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FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 26, 2019

Willie Taggart

Tallahassee, Florida

Q. What ultimately went into the decision to go with James Blackman as quarterback?
COACH TAGGART: We evaluated it the entire training camp from a statistical standpoint, but also just getting our guys to play, the entire offense to play consistently was a big part of it.

And then just getting a good feel for who has this football team. And I think James, when it comes to that part of it, James has the football team.

But from a statistical standpoint, it was very similar. Both guys went and executed the offense throughout training camp. And when I say it was almost identical from a numbers standpoint.

So not necessarily anything from a playing standpoint; we just made that decision. But we feel good about the quarterback position, and feel like we have two guys that can go and start a football game for us.

Q. Wonder what the conversation was like with James; I know he's an excited and passionate guy. But how did you let him know and what was his response when you gave him the news?
COACH TAGGART: He was excited. Coach Briles and I sat down and spoke with him and told him the news, and he was fired up. He was James. It wasn't necessarily out of the realm or anything. He worked hard for it. It's something he's been working for.

And he's excited about leading this football team. And that's what we expected out of him. He's fired up, ready to go, and he's going to do a great job.

Q. Is Alex Hornibrook your number two quarterback? And do you have a plan to use two quarterbacks in a game coming up?
COACH TAGGART: Yes. Alex is our number two quarterback. And we haven't gotten that far into game planning and playing two quarterbacks and all that. We just figured out who was the number one quarterback. Now, we're going to move on and keep going.

But it feels good knowing that Alex can go in there and execute our offense and we'll be pretty good.

Q. When a player like James becomes a starter as a freshman and then loses his job as a sophomore, especially in the era of the transfer portal, the guy kind of sticks with the team and sticks through it and becomes a starter again, what kind of message does that send throughout the program?
COACH TAGGART: Again, James is a great teammate. And I think everybody in this program appreciated that from him. I mean, you watch, I hope everybody appreciates that, not only appreciates it, but hopefully everyone will learn from him, too. Sitting out last year wasn't necessarily easy for him. He was a great teammate throughout that whole entire time.

And I think that's when James really won his teammates over, just the way he was throughout last season. And then just what he's done from that time on. He's what a big-time college quarterback is supposed to be like. He's a young man that's loyal to this program and more importantly he's loyal to his teammates.

Like I said, hopefully a lot of those guys see his perseverance and determination and willpower to get the things that he wants by being patient; it paid off for him.

Q. You said throughout camp that it was really close between the quarterbacks. Was James kind of in the lead throughout and they were catching up? Or was there some vacillation between him and Alex since you said statistically they were so similar? And if there was, what was kind of the defining moment to make that decision of James?
COACH TAGGART: Well, I would say coming in James had an advantage because he's been here at spring ball. Again, we were really impressed with Alex coming in and learning the offense and being able to go out and execute it in the short amount of time.

And those guys got reps with 1s and 2s, when it comes to the offense. And they both moved the ball. They both made some mistakes, but they also moved the ball and showed that we can operate with both of them at the quarterback position.

But I think overall in who has the football team and with the way the team looks at that position, I'd say James had an advantage from that standpoint. But I will say this, I was so impressed with Alex coming here and how much respect he's earned from his teammates in a short amount of time.

And that usually don't happen. But it happened because he put in the work to do that, to get to know his teammates. And he works his tail off every single day and our guys respect him for that.

But just the respect this entire team has for him is pretty impressive for me. And, again, it just goes back to his character and what he stands for.

Q. On that note, I was going to ask you how did it go with Alex as you and Coach Briles sat him down, too, and what was his reaction and I guess his response?
COACH TAGGART: Yeah, we sat down with him and told him the direction we were going. And Alex is a pro. He's a vet. He's a pro. Again, disappointed like any other competitor would be. But he understood our decision, and that was it. And knowing that he'll do a good job and be ready to go.

Q. I guess you said earlier today that Dontae Lucas is probably going to start at right guard.
COACH TAGGART: Did I say that?

