Seminoles QB looks to improve accuracy
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Deondre Francois had an appropriate answer when he assessed his performance last season by describing it as bumpy.
The Florida State quarterback hopes things go a little smoother in his sophomore season.
“I feel like last year was a blessing because I learned a lot. Every game, I feel like a learned a lot,” he said. “I know my strengths and my weaknesses.”
As Florida State’s second freshman quarterback in four seasons, Francois led the Seminoles to 10 wins, directed six fourth-quarter rallies (including four wins) and threw for the fifth-most yards in school history (3,350).
That would be judged as a successful season for most freshman quarterbacks. However, when the standard at Florida State is Jameis Winston — who won the Heisman Trophy and led the program to its third national championship as a freshman in the 2013 season — it is considered only good.
“Obviously it wasn’t a year that Jameis had as a freshman, but it was a whole lot better than the kind of year most freshmen had,” offensive coordinator Randy Sanders said. “There’s obviously opportunities for him to improve.”
Francois said he talks with Winston from time to time and that the biggest advice the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback gave him was to listen to what coach Jimbo Fisher tells him and to not necessarily take Fisher’s method of communication to heart.
Fisher, who can be tough on quarterbacks, senses a more confident Francois and hopes he can build on that.
“Last year he proved he could do it on the field. You watch situational football — as good as anybody,” Fisher said. “He can do the things he did last year, and he can grow in other areas.”
The biggest areas in which Francois wants to improve are accuracy and getting rid of the ball faster. He completed 58.8 percent of his passes — 66th among 100 quarterbacks in the Football Bowl Subdivision who averaged 15 or more attempts per game — and had three games in which completed fewer than half of his passes.
On third downs with 4 or more yards needed for first down, Francois completed just 38 of 80 (45 percent) of his passes.
The other area in which Francois hopes to makes progress is taking fewer hits. In its grading of Florida State games last year, the analytics website Pro Football Focus said five of Francois’ 34 sacks were due to him holding the ball too long.
“I need to get the ball out of my hands faster. Throw it away when nothing’s there. That’s basically it,” he said. “Trusting my receivers so that I can let it go before they break instead of holding it that one second.”
Sanders said Francois has improved in avoiding staring down receivers and learning to confuse defenses. He also said both the quarterback and the receivers have to improve on check-downs.