Few positions in football are as important as the quarterback position. Because of that, going two full recruiting cycles without signing a quarterback to a scholarship will tend to raise some questions. Florida State missed out on one target at quarterback on Wednesday, but head coach Willie Taggart isn’t pressing any panic buttons just yet. He’s also not about to open up about what’s next for the Seminoles at the quarterback position.
“We have a plan, I think a pretty good plan,” Taggart said when addressing the media on Wednesday, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
What is that plan, exactly? We’ll have to keep guessing because Taggart isn’t saying.
“I don’t necessarily want to discuss it right now,” Taggart said, perhaps frustrating some wanting to hear the head coach of Florida State wanting to provide some comfort about the position moving forward.
Florida State likely had their plan at quarterback initially foiled when four-star dual-threat quarterback Lance Legendre announced his commitment to Maryland. Florida State had long been expected to be in the lead for his commitment, so losing a talented dual-threat option to Maryland was a tough blow on signing day. This was just days after Florida State dismissed Deondre Francois from the program and there was not a backup option lined up at quarterback in the Class of 2019 for signing day.
Taggart did say he didn’t want to discuss the plan now, and that could be because he cannot get into too many specifics. That could be because he cannot comment on players who are not signed by the school, so JUCO and transfer options are unable to be discussed publicly. So are other potential recruits still out there to be signed.
For the upcoming season, Florida State still has James Blackman to rely on running the offense. Depth is the primary concern right now, especially if Blackman happens to struggle or gets hurt. Florida State has some serious concern about the position in the immediate future, and two straight recruiting classes means Florida State has to go big on the recruiting trail for a quarterback in the Class of 2020. As of this moment, Florida State currently has a verbal commitment from three-star pro-style quarterback Jeff Sims of Jacksonville in the Class of 2020. Expect Taggart and his staff to continue to search for a quarterback for the next recruiting cycle.