Q. That's what I heard -- rumors on the Internet.
COACH TAGGART: Geez, I probably said that before I had my coffee.

Q. Well, if he is a starter, how impressive has he been? (Lost audio) there were older guys as well.
COACH TAGGART: Well -- did I answer your question? (Laughter). No, it's been good. I think coming in early in spring ball helps him prepare and get ready for training camp and being able to compete for that job. And he's done a good job throughout training camp of getting better each and every day and he brings the physicality in that position that we want and are looking for.

It speaks values of Dontae and his athletic ability and how physical fit he is to be able to play at this level as a freshman.

Q. How did the team react when you told them that James was going to be the starter?
COACH TAGGART: That's an interesting question, because we didn't name James the starter until after our meetings yesterday. So we didn't necessarily address it with the team like that. We just addressed it with the two individuals.

One reason being is we knew the team respects both of those guys. And, yeah, that's kind of how it was. It was afterwards when we decided on who the quarterback was going to be, really when we decided on who was going to be the starter at every position, there wasn't delay on it, after we had met with the players, didn't necessarily address them, didn't necessarily feel the need to.

Q. Piggybacking off that question, because the decision came kind of late last night, was it, like, the decision came down to the wire and that's just when you guys decided to make it, or is that just when you all chose to release the news?
COACH TAGGART: I just don't know if there's a rule on when we're supposed to release anything or a time when we're supposed to. But I do remember telling you all when we come up with that decision I was going to let you all know and tell you. And that's when we came up with the decision.

As I said, we met as a staff. It wasn't just the quarterback position, it was other positions as well. So met with our staff yesterday evening and made a decision.

Q. How much will it help now that he's the defined number one? I assume that means he gets more reps with the 1s. And how should that help in a game week now that we're five days out from an actual game?
COACH TAGGART: I think both of those guys get plenty of reps with the 1s throughout training camp, and, like I said, they both did a good job. And I don't necessarily think it helps or hurts you leading into the game.

We got good preparation through training camp, it shows whether or not those guys can get the job done and whether or not they understand the offense. But leading into game week, when you're just going to work on Boise, not against our defense or anything, I think it helps, again, James more than anything just to prepare for the game and knowing the game plan inside/out and being able to go out and practice and execute that and hold his teammates accountable for doing their job to help them as well.

Q. Obviously you're in game week. Can you give us some thoughts on Boise State. What you've seen off film for them or what you see from them as a program?
COACH TAGGART: I was waiting for that. Wow.

One hell of a football program. And Coach Harsin has done a great job. He's a Boise guy, and understands that program inside/out, and has done a great job with his program. I think we all understand Boise and what they're capable of doing.

They're a well-coached football team. They have, like, 14 starters back. The entire offensive line is back, which I think is a pretty good offensive line, well-coached up front.

And defensively, well-coached, run, get to the ball, hardly ever out of position. They're in position, they play hard; they play the game the way you're supposed to play the game.

Q. This is my last quarterback position. I want to make sure we're characterizing it accurately. Is the fact that it was so close more a reflection on Alex doing well than it is concerns about James or how he did?
COACH TAGGART: I think it's more Alex doing well than anything. Again, I don't want anyone to take it a certain way other than the way I'm saying it now. James is our quarterback. And they both did a good job this training camp. Alex was impressive because he didn't have spring ball.

He came in and had just a little time in the summer and worked with his teammates in the summer and went out and was able to compete. Again, I think that's pretty impressive to be able to come in and do that.

Again, he earned a lot of respect from everyone, coaches and teammates. And, again, not often that happens. But that was impressive from that standpoint. But Alex is a good quarterback. And he showed us that.

Q. Boise State, a freshman starting at quarterback. What's the biggest challenge in trying to prepare for a guy that you might not have much tape of except for in high school?
COACH TAGGART: I mean, just -- I guess that's the challenge; you haven't seen him play with this team yet. But other than that, you know, I don't think the coordinators are going to get too far away from him, what he does offensively. And I'm sure they'll tailor some things to help that young man be successful on the football field. But I don't think they'll get too far away from that.

Again, for us, it's more about us. We've got to be focused on us and making sure that we're on our A game so we can go execute, so we can play smart, disciplined and tough. If we do those things, then we'll give ourselves a chance against anyone we play.

So I don't think not having film really hurts or necessarily help you right now; it's the first game. There's a lot that goes on in these first games. And I think it's so important that we play smart and disciplined. And you see those things in first games all the time. And we don't want to be one of those teams.

