Florida State football, recruiting news: Seminoles’ quarterback competition alive and well

Football

ESPN’s David M. Hale did a Q&A with Willie Taggart and picked his brain about team morale, the fresh batch of signees and taking over a new program. You can read the whole interview here, but here are the highlights:

• Deondre Francois’ rehab is going well and he’ll “probably get some throwing in during spring ball”
• There is a true quarterback competition in Tallahassee between Francois and James Blackman, “we can all appreciate and be happy with who comes out of it because he’ll have done what he needed to do to win the job”
• Blackman has gained 13 pounds in the offseason and will continue to work with the strength and nutrition team
• The competition isn’t just at quarterback, Taggart said “it’s going to be a moving depth chart” when asked about expected freshman impact

Despite his efforts to put on weight in the offseason, Blackman put on a show at team’s workouts this morning along with teammates Jaiden Woodbey and Zaquandre White.

Derwin James showed out at the NFL Combine this past weekend, and his performance moved him up two spots to No. 9 on Daniel Jeremiah’s Top 50 prospects list. Check out the whole list and his analysis of James here.

Recruiting

Marcus Washington, a class of 2019 wide receiver from Saint Louis (MO) Trinity Catholic High School narrowed down his 35 offers to a top 10 yesterday, and Florida State is still in the running.

Washington is the No. 10 player in the nation at his position and the second highest rated player in the state of Missouri.

Bryce Langston is a 6’3” 210 lb defensive end from Ocala (Fla.) Vanguard High School. He’s not in the 2019 class, or the 2020 class — Bryce Langston is a freshman in high school and he earned an offer from Florida State, already his fourth offer. Watch his freshman highlights here and you’ll see why the Seminoles coaching staff is buying in early.

Langston describe FSU as his ‘dream school’ in the tweet and he has family ties in Tallahassee — his uncle Greg Carr played wide receiver at Florida State and currently plays in the Arena Football League.

Other Sports

The Florida State men’s basketball team was eliminated by Louisville in the second round of the ACC Tournament yesterday. The Seminoles (20-11) fell 82-74 as a late comeback effort ultimately fell short. Read the recap of the game here.

FSU will have to wait until Selection Sunday to hear its NCAA Tournament fate.

Tomorrow night the No. 4 FSU baseball team (13-0) will begin ACC play tomorrow night on the road against Wake Forest. Head coach Mike Martin is now just 19 wins away from become the winningest head coach of all time.