Dan Wolken

USA TODAY Sports

ORLANDO — By the time Deondre Francois stepped foot on Florida State’s campus, he had already traveled to a road game like a college player, played on national television and learned how to study film at a higher level than your run-of-the-mill high schooler.

At IMG Academy, the $70,000-per-year private athletics factory where he played under former Florida State Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke, Francois had every resource available to groom him to quickly transition once he reached Florida State.

“Weinke was running that thing like a college program,” said Ken Mastrole, a private quarterback coach in South Florida who has never worked with Francois but has groomed several top quarterbacks before and during their college careers. “That mentally prepared him as well as for a pro-style system. It probably put him two years ahead from most kids that would come in from a typical high school program.”

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Though some may have been surprised Monday night when Francois’ victories debut as a redshirt freshman produced 419 passing yards on 52 attempts for the No. 3 Seminoles at Camping World Stadium, it has become fairly common in recent years for young quarterbacks to step in virtually right way and produce.

Just this past weekend, freshmen Texas’ Shane Buechele, Alabama’s Jalen Hurts and Georgia’s Jacob Eason showed right away they were their teams’ best quarterbacks, continuing a trend in which players like Clemson’s Deshaun Watson, California’s Jared Goff, Miami’s Brad Kaaya, UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Florida State’s Jameis Winston came to college highly rated and didn’t need much on-field seasoning before they put up big numbers.

“You have to credit these kids,” said Mastrole, who played at Maryland from 1996-98. “They’re really ahead with the training and personal attention. There’s no question across the sport, it’s a whole lot different. When I was a freshman, I didn’t know a thing. I wasn’t ready to play.”

But Francois isn’t just ready to play, he’s ready to win. And though it wasn’t as statistically efficient as Winston’s first game for the Seminoles in 2013 when he completed 25 of 27 passes against Pittsburgh, it was even more impressive because of the competition (Ole Miss was ranked No. 12 entering the game) and the adverse situation he had to play his way out of when Florida State fell behind 28-6.

“The thing I was so proud about even though we got behind, that he kept playing the plays and just taking what they give him,” Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. “He didn't force things down the field and say, ‘I've got to go make it up all at once’ and he showed a lot of maturity that way, composure to just keep trusting his teammates and his teammates kept trusting him.”

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For all the reasons quarterbacks are maturing earlier and earlier — private coaches, digital film study, virtual reality training, strength and nutrition and 7-on-7 tournaments — that’s a quality quarterbacks either have or they don’t.

And it’s why, even among players at Florida State, they’re not shy about comparing Francois to Winston, who was on the sidelines and gave the Seminoles a halftime speech on Monday.

“They’re exactly alike to me in confidence level,” said running back Dalvin Cook, who was a freshman during Winston’s final season in Tallahassee. “He’s a different guy and he goes about things a different way. He wants to perfect his craft, and the confidence he has coming into the huddle you have no choice but to go out and execute for him. He’ll lay it on the line for you. He took a lot of hits and he got back up ready to go fight again.”

It was, in fact, the hit Francois took at the end of the first half that seemed to change everything for Florida State. Down 28-6, the Seminoles badly needed a touchdown to get within two scores going into the locker room but faced third-and-10 deep in Ole Miss territory.

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After a somewhat shaky first half in which Francois made some solid throws when he got protection but also underthrew simple screen passes and struggled with pressure, Ole Miss brought the heat. Defensive end Marquis Haynes lined him up for a sack, but Francois stood his ground, released a bullet pass and found Travis Rudolph for a 16-yard touchdown that changed the entire momentum of the game.

“That was my first game,” Francois said. “Some things I was seeing, but I wasn’t sure. First time starting, I had some jitters but once I got settled in, got banged up a few times and felt better.

“I couldn’t panic because my team looks at me as a leader. I told them to keep chopping. I couldn’t let them see me down. Any thought of losing my teammates had, I told them, ‘delete it.’ ”

Though Francois was momentarily bit hobbled after the hit, it seemed to wake him up in the second half. Florida State also helped him out by moving the pocket and getting him on the move a little bit, which helped negate the pressure Ole Miss was bringing early.

“I'm going to tell you now, when you stand there and deliver one of them, you realize this is college football,” Fisher said. “And your teammates, that's when those teammates respect you, when they see you standing there and take those shots, and, you know, don't duck and (flinch) away. I thought it was tremendous and I thought it was a drive of the game that gave us a chance to come back.”

But perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that these kinds of performances right out of the gate are no longer a surprise. Though some require a more deliberate path, college football is no longer a sport where quarterbacks need to redshirt and wait two more years before they can make an impact.

“One thing I know college coaches look for is, when you come into a program are you going to be in culture shock in these meetings, in a system where you’re going to be on time and have a schedule that’s football-related, watching film, taking notes?” Mastrole said. “If you come from a solid structured football environment, it helps them to get to the Notre Dames and Florida States and mature and play faster.”

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