FAU Football: Deondre Francois will flourish with Lane Kiffin

Deondre Francois has announced that he will transfer to FAU football. Next season, he’ll be playing under Lane Kiffin’s potent offense. How will he do?

It was no surprise when Deondre Francois came into college with high expectations on his shoulders. He reached those expectations in his first season as a starter when he threw for 20 touchdowns and rushed for another five. After that performance, many expected Francois to fix his shortcomings in the passing game in his sophomore season, but an injury in the opening game against Alabama halted his entire season.

In his junior year, both Francois and Florida State regressed. His 15 touchdowns were lower than his redshirt freshman year, and his 12 interceptions here significantly higher. His ability to scramble also fell short, where he gained a net 16 rushing yards when you take away sacks as opposed to 198.

After some issues on and off the field, Deondre Francois decided to transfer. It was a little later in the transfer portal process, but he finally announced that he will be joining FAU, where Francois will get his last chance to make a good impression with NFL scouts. With Lane Kiffin as the head coach for the Owls, fans should expect for the offense to use all of the talent available, and a lot of that will happen at the quarterback position.

As an offensive coach, Kiffin tries to get creative with whatever talent he has at his disposal. At Alabama, he used the mobile abilities of Jalen Hurts and Blake Sims to extend drives and keep the defense guessing. He also used the strength of his team. When it was Derrick Henry, they ran the ball consistently. When it was Calvin Ridley, they found ways to get him open through screens and pop passes. Francois will be the best player on the offensive side of the ball, and Kiffin will learn to use his talents well.

Part of succeeding with Deondre Francois at quarterback will simply be developing his skillset. As a passer, he needs to get more accurate and make better decisions. As a runner, he needs to avoid the sacks. Many of his sacks can be blamed by his atrocious offensive lines at Florida State, but he still needs to improve in these capacities.

There are a lot of holes to fill in Lane Kiffin’s offense this year. Their top two running backs and top wide receiver all declared for the NFL Draft, and they will have to show the depth at those positions. There is also a need for a starting quarterback after FAU suspended their previous starting quarterback indefinitely. These are clearly negatives, but the silver lining is that Kiffin will be able to build completely around his new quarterback’s skill set.

It will be hard for Florida Atlantic to make it to a huge bowl game this year, but hopefully they can win some games, develop Deondre Francois, and get some legendary sound bytes from Lane Kiffin along the way.