FSU Football: 5 reasons James Blackman is Willie Taggart’s QB in 2018
By Kelvin Hunt
Leadership
I would be a prime example of being a non-vocal leader and I think Deondre Francois falls into that category. He wasn’t the type to get all in his teammates faces to rile them up.
A lot of his leadership came from the toughness he showed his redshirt freshman season. He got annihilated every game but kept getting back up and going to the next play.
However, it’s no secret he wasn’t putting ALL the work in needed to be the leader of this team. If the QB isn’t showing up to workouts or mailing it in, that makes it easier for others to do the same thing.
That kind of thing can happen when there’s competition for your job. After all, JJ Cosentino wasn’t a factor and the plan was for Blackman and Bailey Hockman to redshirt.
Remember, Francois didn’t attend Senior Day this year. I understand he was hurt and couldn’t play in the game. However, if you’re the leader of the team you’ll understand you should be at that game.
If you’re not at the game, you shouldn’t be posting on social media with a guy that’s suspended from the team.
On the flip side, James Blackman got annihilated this year too, and kept getting right back up for the next play.
Blackman is a more vocal leader too, and players seemed to respond to him. Whatever clout Francois had in the locker room has probably been overtaken by Blackman at this point.
Especially with the younger players on the team. If you want to look at the older players, I don’t think Auden Tate’s gonna complain about James Blackman with the year he had while playing injured most of the year.
Willie Taggart said the thing he looks for first in a quarterback is leadership. It says a lot that Taggart had to have a talk with Francois about being there for his teammates even though he can’t participate in on field activities.