Florida State is on its third different head coach in the past four years as Mike Norvell opens his first season with the Seminoles, but the quarterback will stay the same. Norvell announced James Blackman will start Florida State's opener against Georgia Tech on Sept. 12.
Norvell said he told Blackman before practice Tuesday, and the veteran QB simply thanked him and ran back to work.
"Anybody can give a speech and anybody can go out there and be a nice guy," Norvell said, "but when you go out there and your work is proven over and over and over again, you're not just talking about it and guys tend to listen."
Blackman is the lone quarterback on Florida State's roster with significant experience taking snaps, but his career has hardly been a steady march forward.
As a true freshman in 2017, Blackman was thrust into the starting role after Deondre Francois was injured in the team's opener against Alabama. Blackman finished the season completing just 58% of his throws as FSU slumped to the finish line and head coach Jimbo Fisher left for Texas A&M.
A year later, Blackman regained the starting job under Willie Taggart, but Francois did see midseason action, including a four-TD performance against NC State.
After Francois was dismissed from the program in 2019, Blackman battled Wisconsin transfer Alex Hornibrook for the starting job once again, but he was on the sideline for FSU's woeful 27-10 loss to Miami that resulted in Taggart's firing. Blackman then started the final four games of the season under interim coach Odell Haggins, completing 61% of his throws with 6 TDs and 5 interceptions, with FSU winning twice.
In his career, Blackman has worked with four different offensive coordinators and has been sacked on 8.8% of his career dropbacks, among the highest rates in the ACC in the past decade.
"He wants to be successful," Norvell said. "A lot of people can sit around and tell you how bad they had it and how unfortunate that is, and I have a lot of empathy for what James has had to go through. But it's really had no effect on our decision. He had to continue to show up every day and build to the player, the man, every aspect of what he wants to be.
"I'm really pleased that he's responded in a great way. He's had some highs, some lows, but in our experience together, he's done everything I've asked him to do to be in a position to be named our starting quarterback."
Florida State opened camp with a wide-open competition for the job that included transfer Jordan Travis and freshmen Tate Rodemaker and Chubba Purdy. Norvell said he's seen enough production to think each can offer something to his offense, but the backup job remains an open competition, and Norvell believes Blackman's experience and work ethic were critical to winning the starting spot.
"I'm excited to see him go out there and play," Norvell said.