Florida State Football: 5 bold predictions for 2018 season

3. Deondre Francois keeps starting job

To say that Florida State struggled at offense last season would be an understatement. That’s not to say that second-string quarterback James Blackman didn’t perform admirably.

Toward the end of 2017, Blackman had gained both confidence and accuracy and you could see it as the ‘Noles rallied to finish the season with wins against Florida and Mississippi State in the Independence Bowl. He did really well in the Spring game, but at the end of the day, Deondre Francois has more speed and a better arm.

Last season was a mess largely due to a lack of offensive leadership. The blame for this cannot be placed on Blackman’s shoulders — the true freshman was thrown to the wolves and did well under the circumstances. I think last season’s sad performance is due to Jimbo Fisher’s migration to Texas A&M. While that didn’t happen until the season was over, you could tell that he had checked out mentally by the end of September.

Regardless, Blackman learned a great deal and his arm is great. What this means is that the team now has two veteran quarterbacks, which will help them as the season progresses. Having depth in the QB position was the issue last season, and the ‘Noles have fixed that issue.

Here’s the deal. Francois is a better runner and has the best arm of the Seminoles stable of quarterbacks. He needs work on the short pass, but if he improves in that aspect — something Walt Bell will be developing — he should easily hold the starting job.