FSU's Willie Taggart: Deondre Francois 'Needs to Be Better at Decision-Making'

Florida State head football coach Willie Taggart called on quarterback Deondre Francois to avoid off-field controversy during a teleconference on Thursday.

According to Safid Deen of the Orlando Sentinel, Taggart said, "Deondre knows he needs to be better at decision-making, and he also knows he needs to do a great job of who he's around and what he's around. He understands the expectation, and I think he'll live up to it."

Per Deen, Tallahassee police raided Francois' apartment last week after two months of surveillance.

Francois was suspected of selling marijuana, but only 17 grams of marijuana were found in his apartment, and Francois was not arrested.

As part of the search, Francois was offered the opportunity to take part in a pre-trial diversion program.

According to Deen, Francois said the marijuana belonged to his girlfriend and that he hadn't smoked since December 2017.

Francois missed all but one game in 2017 after suffering a season-ending knee injury in a season-opening loss to Alabama.

He entered 2017 as a Heisman Trophy hopeful after throwing for 3,350 yards, 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions, while rushing for five scores as a freshman in 2016.

Taggart is set to coach his third different team in the past three seasons after spending 2016 at South Florida and 2017 at Oregon. 

FSU hired Taggart after Jimbo Fisher left the Seminoles to become the new head coach at Texas A&M.

Florida State's 7-6 mark last season was its worst record since going 7-6 in 2009, and Francois figures to be a key figure in getting the Seminoles back into contention in the ACC.