One of the most highly regarded NCAA men’s golf recruits in years has made his decision.
Miles Russell, the top-ranked junior in both the Class of 2027 and overall according to both the AJGA and Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings, announced his verbal commitment to Florida State on Monday evening.
Russell, a 16-year-old from Jacksonville Beach, Florida, is one of the most accomplished junior players in recent history, having already won three AJGA invitationals, the 2023 Boys Junior PGA, 2025 Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and even last winter’s South Beach International Amateur, a top amateur event. He recently was runner-up at another big-time amateur tournament, the Northeast Amateur, and at No. 16 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, he is in line to become the youngest competitor in Walker Cup history later this year at Cypress Point, assuming he makes the 10-man U.S. squad.
Last year, Russell also made history by becoming the youngest player to make a Korn Ferry Tour cut, and his T-20 finish at the Lecom Suncoast Classic made him the youngest since at least 1983 to post a top-25 on either the PGA Tour or KFT.
It’s widely believed that Russell valued staying close to home and was also giving serious consideration to the Seminoles’ instate rival Florida Gators. However, it’s unknown how many years Russell will stay in college before turning professional – a player with his talent who won’t turn 17 until November could also end up eschewing college like teenager Blades Brown did earlier this year – though Russell has already got name, image and likeness deals with TaylorMade and Nike, among others. Enrolling early is also an option that other top recruits have taken advantage of over the years. Most recently, Tommy Morrison arrived at Texas a semester early in January 2023, while Brad Dalke started at Oklahoma an entire year early back in 2015.
Russell will also be able to receive direct compensation from Florida State via the NCAA’s new revenue-share model, which officially kicks in Tuesday. If the Seminoles do eventually earmark money for Russell when he arrives on campus, it would count against the school’s 22% salary cap, which will start at approximately $20.5 million this year before increasing each year.
Florida State is coming off a season in which the Seminoles missed match play at the NCAA Championship by a single shot, though the Seminoles also boasted Hogan Award winner Luke Clanton, who left school early this summer to join the PGA Tour via the PGA Tour University’s Accelerated program.
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