Jimbo Fisher press conference highlights: New starting quarterback named

On Monday, Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher held his weekly press conference. Near the beginning of the presser, the head coach formally announced that starting QB Deondre Francois would miss the remainder of the season due to a torn patellar tendon.

Fisher then went on to say that the recovery is expected to take 4-7 months and that the redshirt sophomore will undergo surgery on Tuesday morning.

The head coach then went on to announce that James Blackman will take over at QB1 with a non-definitive answer on who will directly back up the true freshman, whether that be fellow true freshman Bailey Hockman or redshirt junior J.J. Cosentino.

The biggest piece of advice Fisher will try to instill in his young starting quarterback is preparedness.

"Prepare, put your time in, and to play one play at a time, trust the process”

Fisher also spoke about the special teams blunders and exclaimed his satisfaction with how the offensive line and defense played.

"The blocked punt was as simple as this, split too wide. We were just two wide. It’s that simple. The guys made a mistake," before later adding, “It’s very disappointing. We have to coach it better."

On defense, the unit made great open field tackles and got better as the game went on.

“We leveraged the ball very well...After those first three drives, they were excellent.”

Among players, Fisher noted center Alec Eberle as “Probably our lineman of the night.”

Besides the unfortunate injury to Francois, there were no other major injuries on Florida State. In fact, defensive back Carlos Becker who was ruled out on Thursday almost was able to play in Saturday’s game. Fisher said his swelling went down much faster than they had thought and he was warming up with the team pregame.