Willie Taggart talks Florida State’s win over Samford and injury update

One of the first questions head coach Willie Taggart was asked following the Seminoles’ victory over FCS opponent Samford was how Deondre Francois was growing in the offense. Taggart felt that Francois did a good job distributing the ball and was locked in to his assignments. He noted that Francois missed training camp, and the game reps he is getting now are very valuable. His jump from game one to game two was noticeable.

throughout the night the offensive line was marred by injury and continued to struggle, Taggart says that he believes those deficiencies can be corrected. As far as injuries go, he says they knew they were thin on the line coming into camp and they just have to embrace a “next man up” mentality.

Speaking of “next man up,” arguably the biggest story of the game was the early loss of talented running back Khalan Laborn, who took a hard hit to the knee while returning the second kickoff of the game. Taggart revealed that Laborn suffered a dislocated knee, which is a major blow to the Seminoles’ offense.

As those who watched the game know, it was a roller coaster ride throughout. With all credit to Samford, who played an incredible game, sloppy penalties and poor execution left the Seminoles in a close game with a team that they should have long put away. Taggart’s primary takeaway was that despite messiness, the team needs to learn from it and remember that it is hard to win a football game.

“You should be excited. I don’t care what kind of win you get. If you get a W, you should be excited. You celebrate it and then you go watch the film and make the corrections from the mistakes that you had so that you make sure you play a cleaner game.”