Signing James Blackman in February was supposed to be a move for the future.
The plan was for Blackman to sit at least one season, learn Jimbo Fisher's nuanced offense at a gradual pace and then compete to become Florida State's next starting quarterback.
Those plans have changed.
Fisher instead will have to teach Blackman on the fly, given the true freshman will make his first collegiate start this Saturday against visiting Louisiana-Monroe. Blackman became FSU's new starting quarterback Monday when Fisher confirmed redshirt sophomore Deondre Francois would miss the rest of the season with a torn patellar tendon in his left knee.
"Obviously, Deondre is down as our starting quarterback, and now it's the next man up," Seminoles sophomore defensive back Levonta Taylor said before Monday's practice. "We're going to support James and [help] fulfill his dreams. He came here for a reason to play, so we're going help everybody else be better and help him as well."
The No. 3 Seminoles (0-1) have undergone drastic changes in the last 48 hours.
FSU entered Saturday as a national title contender. With a strong defense as its centerpiece, the plan was for Francois to continue his rise and guide a somewhat youthful offense over the course of the season.
Instead, special-teams miscues and a stalled offense were costly in FSU's 24-7 loss to No. 1 Alabama at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
FSU can still challenge to reach the College Football Playoff. But the Seminoles likely will have to do it with Blackman, who will start the 7 p.m. home opener against ULM. He'll become the first true freshman to start at quarterback for FSU since Chip Ferguson in 1985. Blackman also becomes the first true freshman to start under Fisher since he's been a head coach.
"You don't change the way you coach. You coach the same way, by the amount of information and things that he can handle," Fisher said of Blackman's transition from backup to unexpected starter. "That's one of the things I was encouraged about going into camp, that he did and did in our scrimmages. And you have to remember, we had ones-on-twos and twos-on-ones -- he was throwing on [the first-team defense] in every scrimmage.
"So he went against that and produced and made a lot of good plays against a very good defense and made a lot of throws, a lot of decisions, a lot of run reads, a lot of things he did. So go out there and coach and do the things they do."
