A Quarterback Competition is Coming for FSU

The first preseason of the Willie Taggart era will have another enticing storyline to follow. Unless something radically changes in between now and spring/fall practice, Florida State will have another position battle at the quarterback spot. This time between Deondre Francois and James Blackman.

It seems hard to imagine that Blackman would be a major contender to start. The thought process goes: Francois is only out because he’s injured, Blackman looked worse in his one year of play, and Francois is the better fit for the system that Taggart wants to run. How legitimate are these points?

No one disagrees that Francois’ 2016 season was more impressive than Blackman’s 2017 season. The former threw for more yards, more touchdowns, and less interceptions on a higher completion percentage. Side-by-side numbers paint a pretty good picture for Francois.

Context is key. Francois was a redshirt freshman when he got tabbed by Jimbo Fisher to lead the offense. He had over a year to come in, bulk up, learn the playbook, and receive coaching without being thrown in to the fire.

Blackman was not given these advantages; instead, he was forced to lead a team as a true freshman just three months after arriving on campus. By no accounts was Blackman ready to start at quarterback, either mentally or physically.

Despite these disadvantages, he was able to finish the year on a high note and show flashes of potential greatness. His bad moments were awful. His good moments were very encouraging.

If Fisher were still around, Francois’ experience would have more sway. But Taggart will be running a different system in 2018, no matter how gradual of a transition it will be.

It’s not an entirely clean slate, but it does lessen the importance of Francois having those reps from the 2016 season. Both quarterbacks will be forced to adjust.

The question of which one fits Taggart’s offense better is also not as clear cut as some are making it out to be. Many point to South Florida star Quinton Flowers as the model for a Taggart quarterback. Flowers is someone who can make all the passes on the field, but is more comfortable as a running threat.

In his two years of starting for the Bulls under Taggart, Flowers had 389 rushing attempts. Francois seems to fulfill that role more so than Blackman.

However, Taggart’s stops at Western Kentucky and Oregon shed some light on this trend.

When he coached the Hilltoppers from 2010-12, Taggart gradually decreased the number of rushing attempts by the quarterback. Kawaun Jakes was the starter for all three years of Taggart’s tenure and actually started as a freshman in 2009.

During that 2009 season, he took to the ground 124 times. In 2010, that number was reduced to 96. It went down to 72 in 2011 and his senior season finished with just 66 attempts. For context, Francois had 72 runs/scrambles in 2016 (excluding sacks).

Taggart’s one year in Eugene still provides some insight. There were six games where Justin Herbert was the starter and did not leave early on with injury. In those six games, he passed 162 times and ran 34 times — nearly a 5-to-1 ratio.

Third-string Braxton Burmeister started five games in October and November after injuries to both Herbert and backup Taylor Alie. By contrast, Burmeister made 75 pass attempts and 63 rushing attempts.

Burmeister had a comparatively harder time throwing the ball, so Taggart played to the strengths of his roster and tried to stress the ground game with his offense. It saw mixed results, but there’s only so much a coach can do when he’s down to his third option.

Being a dual-threat quarterback is not necessary for Taggart’s system. It’s much more dependent on passing than some give it credit for. So shouldn’t that also be in Francois’ favor?

Maybe not. One of our early previews on Taggart noted that his Power Coast offense relies on vertical passing. We don’t have any specific numbers in front of us, but we suspect that neither option has a distinct advantage here.

Both struggled mightily at various points with accuracy on deep passes. Blackman seems to have a more natural feel, but Francois is not far behind when it comes to the actual on-field results.

Yet a single passing skill will not determine who wins the starting job. Francois has an obvious edge when it comes to every other passing area. Again, that’s because he was able to go through an adequate amount of preparation.

We would be dishonest if we didn’t mention the elephant in the room. More specifically, the elephant in the locker room. Rumors swirled before the 2017 season that Francois was not taking practice seriously and became a headache for Fisher and the team.

He supposedly had a “me first” attitude that rubbed people the wrong way. It was not big enough to derail their preparation, and in all likelihood, it would have been background noise if Francois did not get injured and the wins kept coming.

Francois’ attitude issues got more publicity as the season went on. He wasn’t going to games, started retweeting people lamenting Blackman’s play, brought attention on himself during the Fisher drama, etc. It’s not an exaggeration to say that his behavior set him back in the eyes of his teammates.

There are potential signs of change. Francois was seen in Shreveport for the bowl practices and appears 100 percent on board for Taggart. Questions about leadership will remain until he proves throughout a season that he has matured.

Taggart will go with whichever quarterback gives him the best chance to win. Neither Francois nor Blackman have the starting position laid out for them. Depending on what Taggart sees during camp, he might even try to work them both in over the course of the season (small possibility).

Don’t forget Bailey Hockman for the backup spot as well; he was set to be right behind Francois before he suffered an injury in practice that allowed Blackman to overtake him.

So get ready, Florida State fans. Another quarterback battle is coming; and it might just be the closest one yet.