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Tallahassee Democrat - www.tallahassee.com - Tallahassee, FL.

Leon High linebacker C.J. Mizell, a 6-foot-3, 220-pound junior, became the fourth local player to commit to the Seminoles for the Class of 2009. Mizell did not play as a junior after transferring from Coffee County High in Douglas, Ga.

“I’ve been waiting,” Mizell said. “I just felt like it was time.”

Mizell made his decision public Wednesday morning after he and his teammates at Leon went to FSU to watch the football players take part in offseason conditioning. He said he spoke to linebackers coach Chuck Amato, running backs coach Dexter Carter and offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher to inform them of his decision.

“They’re very excited,” Leon High coach Bill Ragans said. “They said he was as good a 10th grader as anyone they’ve seen. They thought he was as good as the ones they recruited this year.”

Mizell had plenty of ties to the FSU program. His cousin, Stanley Hall, is a former FSU linebacker.

“He told me it’s going to be a tough process but it would turn out for the best,” Mizell said.

The FSU ties don’t end there. Ragans was a hard-hitting safety for the Seminoles. His position coach at Leon, John Gladden, is the son of former FSU assistant coach Jim Gladden. And two more former Seminoles – Kyler Hall and Dominic Robinson – are on the Leon coaching staff.

But Mizell said he began following the Seminoles long before those ties were established.

“I always loved Florida State,” Mizell said. “The only other team I really liked when I was little was Notre Dame. I liked Georgia, but the only reason I liked them was because that was my grandpa’s favorite team.”

Ragans said Mizell was recruited by “a bunch” of schools. Rivals.com lists Florida, N.C. State and South Carolina among his scholarship offers.
Though Ragans hasn’t yet seen Mizell on the field in a Leon uniform, he remembers plenty when coaching aganst him two years ago. That’s when Ragans was an assistant coach at Colquitt County High in Moultrie, Ga. He’s also seen Mizell in the weight room at Leon.

“He’s the best looking high school kid I’ve ever coached or been around,” Ragans said. “I’m talking about incoming freshmen at FSU, too. I don’t remember seeing one who looked the part as good as him.”