A long journey in a short amount of time.

This was how new Florida State defensive end Jared Verse described his path from unranked high-school prospect to one of the most sought-after transfer portal prospects in college football in less than three years.

After two standout seasons at Albany in New York, Verse had nearly his pick of teams as a transfer prospect with offers from blue-blood programs such as Oklahoma, LSU, USC, Texas, Florida and Miami.

However, he chose the Seminoles on Jan. 7 and enrolled shortly thereafter, capping off what he called one of the most overwhelming months of his life.

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"Coming out of high school, I wasn't really highly recruited, but then entering the transfer portal, a lot of colleges came at me in such a short amount of time," Verse said Tuesday.

"My family had to help me. I leaned on them for a lot of support to help me kind of organize everything. But towards the end when I kind of got close to making my decision, it became more fun."

In the end, a big part of why Verse elected to become a Seminole over those other prestigious programs was his impactful visit to FSU.

While he visited FSU in December, he got the chance to talk to recent FSU transfer defensive ends Jermaine Johnson and Keir Thomas. Both were in similar situations last offseason when they transferred from SEC schools to play their final years of eligibility at FSU.

"Me and (Jermaine) sat down, we spoke for an hour or so and he told me about his decision to come here. He believed in coach Norvell, his vision. He was a truthful guy, he didn't lie to me at all. He told me the good, the bad, everything about Florida State, what he liked, what he didn't like," Verse said.

"The fact that a player was that honest with me versus most other schools where they might have been just trying to get me there, he kind of told me everything."

One key difference between Verse and that pair of all-ACC defensive line transfers is that Verse has as many as three years of eligibility left.

His sit-down with FSU coach Mike Norvell and FSU defensive ends coach John Papuchis also played a major role in his decision, which came down between FSU and Tennessee.

"Coach Norvell and coach JP got me swayed completely here," Verse said.

"Sitting down with them, seeing coach Norvell's vision, what Coach JP could do for me but what I could do for the program, that was definitely what swayed my decision the most besides Jermaine and Keir."

The path to Power Five

To hear Verse say it, he never doubted his ability to be able to play at this level.

But as an undersized defensive end out of Bloomsburg (Pennsylvania) Central Columbia, he didn't get any interest from FBS programs. Instead, he enrolled at FCS Albany in July of 2019.

Verse says he was 6-foot-3, 210 pounds when he arrived at Albany, redshirting his first season after not appearing in any games.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in the middle of his first full offseason with the Great Danes, Verse made the most of it. He set up a home gym in his garage and a protein-heavy diet plan in order to bulk up during quarantine.

"Every morning, I made basically the same breakfast: eggs, bacon, ham, potatoes, yogurt, cereal. My dad always made me the same thing, lunch was just a sandwich and my mom and dad would normally make meatloaf or ham, a bigger, protein-filled dinner," Verse said.

"I had a snack late at night and protein shakes throughout the day. It was the same thing the next day."

This paid off in a major way for Verse, who put on about 30 pounds of muscle by the end of 2020 and returned for Albany's spring 2021 season -- delayed from the fall by the coronavirus pandemic -- a transformed player.

In four games that spring, Verse racked up 22 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and four sacks.

He followed that up with 52 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks with 13 quarterback hurries in 11 games last fall for the Great Danes.

In less than one year, Verse's transformation had helped him go from recruiting afterthought at the FCS level to the type of player that FBS programs would be extremely interested in if he hit the transfer portal.

“We are fired up to have Jared joining our program," Norvell said via statement when Verse's commitment was confirmed by FSU.

"He is a special athlete who has blossomed into a highly productive playmaker since coming into college. He has an incredible ceiling with his speed, athleticism and toughness.”

That decision to potentially transfer was something Verse began considering as the 2021 season wound down.

"Before I left for Thanksgiving break, my coach pulled me aside and I'd never spoke about (transferring) to him at all. He was like, 'We all know you're thinking about it.' I went off to break, I kind of thought about it, I came back and sat down with him and I said, 'Coach, here's my mindset. I am going to transfer,'" Verse said.

"It was only because he was my coach the whole time there, coach (Bill) Nesselt, the d-line coach there. It was hard to tell him because he was a guy I had built a really close relationship, very close, I talk to him every day still. It was a very hard conversation. It was tough to tell them, but I think they understood what I was doing at the end of the day."

Tour of Duty training

Verse has been in Tallahassee less than a week, but he's already been thrown into FSU's Tour of Duty off-season strength and conditioning program. It's been quite the introduction into the expectations and the intensity of college football at this level.

"Tour of Duty, people told me it was hard, but being in it is a whole different conversation. The high intensity, the perfection is very highly expected. It's supposed to be not perfect, but try your hardest and that's something I really love," Verse said.

"The strength coaches and everything, that's a whole conversation. I love them, I've worked with them very closely the past week I've been here. I've gotten some really good work in with them. I feel like being here is going to take me to that next level."

Verse understands he arrives at FSU with plenty of expectations. After all, he's replacing Johnson, who became the first first-year ACC Defensive Player of the Year in conference history in his lone season with the Seminoles.

Johnson personally congratulated Verse on Twitter when he committed to FSU, saying, "I know you’re gonna do great and take good care of my home fam. Congratulations and God Bless."

Those expectations, lofty as they may be, are not anything that Verse is shying away from whatsoever.

"I find it very exciting. I like when people have high expectations on me because I try to exceed them every time," Verse said.

Reach Curt Weiler at cweiler@tallahassee.com or follow him on Twitter @CurtMWeiler.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Jared Verse ready for FSU football after transfer portal recruitment