At this time last year, Florida State was ranked No. 3 in the country and Deondre Francois was preparing to lead the Seminoles against Alabama in the season opener of what they hoped would be a campaign that ended in the College Football Playoff. Things didn't go according to plan. Francois tore the patellar tendon in his left knee in that Week 1 game and was lost for the rest of the season as Florida State limped to a 7-6 finish.
Well, it's time for take two.
No. 19 Florida State announced Monday that Francois will start the season as QB1 against Virginia Tech this weekend. Francois, now a redshirt junior, started 13 games for Florida State as a redshirt freshman in 2016. He threw for 3,350 yards and 20 touchdowns, also rushing for another five scores.
He had been competing with his replacement last year, sophomore James Blackman, as well as redshirt freshman Bailey Hockman for the job.
"I think when you watch the body of work in the short amount of time that he's been out there running the offense he was just a lot more efficient," said Florida State coach Willie Taggart in explaining the decision. "He made a lot less mistakes, and I think that's important for the position."
Florida State enters the 2018 season with lower expectations than last year. The Seminoles are currently ranked No. 19 in the AP Top 25, a full 16 spots lower than where they began the 2017 season.
