It hasn't even been one calendar year since Deondre Francois went down with a season-ending -- and potentially career-threatening -- knee injury.
At the time, FSU's medical personnel didn't have a firm plan of what his rehabilitation timeline might look like. Because a torn patellar tendon is so rare for athletes of Francois' age -- it typically occurs to people later in life -- there wasn't necessarily a wealth of medical history to give him a blueprint to follow.
With no guarantees of when, or if, he would be back to full speed, Francois did the only thing he knew he could. He controlled the one thing he could control. He attacked his rehab the same way he would learning the playbook or perfecting his passing technique.
"The week after I got my surgery, I just put my mind to it that I was gonna play again," Francois said. "And I was gonna come back stronger. And here I am today."
Here he is, back in the starting lineup for the Florida State Seminoles. Preparing to open his third straight season as FSU's starting quarterback.
"It's a blessing," Francois said before Thursday's practice, making his first public comments since winning the starting job earlier this week. "Just thankful to be playing again."
Francois has good reason to be grateful. Not only did he have to battle back from a frightening knee injury, but he also had to win over his teammates and coaches after making a couple of poor decisions off the field -- one late last season and another early this year.
Since that time, head coach Willie Taggart has said, Francois has been a model citizen. He has met or exceeded all of his team and individual obligations, and he has worked overtime to learn Taggart's offense.
Taggart and offensive coordinator Walt Bell, both of whom are in their first seasons at Florida State, knew about the Orlando product's athletic gifts. But they were both impressed by how quickly he picked up the offense during preseason camp, how smoothly he ran the offense, and how he avoided the major mistakes that can derail an offense.
