Florida State began its season by falling to Alabama on Saturday night, but the team’s biggest loss had nothing to do with the final score of the game.
Seminoles starting quarterback Deondre Francois went down with an injury late in the fourth quarter, and it appeared to be serious. Jim Henry of the Tallahassee Democrat reports that it was, as Francois suffered a patellar tendon injury and is set to undergo season-ending surgery this week.
Francois suffered the injury in Florida State’s 24-7 loss when he was sacked from behind while rolling out of the pocket. He was carted off the field, and true freshman quarterback James Blackman finished the game under center. Blackman is expected to start on Saturday against Louisiana Monroe.
While Francois struggled against Alabama (19-of-33 for 210 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions), the sophomore was outstanding for the Seminoles last year. He threw for 3,350 yards, 20 touchdowns and just seven interceptions as a freshman. He added another 198 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.
The Carolina Panthers likely didn’t know that Francois had been seriously injured when they took a light-hearted shot at him on Twitter. Between losing the game and Francois for the season, Florida State could not have gotten out to a much worse start in 2017.
