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Andrea Adelson, ESPN Senior Writer 5y

Seminoles fail to sign a quarterback for second straight season

College Football, Football Recruiting, Florida State Seminoles

The Florida State Seminoles failed to sign a quarterback on national signing day for the second consecutive season, adding to the concerns over depth at the position after Deondre Francois was kicked off the team over the weekend.

Coach Willie Taggart on Wednesday tried to downplay the failure to secure a quarterback in the 2018 and 2019 recruiting classes.

"We have a plan," Taggart said during his news conference in Tallahassee. "I think a pretty good plan. I don't necessarily want to discuss it right now, but I think we've got a pretty good plan of where we want to go."

Florida State has two scholarship quarterbacks currently on the roster: James Blackman and Louisville transfer Jordan Travis, who needs a waiver to be eligible for the 2019 season. Taggart mentioned the transfer and grad transfer route as one option. Another could be ESPN 300 defensive back Travis Jay, who played quarterback in high school.

"Everything's on the table," Taggart said. "That kid [Jay] is a freak. When I say freak, in a good way. He's different. I don't know if you all watched him play. Probably have. But he's special. He can play anywhere on the football field for us. You'll see a lot out of him. Probably see him doing a lot of different things for us."

When Taggart arrived at Florida State in December 2017, he made it a priority to try to sign a quarterback. He invested heavily in attempting to sign ESPN 300 prospect James Foster, but Foster ultimately chose Texas A&M and former Seminoles coach Jimbo Fisher.

The Seminoles then lost Bailey Hockman to transfer early in the fall, depleting the quarterback situation further. But the issue compounded when Taggart lost longtime commitment Sam Howell to North Carolina during the early signing date in December. That left Lance Legendre as the top target to sign for February, but he signed with Maryland.

The Seminoles also were recruiting ESPN 300 quarterback John Rhys Plumlee, but he wound up signing with Ole Miss.

After a 5-7 season in Year 1, the pressure is on Taggart to get Florida State headed in the right direction.

"I think when you look at the transfer portal and the grad transfer portal, there's always options for us," Taggart said. "But I think it's more important to get the right kind of guy -- especially at that position -- and not just go get anybody. And I think going through last year, we've got to make sure that we get our guy. And when it comes to getting a quarterback, making sure that he's a team guy. And just can't be a certain guy, because I think, if anything, that's what hurt us -- we invested in someone and we missed on them.

"So that's on us and just have to make sure that don't happen again."

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