Deondre Francois

Deondre Francois (born February 12, 1997) is an American football quarterback for the Orlando Guardians of the XFL. He played college football for Hampton University and Florida State University.

Deondre Francois
No. 3 – Orlando Guardians
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1997-02-12) February 12, 1997
Orlando, Florida, U.S.
Height:6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school:Bradenton (FL) IMG Academy
College:Florida State (2015–2018)
Hampton (2019)
Career history
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
Career Arena statistics
Comp. / Att.:48/92
Passing yards:767
TD–INT:19–3
QB rating:106.3
Rushing TDs:10

Early life and background

When Francois was a young child, he moved numerous times bouncing back and forth from Miami to Orlando. His mother Janice moved him and his family from Little Haiti, a neighborhood of Miami, to Orlando for a better life around the 4th grade. He first started playing football at the age of nine for the Orlando Outlaws with his godfather, Barry White.[1][2]

Francois attended Olympia High School in Orlando, Florida his first three years of high school and transferred to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida his senior year.[3] From 2012 to 2013 at Olympia, he passed for 3,162 yards and 28 touchdowns for the football team. As a senior, he passed for 1,488 yards with 18 touchdowns. Francois was considered a four-star recruit and committed to Florida State University to play college football.[4][5]

College career

Florida State

Francois redshirted his first year at Florida State in 2015.

Francois competed with Sean Maguire for the starting quarterback job in 2016.[6] After Maguire suffered an injury, Francois was considered the favorite to start the season opener.[7][8] On September 5, 2016, Francois made his first collegiate start against the Ole Miss Rebels. Francois passed for 419 yards and two touchdowns, leading the way on a 22-point comeback victory, the largest comeback in Florida State football history.[9] He would be the quarterback for the rest of the season. The Seminoles finished the season 10–3, 5–3 in ACC play, to finish in second place in the Atlantic Division. They were invited to the 2016 Orange Bowl, where they defeated the Michigan Wolverines.

On September 2, 2017, in the Seminoles' first game of the year, Francois injured his patellar tendon, an injury which ended his season.[10] He was 19-33 with 210 yards passing, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions at time of his injury. Noles went on to be beat by Bama 24-7.

Francois returned to the starting role in 2018. Francois finished the season with 2,731 passing yards on 396 attempts while completing 227 of them (57.3%) with 15 touchdowns to 12 interceptions.[11] On February 3, 2019, it was announced that Francois had been removed from the Florida State football program after a video of a domestic dispute between him and his girlfriend surfaced on social media.[12]

On May 20, 2019, it was announced that Francois would attempt to walk-on at Florida Atlantic, however, this "never materialized."[13][14]

Hampton

On August 2, 2019, it was announced that Francois had completed a graduate transfer to Hampton and would be immediately eligible for the upcoming season.[15][14]

Statistics
General Passing Rushing
Year GP GS Record Cmp Att Pct Yds Avg TD INT Rtg Att Yds Avg TD
Florida State Seminoles
2015 00―DNP
2016 131310–323540058.83,3508.4207142.11081981.85
2017 110–1193357.62106.412108.99−9−1.00
2018 11115–622739657.32,7316.91512121.778160.23
Hampton Pirates
2019 12125–720536156.82,5227.02614131.5641482.34
Career373720–176861,19057.68,8137.46235131.22593531.412

Professional career

FCF Glacier Boyz

In December 2020, Francois signed with Fan Controlled Football.[16] Originally a member of the Glacier Boyz, Francois joined the depth chart as the backup QB behind former UConn QB, David Pindell and played in the first game of the season, completing 3 passes on 5 attempts for 36 yards and one TD with 9 yards rushing.

FCF Wild Aces

The following week, Francois was drafted to the Wild Aces and made his debut against the Beasts, starting in front of QB Ed Couch. Francois threw only two passes the entire game, both ending in touchdowns for 40 yards in the 30–28 loss against the Beasts.[17]

FCF Glacier Boyz (second stint)

In Week Four, Francois was drafted back to the Glacier Boyz and started against his former team, the Wild Aces, where he threw for an FCF-career-high 88 yards on 6 completions and two touchdowns in the 52–56 loss. He also rushed for one touchdown.[17]

In his first FCF playoff appearance, Francois threw for 5–8 on 91 yards for four touchdowns and rushed on two attempts for 37 yards and one touchdown for a total of 5 touchdowns, leading the Glacier Boyz to the first-ever People's Championship in a 38–20 loss.[17]

TSL Blues

In 2021, Francois began his career in The Spring League, a developmental football league of eight teams, as the starting quarterback of the Blues of the South Division.

