ACC Officiating and late hit thoughts from Jimbo Fisher

http://chopchat.com/2017/03/30/fsu-football-jimbo-fights-back-cheap-hits-deondre-francois/

FSU football saw a toughness from Deondre Francois over the course of the 2016 season – toughness Jimbo Fisher said was brought on by cheap and late hits.

Over the course of the 2016 season, the general consensus from both fans of FSU football and even opposition fan bases was that Deondre Francois was one tough kid. The redshirt freshman took plenty of hits during his first season as the starting quarterback, being sacked a total of 36 times over the course of the year and being knocked out of several games at various points.It’s some of those hits that has head coach Jimbo Fisher still upset exactly three months after the final game of the 2016 campaign. Following a recent practice, Fisher made it clear that he intends to present the ACC with evidence that Francois was hit multiple times – 32 to be exact – after the ball was clearly out of his quarterback’s hands (h/t ESPN.com):

“If we don’t emphasize the hitting on the quarterback, we’re nuts. I mean, I’ve got ‘em on film. After the second step was in the ground, he’s made contact on. It’s supposed to be an automatic penalty. It’s got to be an emphasis. They’re vulnerable.”

Fisher made comments during the season expressing the same thought, especially after watching Francois being thrown around like a rag doll against Miami and Clemson during a three game stretch in October. Only three times last season were opposing defenses called for roughing the passer penalties over the course of the entire season.

The coach made it clear that he doesn’t think teams were intentionally trying to hit Francois late or injury his signal caller – while also saying he understands officials have a hard job. His goal apparently is to bring more attention to the potential safety dangers in both the ACC and across college football:

“…Just like they erred on the side of protection with hits down the field, you’ve got to do the same thing with quarterbacks. That’s the only way you’re going to get people off of them, in my opinion.”

There is going to be a segment of the population that is going to be critical of Fisher, saying he’s making excuses for having a swiss cheese offensive line at points during the season that couldn’t keep Francois off the ground. While some  of that could be true, there is no question that Francois was getting hit long after the ball was out and he was no longer a part of the play.FSU football fans held their breath at several times last season (that Miami game, for example) when seeing D12 having trouble getting up after taking a beating that hasn’t been seen in a while. Even if Fisher’s actions can’t take away some of the bruises from last season, it can help keep some away from Francois for the rest of his Florida State career.