FSU Football: Francois to Inherit a More Proven Supporting Cast than Winston

With expectations extremely high heading into the 2016 season, Florida State fans and even some beat writers have felt the need to mention the 2013 team. The 2013 Seminoles have a special place in fans’, particularly young ones’, hearts and rightfully so.

That year, FSU not only showed that it could again compete at the highest level of college football, but that it could win at the highest level of college football. The Seminoles were one of the sport’s most dominant teams ever en route to capping its first national championship in 14 years with the biggest comeback in BCS title game history.

The face of the team was without a question, quarterback Jameis Winston, who became the youngest player to win a Heisman Trophy. Then a redshirt freshman, Winston would go on to be selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the first pick in the 2015 NFL Draft.

Despite being a topic of controversy for a large part of his time on campus, FSU fans continue to adore Winston. It’s not uncommon to see memes with his face or still hear things like “do it big” — a reference to Winston’s 2013 pregame pep talk before taking on Clemson. FSU fans who either pulled for another team or didn’t follow the NFL all that closely now sit on the edge of their seats on Sunday to watch the Buccaneers.

In regards to the 2016 season for Florida State, the harsh reality is that Jameis Winston won’t be walking through that door. The good news is that for FSU to have success, he doesn’t need to.

The quarterback competition in Tallahassee is seen as a 2-man race between redshirt senior Sean Maguire and redshirt freshman Deondre Francois. Since spring however, the race has seemed to be trending in favor of Francois.

Though Francois won’t be expected to throw for more than 4,000 yards, 40 touchdowns and to win the Heisman Trophy, there are some parallels between Francois and Winston in 2013: both are redshirt freshmen, both performed well in the preceding spring and both have won the respect of their teammates. Assuming Francois is given the nod as the starter, he would have also beaten out a more seasoned player with starts under his belt (as Winston did with Clint Trickett) and made his debut on Labor Day at a stadium outside of Tallahassee.

The Seminoles probably won’t win by an average margin of almost six touchdowns and score more points than any FBS team in history as the 2013 squad did, but on the surface, the Seminoles will enter 2016 more proven on offense they were three years earlier.

As respected and full of potential as Francois is, there’s no denying that the face of the FSU offense in 2016 will be running back Dalvin Cook.

Cook is coming off the greatest season for any FSU rusher ever. FSU entered the 2013 season with a talented and productive backfield tandem in Devonta Freeman and James Wilder Jr. Freeman and Wilder had combined for 2,034 career rushing yards in 46 career combined games.

Cook had nearly 1,700 yards in 12 games last season. Add in Jacques Patrick’s freshman production from last season and the numbers are nearly identical to what Freeman and Wilder combined to do in their first two seasons. Karlos Williams moved from safety early in 2013 to give the Seminoles a talented trio of backs who are all currently on NFL rosters, but entering the year, the current group is more accomplished.

Winston’s corps of pass-catchers in 2013 included eventual all-time leading receiver Rashad Greene, eventual first-round pick Kelvin Benjamin and tight end Nick O’Leary, the school’s eventual first John Mackey Award winner. Senior Kenny Shaw would end up becoming a dependable third option at receiver.

Entering 2016, junior Travis Rudolph has actually put up better numbers in his first two seasons than Greene did in his. Shaw and Benjamin had combined for 1,027 yards in the previous season entering 2013. FSU’s second and third leading receivers from last year, Kermit Whitfield and Jesus Wilson, combined for more than 1,400 yards in 2015.

Benjamin, a 6-5, 240-pound target, would have a breakout campaign in 2013, but the Seminoles have somewhat comparable talents on their current roster in Auden Tate and George Campbell. Overall, the 2016 team is also much deeper at receiver.

In addition to Rudolph, Whitfield, Wilson, Tate and Campbell, Da’Vante Phillips, Nyqwan Murray, Ermon Lane, Ja’Vonn Harrison and perhaps even true freshman Keith Gavin could compete for playing time. In between 2012 and 2013, the Seminoles lost Greg Dent, Willie Haulstead, Jarred Haggins and tight ends Kevin Haplea and Christo Kourtzidis all to either suspension, academic woes, injury or transfer. Highly-touted speedster Marvin Bracy also walked away from the program to focus on track and field.

As far as the tight end position goes, the Seminoles are also deep there with Ryan Izzo, Mavin Saunders, Jeremy Kerr, Jalen Wilkerson and incoming Naseir Upshur. Izzo finished with 14 catches for 210 yards and a pair of touchdowns a season, which isn’t far behind what O’Leary did (21 catches, 252 yards, 3 touchdowns) in 2012. While depth at the position isn’t a concern with this team, it was in 2013 as FSU was forced to move Giorgio Newberry to tight end from the defensive line.

As for the offensive line, Florida State is returning all five starters up front and nine players who made at least one start a season ago. The 2013 offensive line had four players go on to get drafted including three, 2013 Rimington Trophy winning center Bryan Stork, tackle Cam Erving and guard Tre’ Jackson, who went on to earn All-American honors.

It’s hard to envision this year’s offensive line producing three All-Americans, but left tackle Roderick Johnson enters the season more accomplished than any FSU offensive lineman entering 2013. Johnson was a first-team All-ACC selection in 2015, won the ACC Jacobs Blocking Trophy and was named a second-team All-American by Sporting News and USA Today.

The best any FSU offensive lineman had done entering 2013 was being recognized as second-team all-conference. The Seminoles were also having to replace tackle Menelik Watson, who went in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft to the Oakland Raiders. Entering 2013, the offensive line actually had serious depth concerns as well, but fortunately managed to stay healthy as a unit.

Whether the 2016 offense for Florida State actually has more talent than the 2013 squad at this point remains to be seen and quite honestly, is a tough argument to make. There however, is no denying that the Seminole offense entering 2016 is far more proven than it was three years ago.

The Seminoles have been more productive at virtually every position, are much deeper at wide receiver and along the offensive line and will have probably the greatest running back in school-history in the backfield. For these reasons, Francois won’t need to have a Jameis Winston caliber freshman year for FSU to be successful.

Assuming Francois gets the nod over the incumbent Maguire, he’ll simply need to play within himself, get the ball to the open man and minimize costly mistakes. While Francois doesn’t need to be Jameis Winston, the one thing he can’t be is a noticeable liability.