Bored Ape Football Club

Francois was signed by the FCF in 2022 and was drafted by the Bored Ape Football Club as the first pick of Fan Controlled Football's "Season 2.0" inaugural draft.[18] He started week one against the Knights of Degen, throwing 4–9 for 60 yards with a 44% completion rate and one touchdown and one interception.[19] Francois was franchise tagged for week two by the Bored Ape Football Club.[20]

Orlando Guardians

Francois was identified among nine quarterbacks training with Jordan Palmer for a potential quarterback position in the XFL in September 2022.[21] On September 29, 2022, XFL Reporter Mike Mitchell reported that eight of the nine quarterbacks that worked with Palmer reportedly signed with each team. Francois was signed to the Orlando Guardians.[22]

Francois was a healthy scratch in the Guardians' opening game.[23]

Career statistics
FCF career statistics
Year Team Games Passing Rushing
GPGSRecordCmpAttPctYdsY/ATDIntRtgAttYdsAvgTD
2021GBZ 40―203164.53079.9102109.81012312.33
ACE 210–14850.08510.630127.64235.81
2022BFC 996–3245345.33757.16199.2312267.36
Career15106–4489252.27678.3193106.3453728.310
TSL career statistics
Year Team Games Passing Rushing
GPGSRecordCmpAttPctYdsY/ATDIntRtgAttYdsAvgTD
2021Blues 60―254456.82435.51170.55418.20
Career600–0254456.82435.51170.55418.20
XFL career statistics
Year Team Games Passing Rushing
GPGSRecordCmpAttPctYdsY/ATDIntRtgAttYdsAvgTD
2023ORL 400–0102245.5472.12144.07273.90
Career400–0102245.5472.12144.07273.90

References
  1. Clark, Ryan S., ed. (March 14, 2016). "Who is Deondre Francois? And could he be FSU's next starting QB?". Warchant. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  2. Adams, Jonathan, ed. (September 5, 2016). "Deondre Francois, Florida State Quarterback: Makes First Start in Hometown". Heavy. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  3. Hays, Chris. "Orlando Olympia QB Deondre Francois confirms transfer to IMG Academy". Florida Recruiting.
  4. Sentinel, Orlando. "IMG quarterback Deondre Francois commits to FSU".
  5. "Florida St. lands Elite 11 QB recruit Francois". ESPN.com. July 31, 2014.
  6. Ferrante, Bob. "Sean Maguire, Deondre Francois QB battle key for Florida State". The Palm Beach Post.
  7. "Francois preparing to replace injured Maguire". ESPN.com. August 14, 2016.
  8. "Meet Deondre Francois, Florida State's Week 1 starting quarterback". CBSSports.com.
  9. "LISTEN LIVE: Florida State at Wake Forest". September 30, 2017.
  10. "FSU's Deondre Francois suffers season-ending patella tendon injury". Tallahassee Democrat. September 3, 2017.
  11. "Deondre Francois Stats". ESPN. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  12. LastNoleofKrypton (February 3, 2019). "Deondre Francois has been removed from the Florida State Football team". Tomahawk Nation. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
  13. "Former Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois to walk on at Florida Atlantic". CBSSports.com. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
  14. "College football recruiting: Former Florida State QB Deondre Francois lands at Hampton". CBSSports.com. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  15. "Former FSU QB Deondre Francois lands at Hampton University". 247Sports. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  16. "Manziel returning for fan-based startup league". ESPN.com. December 30, 2020.
  17. "Fan Controlled Football is where FANS call the shots". FCF. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  18. Knox, Kristopher. "FCF 2021 Week 1 Rosters, Schedule, Live Stream and Format". Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  19. Kasabian, Paul. "FCF 2022 Results: Week 1 Scores from Saturday". Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  20. "FCF Draft Almanac #2: Every team's complete draft, grade's, and analysis on the week 2 rosters – FCF NEWS". Retrieved April 22, 2022.
  21. Parks, Greg. First look: XFL QBs gather under Jordan Palmer’s learning tree. XFLBoard.com. Retrieved September 28, 2022.
  22. "XFL: The First Group Of Tentatively Assigned Quarterbacks For The 2023 Season". September 29, 2022.
  23. "XFL Round-Up: Multiple former Seminoles debut in Week 1". February 3, 2023.
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