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With Florida State's first 2017 preseason practice in the books, it's time for a new edition of the 3-2-1: Where we offer 3 things we've learned, 2 questions we're asking and 1 prediction.
Three things we've learned
1 -- Deondre Francois is settling in nicely as a team leader
During spring practice and again at the ACC Kickoff interviews last month, sophomore quarterback Deondre Francois talked a good bit about becoming more of a leader this season. Now that Dalvin Cook has moved on, he said, it's his time to step up and be the player who demands excellence from his teammates. The one who encourages them when they're down and pushes them to fight harder when they're tired.
On Tuesday, during the portion of practice that was open to the media, you could already see Francois making strides in that area. While he's never going to have the big, bold personality of a Jameis Winston -- that's not who he is -- you could sense that he's feeling very comfortable in his new role as a team leader. He just seems more confident and relaxed. More sure of himself.
I think Francois has always had that in him, but we know it had to be difficult to express it last season when he was a redshirt freshman surrounded by so many veterans. In the huddle, he usually found himself talking with guys like Cook, juniors Rod Johnson and Travis Rudolph, seniors Freddie Stevenson and Kareem Are, and on and on. And in his position meetings, he was sitting next to a fifth-year senior, Sean Maguire, whom he had just beaten out for the starting job. By all accounts, Maguire handled that situation beautifully and was nothing but a positive figure in the locker room, but it still had to make things uncomfortable at times for Francois.
That is clearly no longer the case. I thought it was interesting during one drill on Tuesday when walk-on quarterback Jake Rizzo came back to the group after throwing a nice pass to a tight end. Francois reached over and patted Rizzo on the head, as if to say, "Good job." While it was a subtle gesture -- one that neither player might even remember today -- it shows that Francois knows he's the unquestioned leader of that group. No matter how well he played on Saturdays, I'm not sure he ever felt that way last season.
2 -- Jacques Patrick appears to be in best shape of his career
The first day of preseason camp is always a great opportunity to see how players have transformed their bodies from the year before. In the old days, this was admittedly a much bigger deal. Back when players had more free time during the summer months, you would often see wild swings in players' fitness and conditioning. You'd see some players come back in the best shape of their lives, while others had clearly let themselves go -- and those guys would end up needing to play their way into shape during preseason camp.
