2026 Four-star safety Tedarius Hughes has been committed to Florida State since July 2024, but that hasn’t stopped Matt Rhule from attempting to flip him to Nebraska’s 2026 recruiting class. That effort seems to be paying off with Hughes slated for an in-season gameday visit to Lincoln, and with the other programs that Hughes is considering, he may fall right into Rhule’s lap.
4-star Florida State safety commit Tedarius Hughes is eyeing in-season official visits, per @JohnGarcia_Jr 👀
— Rivals (@Rivals) August 20, 2025
Intel: https://t.co/9jkOl3cL3s pic.twitter.com/KPSMXUPwKa
Nebraska is in a strong position to sway Tedarious Hughes from Florida State
Mike Norvell has not done a good job recruiting high school talent to Tallahassee, but for now, his 22-commit 2026 recruiting class appears to be an outlier. Ranked No. 14 in the country, it is a much stronger group than Rhule’s, which features just 12 commits as the 2025 season gets underway. However, it’s not a certainty that it will stay that way.
With the Seminoles relying so heavily on the Transfer Portal, they’ve become one of the most volatile programs in the country, following up a 13-win 2023 campaign with a two-win season in 2024. That volatility has scared away many recruits, and if it continues, it could cost Norvell his job.
Of Hughes’s list of in-season gameday visits, the Nebraska program is arguably the most stable, which is a bizarre thing to say after Rhule just ended a nine-year bowl game drought for a program that has national championships in its not-too-distant past. Still, it could be true.
Norvell doesn’t appear to be long for the FSU job, even with his 2023 ACC Title and hefty buyout, and Deion Sanders has had health issues that have jeopardized his tenure at Colorado. That’s certainly not the reason any program wants to win a recruit, but it is a reality of the situation that could work in Nebraska’s favor.
The potential fly in the ointment for the Huskers is Miami. Hughes plays his high school football at Northwestern High School in Miami and remains a top target for Mario Cristobal. While the Canes collapsed in spectacular fashion last season, missing the College Football Playoff, the program is still on the rise, and Cristobal is in a stable position at his alma mater.
It will be an uphill battle to flip Hughes from FSU and pry him away from Miami, but Nebraska certainly has the opportunity to do it, and maybe the desperation to get it done. The Huskers have just 12 players committed to the 2026 class, which ranks 72nd nationally. That’s just not good enough for a program that intends to compete for Big Ten titles.