FSU coach Taggart seeking depth at QB.
TALLAHASSEE — While Florida State filled some holes on National Signing Day, the Seminoles ended the day with some question marks at the quarterback position.
During the early-signing period, four-star quarterback Sam Howell decided to stay home and attend UNC instead of sticking with his pledge to FSU.
Early Wednesday, the Seminoles saw four-star quarterback Lance LeGendre sign with Maryland, putting a damper on coach Willie Taggart’s plans to bolster that position.
With the abrupt dismissal of starter Deondre Francois Sunday, FSU is now left with three quarterbacks — redshirt sophomore James Blackman, Louisville transfer Jordan Travis and walk-on Nolan McDonald.
During a news conference Wednesday, Taggart said the school has not yet heard whether the NCAA will approve Travis’ waiver appeal that would make him eligible to play immediately.
With an offensive line that has much room to improve, the remaining quarterbacks will have to learn in a hurry, and staying healthy has become more important than ever.
Taggart said he had some goals in mind to bolster the position group.
“Yeah, we have a plan, I think a pretty good plan. I don’t necessarily want to discuss it right now, but I think we’ve got a pretty good plan of where we want to go,” he said.
The coach entering his second season in Tallahassee hammered the importance of changing the culture, with Taggart saying finding the right fit for the team is just as much about character as skillset.
“We’ve had this plan in place and after today, we executed it and we’ve got to continue to grow, be more adept at the position, obviously,” he said. “I think when you look at the transfer portal and the grad transfer portal, there’s always options for us.”
Taggart mentioned that four-star defensive back Travis Jay is a phenomenal athlete and he’s not completely ruling out the possibility of him seeing some time at quarterback.
No matter which quarterbacks hit the field for spring practice next month, they will be executing the vision of new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles. Taggart said they have history together.
“I’ve known Kendal since I was at South Florida. Had an opportunity to go out there and learn some football from [him],” Taggart said. “… A lot of things we learned from them, we did it at South Florida and it changed things for us. So I’ve been doing them and I had the offensive coordinator’s job open, and someone that does the things that we do very similar to what we do, someone who has had success everywhere he’s been and he’s done it well.”
He added that he stands by the decision to hire Briles, a former Baylor assistant during a sprawling sexual-assault scandal involving the football program.
“And we talked with our [athletics director] and talked with our president, and our trustee, we all talked to the people we needed to at FAU and Houston and also Baylor and vetted it out and make sure it’s the right thing for Florida State University and it was,” Taggart said of Briles.