When it comes to judging girls basketball talent, especially in the state of Florida, there might be no one better than Plantation American Heritage girls coach Greg Farias.

He has coached his program to five straight state championships and seen a lot of talent filter through his program in Broward County.

So when he sings high praise of his former player and Florida State freshman Ta'Niya Latson, he has credibility.

Farias also coached current Florida Gator sophomores and twins Tatyana and Taliyah Wyche at American Heritage.

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"She's so athletic," Farias told the Democrat. "I've coached girls basketball for about 10 years and I'm coming off five straight state championships. And I've never come across such an athletic young lady.

"The way she contorts her body in the air. You guys are going to be impressed when you see that. It is something special. That's a gift that God gave her. And I've never coached a young lady so athletic like that, that she can go in the air, twist her body. I mean her legs are going one way and her body is twisted in another way."

Latson, a former five-star prospect and No. 14 prospect in 2022 according to ESPN HoopGurlz Recruiting, began her high school basketball career at Westlake High in Atlanta and moved to Miami before her senior year.

She helped lead American Heritage to a state championship, averaging 27.2 points, 7.0 assists, 8.0 rebounds, 5.3 steals and 2.0 blocks per game last season.

Latson claimed a few honors this past year, including Florida Dairy Farmers Miss Basketball, Florida Gatorade Player of the Year and Florida Class 5A Player of the Year.

"She's a super smart basketball player. Very self-aware person in general and self-aware on the basketball court," FSU head coach Brooke Wyckoff told the Democrat. "And that just speaks to who she is and how great she is going to be.

"She just has a maturity level that goes beyond that of a typical freshman. She understands hard work. You just like to see that in somebody that you're going to have to count on a lot in their first year."

Florida State fans will have the first glimpse of Latson in the garnet and gold when the Seminoles host West Georgia in an exhibition game at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center.

FSU opens the regular season on Nov. 7 at 11 a.m. against Bethune-Cookman.

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Good teammate

At her first practice with American Heritage, Latson threw a hard pass to one of her freshman teammates.

The younger player could not handle the pass and dropped it. What Latson did next surprised Farias and told him everything he needed to know about her.

"Her passes were so advanced, it was even funny, that one of the girls couldn't catch it and went out of bounds," Farias said.

"Instead of ripping a teammate and saying, 'You stink,' or, 'You suck,' or, 'Get some hands,' she said 'All right, let's go, we'll get it back on defense. You'll get the next one.'

"She was really, really good on the court also. She was an extension of her coach and it was just so special."

Latson said helping a teammate figure out tough situations felt like the right thing to do.

"She was a freshman so I was like, 'I'm not going to beat her up,'" Latson said. "I know I had my moments when I was a freshman, and I sometimes couldn't handle certain things. I just wanted to encourage her and totally keep going."

Wyckoff was not surprised when she heard about that story. She said the team has already seen glimpses of her unselfishness in practices.

"It's exactly who she is," Wyckoff said. "She's a great teammate and she's not about herself. She's not selfish. Sometimes she's too unselfish and we have to encourage her to have a little bit more of a scorer's mentality.

"She wants to be great and she'll do whatever it takes. And she's an amazing teammate."

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Program changing talent

Latson verbally committed to the Seminoles on Aug. 2, 2021, prior to her senior season. She had been talking to former head coach Sue Semrau and Wyckoff, then the assistant coach, since her sophomore year.

Following last season, though, Semrau announced her retirement on March 21. Eight days later, Wyckoff was promoted to head coach.

In the process, Wyckoff said the team kept Latson and other recruits in the loop about the situation.

"We wouldn't do it any other way. We just wanted to be upfront and make sure that she knew the deal," Wyckoff said. "And as we did with all our players, we didn't want to hide anything. And we didn't want any surprises."

Latson thought about reopening her commitment, but ultimately decided against it.

"It was a little wavering, because at the time, we didn't know if coach Brooke was going to get the job for sure," Latson said. "But it was a strong possibility. I'm glad she did and after that I just trusted the process and I felt like it was a good fit for me still.

"I am really close to Coach Brooke and I trust her. Same with Coach Sue. So, it really was a no-brainer for me to stay here. Like I said, I respect coach Brooke and we built a strong bond."

In her first year as a head coach, Wyckoff is pleased to have a player of the caliber of Latson.

