TALLAHASSEE – In just two games played this season, quarterback James Blackman has been gaining valuable experience at Florida State.
The Glades Central (Belle Glade, Fla.) 2017 alum took over for fellow quarterback Deondre Francois toward the end of Florida State’s season-opener against No. 1 Alabama in a 24-7 loss on Sept. 4. Francois suffered a patella tendon injury to his knee, which effectively ended his season.
Since the crushing injury to Francois and defeat in Atlanta, Florida State (1-2; 1-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference play) has had to get through Hurricane Irma, which caused the program to cancel its Sept. 9 home game against Louisiana-Monroe and reschedule their yearly ACC rivalry with Miami from Sept. 16 to Oct. 7 at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee (Fla.). The Seminoles had a 19-day layoff between games before inserting the Muck product at the signal-caller position in his college football debut against NC State on Sept. 23.
In what was a 27-21 home loss to NC State, Blackman completed 22 of 38 passes for 278 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. It was widely hailed as a solid debut for Blackman, despite serious questions with Florida State’s offensive line.
Then came the unexpected slugfest with Wake Forest, which turned into a breakthrough moment for Blackman in a 26-19 road win last weekend. Though his stat line was average at best (11-21, 121 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT’s), Blackman’s 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Auden Tate with less than a minute left in the game broke a 19-19 tie and sealed his first college football victory.
Blackman has been sacked nine times in two starts – five against Wake Forest and four against NC State. But he hasn’t thrown an interception at this point, which is a testament to the Muck product’s penchant for keeping turnovers at a minimum.
Miami head coach Mark Richt offered his take on Blackman’s development as a collegiate quarterback at Florida State.
“Their quarterback, [James] Blackman, as we all know, is a true freshman,” Richt said. “He’s playing as a true freshman. But I think he has done nothing but gain experience and gain confidence. He has had no interceptions, and he threw a game-winner last week, which I’m sure helped him. He played two times away as a starter, and now he gets to go home and play in front of his crowd.”
Richt touched on how Wake Forest’s defense was able to rack up five sacks and 17 tackles for loss last week.
“I just hope we can have that kind of production,” Richt said. “It’d be nice. You have to take your hat off to Wake Forest’s defense – they did a super job. We feel like we’ve got a pretty good front seven, but we have to prove it. You have to prove it every week. I’m sure they’ll be getting better at what they do and making adjustments. We have to make sure we play as hard as we’re supposed to play, play in the gaps we’re supposed to play in and get after people.”
Miami (3-0; 1-0 in ACC; No. 12 in Coaches Poll; No. 13 in AP Poll) is trying to end a seven-game losing streak to Florida State. The road team is favored by most betting lines to beat their nemesis by 3.
Playing against Miami may seem like a tall order for Blackman and the Seminoles. But there are some who will never count him out, including the likes of former high school teammate and Glades Central 2018 offensive lineman Willie Canty.
“God does everything for a reason,” Canty said. “He did great for his first two games. I think he’ll do great against Miami. It’s like the Muck Bowl (Glades Central vs. Pahokee; high school football) but on the college level (Florida State vs. Miami; college football).
Gerald Jackson, nephew of NFL Hall of Famer and Pahokee (Fla.) legend Rickey Jackson, caught passes from Blackman last season at Glades Central. For more reasons than one, the USF verbal commit isn’t surprised that the Florida State true freshman has been trusted to lead its offense for the rest of this season.
“James is more than just a quarterback,” Jackson said. “He is a mentor and a coach on the field. When I played with him last year, if we ran the route wrong or swallow, he would come and tell us. He wouldn’t yell, and if the ball was dropped or if there was not a touchdown on that series, he wouldn’t get mad or anything like that. He would come back to the sideline, and the look he had was, ‘We will get the next one.’ He has always been humble. He barely even says anything. If I had one word to describe James, it would be modest.”
Many local and national analysts generally feel the same way about Blackman as a whole. The rising college star will get a chance to take his game to yet another level against Miami on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN).
Time will tell how Blackman’s college football story will be told by the masses. Here’s hoping he has a positive showing against every opponent on Florida State’s schedule (including Miami) this season and possibly beyond.
