FSU Football: Expert says James Blackman is opening game starter for Noles

FSU football has a pretty good problem as the Seminoles try and figure out which one of their qualified candidates will be starting at QB in the opener.

Across the world of college football, there are plenty of teams who don’t even have one qualified player who should be starting at quarterback when the 2018 season kicks off. For FSU football, the question has become which of their two talented quarterbacks who have started the last two seasons will become the man to start this upcoming campaign.

Is it going to be Deondre Francois, who shined as a redshirt freshman in 2016 and earned plenty of respect for his toughness before being knocked out in the opener last season? Or will it be James Blackman, who stepped in and did the best he could for the rest of the season, helping to keep bowl and winning season streaks alive for another year.

With Francois still recovering from the knee injury and being limited in the spring, Blackman was able to be the man getting most of the first team reps. That, as well as Francois’ issues with the law this offseason, have one expert giving the race a leader.

Sports Illustrated’s Andy Staples took to answering a reader email earlier last week and he gave the nod to last year’s starter for most of the FSU football season.

"At this point, I’m guessing that starter will be Blackman, who got progressively better last year despite being thrown into Fisher’s complex (for college football) offense in the midst of what turned out to be a lost season.Francois and Blackman each earned the respect of their teammates by enduring a season’s worth of brutal hits as the starter and getting back up every time. Blackman has had zero off-field issues, though.Blackman’s skill set is more similar to Oregon’s Justin Herbert, who ran Taggart’s offense brilliantly when he was healthy last season. Francois could make a big push come August, though. His arm is on par with Blackman’s, and he’s as dynamic a runner as former USF quarterback Quentin Flowers."

There is no doubt that the leader heading into the summer clubhouse is Blackman and that Francois is going to have to work hard on the field (and keep things clean off of it) if he wants to be the FSU football starting quarterback again. It’s not his fault that he hasn’t been back at full speed yet, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

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That being said, I still personally feel that when it is all said and done, Deondre Francois will be the starter when FSU football kicks things off on Labor Day against Virginia Tech. When both are healthy, I still feel Francois is a better all around player and someone who is more durable when it comes to playing in the big game against tough defenses.