"She is an elite player. She's a program changer," Wyckoff said. "She is a winner. It was huge for us to make sure that she still was committed to being the Seminole and she was super excited."

Farias has high expectations for Latson in the ACC.

She was one of two freshmen to make the six-member ACC Newcomer Watch List and was named one of the nation’s "Top 65 Freshmen" according to World Exposure Report.

"She's going to make an immediate impact," Farias said. "She's a hard worker. She gets into the gym, and she will work her butt off."

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Fun personality

When Latson hits the basketball court, she is all business. When she's off the court, she likes to have fun.

Less than an hour before Florida State's football game against Clemson on Oct. 15, Latson was seen on the field dancing to Daddy Yankee's "Gasolina" with athletic director Michael Alford.

"I love to have fun, with my teammates, with my coaches, but at the same time, I know how to get serious when I need to get serious," Latson said.

Farias shared a similar story.

"She's a character," Farias said. "We were in Georgia, and we went to a place to have dinner where they had karaoke and they were dancing. So we are walking back to the hotel, and they have these clubs on the side. Ta'Niya stops and gets on top of a bench that they had in front of it and starts dancing.

"So, we are dancing on a bench in front of a club and everybody in the club starts yelling, 'Go, go,' and these girls were underage and couldn't get in.

"But Ta'Niya wanted to hear that song, she liked it and she's trying to get on top of the bench and just started doing her dance and all the girls ran behind her."

Latson said she did not remember what song was playing, but she remembers what kind of music it was.

"It was some Spanish music," she said. "We were at a Spanish club. I think it was a Spanish night and I just started going crazy. I was having fun. Me and the team were having fun. We were outside of the club. We couldn't go in because we were underage.

"But we were just having fun."

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FSU women's basketball schedule

Nov. 7: Bethune-Cookman, Tallahassee (11 a.m.)

Nov. 10: at Kent State, Kent, Ohio (7 p.m.)

Nov. 13: Georgia State, Tallahassee (2 p.m.)

Nov. 16: Florida, Tallahassee (6 p.m.)

Nov. 19: at Houston, Houston (5 p.m.)

Nov. 24: Oklahoma, Cancun, Mexico (11 a.m.)

Nov. 25: Purdue, Cancun, Mexico (1:30 p.m.)

Nov. 26: Harvard, Cancun, Mexico (11 a.m.)

Dec. 1: at Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. (7:30 p.m.)

Dec. 4: Stetson, Tallahassee (2 p.m.)

Dec. 11: Texas Southern, Tallahassee (2 p.m.)

Dec. 15: Presbyterian, Tallahassee (6 p.m.)

Dec. 18: at Connecticut, Uncasville, Conn. (1 p.m., ESPN)

Dec. 21: * Miami, Tallahassee (noon)

Dec. 29: at North Carolina Chapel Hill, N.C. (8 p.m.)

Jan. 1: at Georgia Tech, Atlanta (2 p.m.)

Jan. 5: Clemson, Tallahassee (6 p.m.)

Jan. 8: at Boston College Chestnut Hill, Ma. (noon)

Jan. 12: NC State, Tallahassee (6 p.m.)

Jan. 15: Louisville, Tallahassee (1 p.m.)

Jan. 19: at Virginia, Charlottesville Va. (7 p.m.)

Jan. 22: Pittsburgh, Tallahassee (2 p.m.)

Jan. 26: at Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind. (8 p.m.)

Jan. 29: Duke, Tallahassee (6 p.m.)

Feb. 2: Wake Forest, Tallahassee (2 p.m.)

Feb. 9: at Miami, Miami (6 p.m.)

Feb. 12: at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va. (2 p.m.)

Feb. 16: Syracuse, Tallahassee (6 p.m.)

Feb. 19: Georgia Tech, Tallahassee (2 p.m.)

Feb. 23 at Wake Forest, Winston-Salem, N.C. (6 p.m.)

Feb. 26 Sunday: at Clemson, Clemson, S.C. (2 p.m.)

March 1-5 Wed.-Sund: ACC Tournament, Greensboro, N.C.

Reach Ehsan Kassim at ekassim@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Ehsan_Kassim. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Seminole women's basketball: Why 5-star recruit Ta'Niya Latson can make early impact