Six months ago we wrote about Deondre Francois, the former Florida St. Seminoles QB who was kicked off the team by coach Willie Taggart due to allegations of domestic abuse.
“Last night, I informed Deondre Francois that he is no longer a member of the Florida State football program,” said Taggart in a statement at the time. “As we build a new culture and foundation for FSU Football, we have high expectations for all of our student-athletes and we will not shy away from those high standards of conduct. We are moving forward as a program.”
Taggart’s comments, and decision to drop Francois from the team, were the result of a video in which an individual, alleged to be Deondre, could be heard screaming and threatening the woman filming the video.
“Throw it again so I can beat your ass,” says the man. “.. F* you, I’m going to hit you in your face every f*ing time.”
That woman was actually his girlfriend, and she later admitted that the video was misleading and took to Instagram to issue an explanation and apology.
“I want to first start by apologizing to Deondre and his family for ultimately diminishing his character,” wrote Diamond Lindsey in that post. “I should never have posted a video from our past situations that were already handled. The motive of the video was to scare him not to ruin anything he had going for [himself]. The sounds you hear in the video are me throwing things and hitting him. I should never have made it seem like he was hitting me. The video was made to look like something it wasn’t.
“Deondre has never struck me with his hand or fist,” she wrote. “he has never bruised me, but has abused me verbally. If it was actually serious I would have took legal action instead of making a Instagram post. I just wanted closure and attention from him after we broke up but I couldn’t get it from him. The only way to get his attention was through Instagram and spiteful actions.”
Regardless of her post, the damage was done and Deondre was through at Florida State.
Since that time, rumors about Francois’ next move swirled, but nothing concrete was established until this past weekend, when it was learned that the former Seminoles player was headed to Hampton University.
Per HBCU Gameday, Francois’ move to Hampton was announced by the university on Friday, and he was on the practice field for the Pirates this weekend.
Former FSU QB Deondre Francois (3) huddles and prays with his Hampton teammates as they wrap their first weekend of fall camp. pic.twitter.com/eRpM7nUL9i
— HBCU Gameday (@HBCUGameday) August 4, 2019
“I am very happy that Deondre Francois is joining our program,” said Hampton head coach Robert Prunty. “He is a cerebral football player with unbelievable athletic ability. More importantly, he is an outstanding young man who graduated Florida State in 3.5 years. We are ecstatic to have Deondre Francois in our program.”
Francois looked like he would be a star with the Seminoles. As a freshman, he started in 13 games, throwing for 3,350 yards and 20 TDs. He was hurt is his first game in his Sophomore year and missed the remainder of the season. But he bounced back as junior, throwing for 2,731 yards and 15 TDs in 11 games, and was ultimately kicked off the team before his senior year.
Now the Pirates’ new QB has the opportunity to rebuild his life and career in Virginia and help the team compete in its first full season in the Big South Conference.
