FSU Football: Will starting QB decision be clarified after spring game?

FSU football knows they will have a new full time starter this coming season, but could that decision still not be closer to a decision after Saturday?

While there are still things that the FSU football team has to work on and figure out before the start of the 2019 season, one thing is a known fact: they will have a new full time starting quarterback for essentially the fifth straight season after the dismissal of Deondre Francois, who started all but one game in the 2018 season for the Noles.

Entering spring football camp for the Seminoles, the general consensus is that James Blackman – the man who started all but one game in the 2017 season and started just one game last season for head coach Willie Taggart – is going to be the man taking first snaps against Boise State on August 31st.

However, there are going questions about whether the skinny signal caller from Belle Glade is a shoe in for Taggart and FSU football in the opener – and most of the debate centers around another quarterback who hasn’t even taken a snap in practice yet for the Seminoles.

Baring a major change in plans, the Seminoles will welcome grad transfer Alex Hornibrook into the fold for next season – with some thinking he’s there mostly as an insurance plan in case Blackman gets hurt and in case another transfer, Jordan Travis, doesn’t get approved by the NCAA.

But, others think the former signal caller for the Wisconsin Badgers could actually be in the running for the starting job based mostly on his experience as a starter for the Power Five school – including Sports Illustrated, which ranked the battle in Tallahassee as one of the top to watch and could go all the way until the opener before a choice is made.

"Hornibrook has dealt with accuracy issues in the past, and neither he nor Blackman are threats with their legs. Regardless, adding him to the roster gives the Seminoles some depth they desperately needed after coach Willie Taggart failed to reel in a quarterback for the second consecutive signing class."

Now, if I was a betting man regarding this issue, I would say that when FSU football takes the field on offense for the first time against the Broncos it will be the man wearing No. 1 who will be taking those first snaps based off his knowledge of the system that Taggart and new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles want to run.

The bigger issue with Hornibrook is that he will be trying to come in with a few weeks of fall practice under his belt with a brand new offense that is nothing close to what he ran with the Badgers – not exactly the recipe to become the starter for the Seminoles right off the bat.

Hornibrook’s biggest asset to the Noles this coming season is that he won’t have the deer in the headlights look some backups do if he, God forbid, has to come in due to an injury to Blackman or struggling offensive play.