Florida State Football: 5 storylines to follow during 2018 spring ball

1. The quarterback battle

Willie Taggart has arrived in Tallahassee with a dilemma on his hands. As 2017 began, the Seminoles were positioned to redshirt freshman James Blackman and let Deondre Francois be the starter once again. Then, Francois injured his knee against the Alabama Crimson Tide and Jimbo Fisher had to make a decision. With Blackman thrust into a starting position, and Fisher phasing himself out of FSU and into Texas A&M, the Seminoles’ offense fell apart.

Florida State dropped from third overall in the S&P+ offensive rankings to 76th. This all can’t be blamed on Blackman as Florida State also lost Dalvin Cook to the NFL and Fisher’s attention wasn’t on issues in North Florida.

When Francois was the starter in 2016, he threw for 3,350 yards and 20 touchdowns with seven interceptions. Francois was able to average 8.5 yards per attempt which is excellent for anyone let alone a redshirt freshman. He led the Seminoles to a 10-3 record including wins over the Miami Hurricanes and Michigan Wolverines.

In 2017, after Francois’ knee injury, Blackman stepped in to start. Blackman is a lanky 6-foot-5 and 190 pounds. Blackman started off rocky but improved greatly over his true freshman campaign. He ended the season throwing for over 2,000 yards and adding 19 touchdowns on 11 interceptions. Blackman is more of a pocket passer than Francois who has a stockier build at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds.

Taggart will want the  quarterback that can pull and keep on the inside zone read game, run some sprint out passing combinations, and that can change tempos in order to keep defenses off balance. Blackman will have the advantage over Francois as the latter is still being held out of practice this spring coming off of knee surgery.

Next: NFL Mock Draft 2018: First round post-Combine

Whoever wins this battle will make or break the start of Taggart’s career at FSU and could either get the fan and admin support he will need or start off in their doghouse.

Prediction: James Blackman