In mid-December, reports surfaced that Deondre Francois would be leaving Florida State, either as a graduate transfer or as a member of the 2019 NFL Draft pool. However, after catching wind of the reports, the quarterback pushed back against the transfer speculation by stating that he will return to the Seminoles for his final season of eligibility if the NFL evaluations he’s seeking were not favorable.
A month later, it appears the NFL evaluations weren’t favorable as 247Sports.com, citing multiple sources, is reporting that “Francois is with the team and is enrolled in classes for the spring semester.” An FSU spokesperson also confirmed to the Tallahassee Democrat that “Francois remains a member of the football team heading into the spring semester.”
After winning ACC Rookie of the Year honors in 2016, Francois suffered a season-ending knee injury against Alabama the following year. Francois was the starter for the vast majority of the 2018 season, missing one game in early November because of a concussion. In his 11 starts as a redshirt junior, he completed just over 57 percent of his passes for 2,2731 yards, 15 touchdowns and a dozen interceptions.
If Francois remains at FSU, he would be working with a new offensive coordinator after Kendal Briles was hired away from Houston late last month. He will also likely compete with James Blackman, who started the one game Francoise didn’t, for the starting job.
There’s certainly the possibility that, if Francois exits spring practice behind Blackman on the Seminoles’ depth chart, he could opt to take the grad transfer train out of Tallahassee.