Florida State no longer has their star quarterback. I wrote earlier today that they would be hurt if Deondre Francois missed significant time, but now he has been told he will miss the season. They did not even wait until Monday to tell us what was going on. This was a quick and decisive choice by the Florida State football staff that tells me they are scrambling to figure out what they will do. Most of all, I want to know if Francois will come back next year better than ever.
Florida State must shift now
Florida State can use any quarterback they want, but they truly have to deal with the disappointment that will come to them because they are not playing with the cards they started the season with.
Francois will be sitting there doing nothing, and they have to look past the fact that he could have made different plays than his replacement. I am wondering how they will handle that, but I think they can handle it considering how good the recruiting is at Florida State.
Will he return or transfer?
There are a lot of players who will transfer because they have lost their jobs during the course of the season, and there are other players who will stay around because they want their jobs back. This all depends on how Florida State intends to handle this situation. What if they win a national title this year? Francois is out of a job. What if they go 8-5 this year? He is probably coming back to start next year.
The rehab alone would be motivating if they were terrible, but the rehab would be harder if they were really good without him.
Jimbo Fisher needs to coach them up
Jimbo Fisher has to coach up his team as much as possible, and they need to ensure that the team is on the right track going into week two. I would have a team meeting wherein I got everyone to express their feelings because that would help them clear the air.
I would be very scared if I could not get the team to express their feelings. This worked for the Falcons after they lost their Super Bowl, and I think this will work here.
Florida State is still good
They could turn out to be very good at the end of the season, and there are a lot of people who probably are holding out hope that they can be competitive in a conference that is not all that good.
There is no Clemson to get past, and only Miami is going to give them a hard time. I would be hopeful if I were a disappointed Seminole fan, and I would wait to see what happens. They have more than enough talent to begin compensating.
