Former RB Sheffield blossoms during first spring at receiver

Deonte Sheffield was quick to give credit where credit was due.

Although James Blackman was the quarterback who targeted him more than 10 times in last Saturday’s spring game – and who connected with him on a 65-yard touchdown pass – Sheffield actually praised junior quarterback Deondre Francois for preparing him for his biggest play of the day.

On the Gold team’s second play of the second half, Sheffield beat safety Hamsah Nasirildeen with a hard outside-in move, and Blackman connected with him on that 65-yard touchdown strike.

Sheffield later explained that he and Francois had worked on that route extensively earlier in the spring.

“Me and Deondre stayed after practice for a good 30 minutes,” Sheffield said. “We worked on that same route. He taught me what to do to beat the safety man-on-man.”

Francois, who is still recovering from the knee injury that sidelined him for most of last season and did not play in the spring game, has some good experience with that particular route. He connected with receiver Nyqwan Murray on it for a touchdown in the 2016 Orange Bowl against Michigan.

“It was the same route,” Sheffield said. “It was crazy. I stiff-armed him for about five yards, and I was in the end-zone.”

Although he played some receiver in high school and also on his 7-on-7 team back home in Niceville, Fla., Sheffield went through a bit of a crash course in playing wide receiver this spring.

The redshirt freshman, who came to FSU as a running back but likely would have seen limited playing time this season in a crowded backfield, didn’t hesitate when first-year head coach Willie Taggart asked him to change positions.

“He said I could really help the team,” Sheffield said. “So I did it for the team.”

During that conversation, Taggart explained that it wasn’t merely a move to fill out the depth chart. He said he believed Sheffield could be a great weapon in his offense as a slot receiver.

If the spring game was any indication, it might not take Sheffield long to make that a reality. Despite making the move just a month earlier, he led all receivers in the spring game with nine receptions for 117 yards and the one touchdown.

Sheffield’s performance was indicative of the entire game, which featured two other players providing dominating performances despite not playing at all last season.

Redshirt freshman Khalan Laborn led all rushers with 140 yards on 13 carries, and redshirt freshman Tamorrion Terry had the most receiving yards of any player with 129 yards on five receptions.

“I think it says we have some kids that didn't play last year and they worked really hard this spring,” Taggart said of the performances by Sheffield and the rest. “Pretty good football players. I'm glad that they redshirted, a lot of them, and it's only beginning for those guys. And it shows that we have some talent at those positions … guys that we didn't see last year play that are going to help us this year.”