It's September, and that means the kids are back in school, and its time for football season. This past Saturday was the first official weekend of the college football season and there was a full schedule of great games to kick it off. One of the most anticipated games of the weekend was the no. 3 ranked Florida State Seminoles taking on the no. 1 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide. The results were a 24-7 loss for the Seminoles, as well as the loss of their starting quarterback.
Florida State had high hopes and expectations coming into this game, and the season.
With just over six minutes left in the game, their sophomore starting quarterback suffered a devastating knee injury.
Deondre Francois
Much of the reason why Florida State was ranked no. 3, and projected to do so well this season, was because of the quality play of their sophomore quarterback. This season was predicted, by many, to be Deondre Francois' breakout year, despite how good of a season he had last year. This would have been his first full season as the starter and many were anxious to see what he was going to do with the opportunity.
Francois is the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year, as he finished last season with 3,350 passing yards, 20 passing touchdowns, and five rushing touchdowns.
It was thought that this freshman performance was going to be a wonderful starting point, and springboard, for this young talented athlete.
That all came to a halt in the first game of his sophomore season on the road against the Alabama Crimson Tide. With just over six minutes left in the fourth quarter, Francois was sacked by Alabama's Ronnie Harrison, and he came down wrong on his knee and he, unfortunately, suffered a season ending injury.
His injury has been confirmed as a patella tendon injury and it will require Francois to have surgery on the injured knee. The surgery has already been scheduled for Tuesday. The loss of Francois is more than just the loss of touchdowns and statistics, he is the leader of the Seminole offense and the loss of a leader is never an easy one to navigate.
Before being injured and having to be carted off the field, Francois threw for 210 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions against a dominant Alabama defense.
Now what?
James Blackman
James Blackman was the quarterback who filled in for the injured sophomore. Blackman is now considered by many to be the guy to take over the quarterback duties in the absence of Deondre Francois. Blackman was listed as the no. 15 quarterback coming out of the class of 2017, as reported by Scout,com.
Director of Scouting from 247 Sports, Barton Simmons, has big hopes for Blackman but there are some questions. It is believed he has the talent to do the job but lacks the development time and experience to put it together.
Only time will tell what the future holds for the Seminoles.
