Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Seminoles
FSU’s Deondre Francois, right, and Alabama’s Jalen Hurts have a Sept. 2 meeting.
TALLAHASSEE — Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts had no problem communicating his mission for spring practice and this offseason before preparing for the 2017 season opener against Florida State.
Hurts may have even overstated it, saying his goal was to “improve” or keep “improving” 14 times during a 5-minute meeting with media after Alabama’s ADay spring game on April 22.
One aspect in particular Hurts needs to fine-tune is his downfield passing attack, which he insists is already making some sort of progress.
“It’s improving. I don’t know how, but it just improving,” said Hurts, a sophomore hoping to help the Crimson Tide avenge its national title loss to Clemson last season.
“We’re going to take positive steps every day, and to be the best we can be. That goal is always going to be to improve every day.”
When Alabama and Florida State meet on Sept. 2 in Atlanta, the matchup between Hurts and FSU starting quarterback Deondre Francois of Orlando will also add to the intrigue in the first meeting between Jimbo Fisher and Nick Saban as head coaches.
Francois, like Hurts, will begin his second season as a starter. He led the Seminoles to four comeback victories and a fifth-straight 10-win season in 2016.
But unlike Hurts, who was thrown into the fire as a true freshman and is now paired with his third offensive coordinator, Francois benefitted from a redshirt year when he first enrolled at Florida State and continuity from Fisher and FSU quarterbacks coach Randy Sanders.
While working on his accuracy and game management skills this spring, Francois has also strived to become a better leader of FSU’s offense, which will be without star running back Dalvin Cook in 2017.
During the Seminoles’ spring game on April 8, where the Seminoles had only two healthy scholarship receivers, Fisher was pleased with Francois’ communication with teammates, whether it came to pointing them in the right direction on a play call or offering words of encouragement.
“I feel like I’ve gotten better this spring, but there are always things that I can improve on,” Francois said. “I will never be pleased with myself internally, but as a team and as an offense, I am very pleased with how we’ve been doing.”
Saban has said the coaching staff limited Hurts to certain play calls instead of developing him in his first season as a starter while in pursuit of a fifth national championship at Alabama.
Having to end the season with Steve Sarkisian taking over as offensive coordinator for new Florida Atlantic coach Lane Kiffin a week before the national championship game also hindered Hurts, who was 13 of 31 for 131 yards with a touchdown, and 63 yards rushing with a rushing touchdown in the title game.
While Saban mentioned Hurts’ ability to make plays as a running quarterback is still important, improving into a better passing quarterback is the goal under new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.
“I thought his ability to stand in the pocket and be a pocket passer, throwing the ball on time and accurately was much improved,” Saban said of Hurts after ADay. “That was one of the goals in the spring, and that’s something we need to continue to work on.”
Hurts and Francois have yet to meet each other, Francois said.
But the FSU quarterback has kept an eye on his counterpart before their matchup next season.
“[He’s an] awesome player, very awesome player, very poised,” Francois said of Hurts.
“I think we have a similar game. He’s a quiet guy. But he’s a poised quarterback. He makes good decisions, and I like him as a player.”