Florida State’s quarterback depth chart has taken a significant hit right before the 2018 season kicks off.
Redshirt freshman QB Bailey Hockman has opted to transfer from FSU. The news came Friday when reporters noticed Hockman was not at Seminoles practice. A team official confirmed Hockman was leaving the program.
The Powder Springs, Ga. native was ranked the No. 11 pro-style quarterback in the class of 2017 on the 247Sports Composite. Hockman originally committed to Georgia when Mark Richt was head coach, but decommitted on Dec. 14, 2015, shortly after Richt’s parting with UGA. As fate would have it, Hockman ended up signing to play for another coach who wind up at another Power 5 program, Jimbo Fisher. In his final recruiting class at FSU, Fisher signed Hockman. The McEachern product also had scholarship offers from Alabama, Auburn, South Carolina and Tennessee, among others. Fisher left FSU in December 2017 and the school hired Willie Taggart, former coach of Oregon and USF.
With the above documented recruiting history, there will likely be speculation about Hockman potentially transferring to Georgia (his original commitment), Texas A&M (reunite with Fisher) or Miami (reunite with Richt). Considering UGA has Jake Fromm for at least 2018 and ’19 and former 5-star recruit Justin Fields through at least 2020, Hockman in Athens would appear unlikely. Fisher, meanwhile, signed a highly-rated quarterback in 2018, James Foster, and has another Peach State product, 3-star Zach Calzada out of Buford, Ga., committed for 2019. Richt signed 4-star pro-style QB Jarren Williams in the 2018 class. Miami does not have a quarterback committed for 2019.
After Hockman’s departure, FSU is left with two scholarship quarterbacks on roster, 2015 signee Deondre Francois and 2017 signee James Blackman. Francois will be the starting quarterback for FSU’s opener against Virginia Tech Monday night in Tallahassee. The Seminoles are favored by 7.5 points at online sportsbook MyBookie. Francois led the Noles to the Orange Bowl as the starting quarterback in 2016. Last year, he suffered a season-ending injury in the team’s opener against Alabama. Blackman started the rest of the 2017 campaign.
Bailey Hockman not at #FSU practice this morning. School official confirms he has decided to transfer.
— Curt Weiler (@CurtMWeiler) August 31, 2018
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
