and I'm agreeing with him. We went to the bowl game and we probably said that like five or six times."

Ideally, being recruited by college programs is something that Frier will only experience once in his life. He's trying to make the most of the opportunity while it's in front of him. Regardless, he'll be a mainstay in Tallahassee during the offseason and says Florida State is home.

"I'm not sure if I'll go to other schools. But if I do, it's only one or two. And it's mostly, I've told coach this, you only get to be recruited once, you only get recruited once in your life," Frier said. "It's fun but it's different when you go to Tallahassee and that's why it's going to be my home. If I do go somewhere, that'll be the reason so Florida State coaches and fans shouldn't be worried."

The 6-foot, 175-pound wide receiver is regarded as the No. 293 overall prospect, the No. 42 WR, and the No. 45 recruit in the state of Florida in the 2024 class according to 247Sports.

Stick with NoleGameday for more coverage of Florida State football throughout the 2023 offseason

Follow NoleGameday on Twitter and Facebook