In requesting salary information for personnel staffs across college football, the responses we've gotten have been all over the map. Pun fully intended.
Some schools respond near-immediately with not just the most current salary information, but a full contract. Others don't respond at all, which is to be expected. Some schools respond citing state law why they can't reveal information that their public-school neighbor 100 miles away freely revealed, citing the same law. Some say they'll respond, but have to be paid up front to retrieve the information. Some states have laws that require them to follow the Freedom of Information Act only to residents of their own state.
And then there is Florida State, who responded with what appear to be the original contracts signed by Mike Norvell's recruiting and personnel staff, not the most current. I share all this to say the information below may not be each individual's current salary, but it was their salary at one point in time while working for FSU. The date of each executed contract, obtained by FootballScoop via open records request, is in parenthesis.
Derrick Yray, general manager of personnel: $210,000 (Feb. 2, 2022)
DJ Daniels, director of recruiting strategy: $100,000 (Aug. 21, 2024)
Molly Jacoby, director of recruiting relations: $100,000 (May 1, 2025)
Devin Rispress, director of recruiting: $95,000 (Dec. 16, 2024)
Corey Fuller, director of football relations: $85,000 (Jan. 27, 2022)
Gerard Ross, director of high school relations: $85,000 (June 30, 2022)
Chuck Cantor, director of player personnel: $80,000 (Jan. 24, 2020)
Jeremey Smith, assistant director of player personnel: $45,000 (Sept. 27, 2022)
As the point above, Cantor is the longest-tenured member of Norvell's personnel staff, and also the most experienced in the industry. Prior to his 2020 arrival in Tallahassee, Cantor was the director of player personnel at Florida and Virginia Tech with additional experience at Georgia, Temple and FIU, totaling now nearly 25 years in the industry. He holds two bachelor's degrees and a master's from Florida State.
Yray came to Florida State in 2022 after seven years in recruiting at Oregon State, topping out as director of player personnel. A 2011 Fresno State graduate, Yray was a guest coach in the CFL as an undergraduate who was an offensive assistant at assistant DFO at Fresno State before moving to Corvallis.
Daniels played for Florida State from 2020-22 after playing four seasons of minor league baseball. He joined the staff as assistant director of player personnel before his 2024 promotion to director of recruiting strategy. Fuller is also a former Seminole, a member of FSU's 1993 national championship team as part of a 5-year career from 1990-94 before a 10-year NFL career. Fuller entered coaching upon his retirement, serving a stint as Florida A&M's interim head coach, then as the head coach of multiple Florida high schools. He joined FSU's staff in 2022. Similarly, Ross played at Florida State before a brief NFL career. He spent 2008-21 as an assistant at Jacksonville's Trinity Christian Academy while also serving a developmental role of 7-on-7 team Pro Impact. He joined Florida State's staff as assistant director of high school relations in 2022 and was promoted to the senior position earlier this year.
Jacoby is a 2021 Georgia graduate who served as a recruiting analyst during her time in Athens. She then moved to North Carolina to work in on-campus recruiting and left as director of recruiting, a title she held under both Mack Brown and Bill Belichick. Rispress was a Tallahassee-area high school coach before becoming Florida A&M's director of recruiting in 2022. That led to an opportunity as Colorado's assistant director of player personnel and high school relations for the 2024 season before returning home to Tallahassee in December.
Smith has been with Florida State football since 2019 and in recruiting since 2021. He maintains Florida State's recruiting databases, helps organize visits, oversees FSU's student assistants, and serves as the assistant director of Norvell's football camps. He holds two degrees from FSU.