On Saturday, Florida State dismissed quarterback Deondre Francois from the football program after a video of him allegedly abusing his girlfriend was shared by the woman in an Instagram post. Now, as Francois begins searching for a new program to call home, the woman says the videos she shared were meant to intimidate Francois and “made to look like something it wasn’t.”
“I want to first start by apologizing to Deondre and his family for ultimately diminishing his character,” a long statement from Diamond Lindsey said on Instagram opened, as relayed by Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times on Twitter. “I should never have posted a video from our past situations that were already handled. The motive of the video was to scare him not to ruin anything he had going for [himself]. The sounds you hear in the video are me throwing things and hitting him. I should never have made it seem like he was hitting me. The video was made to look like something it wasn’t.”
“Deondre has never struck me with his hand or fist,” the woman continued in her statement on Instagram. “he has never bruised me, but has abused me verbally. If it was actually serious I would have took legal action instead of making a Instagram post. I just wanted closure and attention from him after we broke up but I couldn’t get it from him. The only way to get his attention was through Instagram and spiteful actions.”
Earlier on Monday, Francois reportedly entered his name to the NCAA transfer portal as he begins the search for a new place to play college football. Florida State head coach Willie Taggart informed Francois of his dismissal from the program on Saturday. The timing was not coincidental, as the video shared by Lindsey was reportedly shared earlier that day.
“I feel terrible and I know a lot of people are hurt by this but I know he will bounce back from this and continue following his dream,” Lindsey said to close out her statement.
What does this mean for Francois? At this point, the damage may already have been done with no turning back now. Taggart addressed a certain standard for the culture of the football program following the dismissal of Francois, who had some questions prior to this situation. Given this statement as a possible defense of Francois, Taggart could welcome Francois back to the program as Francois entering his name in the NCAA transfer portal does not mean he is necessarily gone for good.
Before anything else though, it may be best to make sure what details in this story are legitimate and given the circumstances that would best be left in the hands outside the football program. Either way, it is a messy situation and everybody needs to be sure they are on the same page regardless of the outcome. And that’s just assuming there is a scenario in play that brings Francois back to the Seminoles football program.
The Instagram account that posted the Deondre Francois video Saturday evening just posted this. pic.twitter.com/92KW1pCcRz
— Matt Baker (@MBakerTBTimes) February 4, 2019