Q. How did the scrimmage go on Saturday, and how healthy are you heading into game week after that scrimmage?
COACH TAGGART: Had a really good scrimmage on Saturday. We played it like a game, and it was pretty neat because we got a lot of situations throughout that scrimmage that came up that was good for us, being able to execute out of it.

And I thought it was good on both sides of the ball. And if I had to say -- if I had to pick I would say defense probably won the scrimmage. If we had to pick from that standpoint, they did a really good job.

And from a health standpoint, we came out pretty healthy. So, good to go.

Q. I would say a lot of the fan base and a lot of the team has been ready for a long time to put last season behind them, have a new game, be able to show those improvements. How ready is the team? And how are you trying to not kind of weigh on how important this game kind of feels?
COACH TAGGART: This game is very important. They all are important, but it's very important because the first game, the only game we have this week. So our guys are ready.

I don't think we have to motivate them and get them ready this week. They're ready to play and ready to go out and have a great week of practice.

So I don't think I have to motivate them to go out there and play on Saturday. And, yeah, we're ready. It's been a long time. And again it's football season. It's the beginning of the season, new chapter, new beginning, and a chance for us to go out and show our improvement.

But that first game is so important, just for the season. And something we always talk about is making sure that we win the first and last game of the season. It's always important.

Q. First, to follow up on the injuries, the only thing that was held out a little bit was Josh Kaindoh. What's his status going into Saturday?
COACH TAGGART: He'll be practicing and ready to go on Saturday.

Q. And conditioning, first game last year against Virginia Tech, hot night, I know you had a lot of cramping issues, both teams did really. I noticed you had the afternoon practices, the evening practices. Was part of that to adjust for what's probably going to be a really hot game again? And anything else you've done to help improve the conditioning?
COACH TAGGART: Yeah, we run everywhere we go. That's practice; we just run, and you don't know where you are going until our guys are running in a circle, until they figure out where everybody is going, but we're running.

But I think having some depth helps with the conditioning. And part of going into the evening was having something to do with we're going to play in the evening, but also just switching it up for our guys. And no telling when we're going to play. Sometimes we play a 1:00 game, 12:00 game, 3:00 game. Our guys have to be able to play whenever. It's time to go out and compete.

So having some sudden changes for them was good for our guys to see how they respond, but also just preparing themselves to go through an entire day not doing anything and having to suit up and play football, 95-degree weather with some humidity, gotta love it. It's sport.

Our guys are conditioned and ready, like I said, ready to go. And the thing we can't do is go back to that game last year. Felt like we left a lot of energy out there pre-game. It's a little different for me, personally. And we've got to make sure we're not doing that.

Q. You have a handful of true freshmen, especially on your defensive two-deep, and Travis on punt return. What have some of those first-year guys done to show you that you can count on them sooner rather than later?
COACH TAGGART: They're able to compete, able to come into training camp and compete with the older guys. And part of them being able to compete, they were able to understand what they were doing. They showed us they can compete with the older guys.

And they worked and earned their way into that position. So, yeah, we didn't put any limits on them. They earned it.

Q. With Janarius in front of Josh, what have you seen from Janarius to give him that position? And how do you guys see him?
COACH TAGGART: I seen Janarius practice every single day. He's repped every single day. And he's shown us enough that he's ready to play on Saturday.

And we've got some rep with Kaindoh, and Kaindoh understands what we're doing defensively and all, and he'll get a lot more reps this week to make sure that he's ready to go on Saturday. But J-Rob has been having a heck of a camp and showing some good things at that position.

Q. Both at wide receiver and tight end, there's a bunch of "ors" on the depth chart. How much does that show the depth you have in those two positions?
COACH TAGGART: It's good. We feel good about all those guys. No matter which one is in there, we don't have to deviate from our game plan. And it's great when we can have some depth like that and have some young men that you believe in and know that they can go out and execute for you.

And to have it at those two positions is critical because of some of the things that we do offensively. So it's nice to have. And, again, we just hopefully we can stay healthy and a lot of those guys play.

Q. You all saw last year how important offensive line depth is I know Coach Clements has talked about you're probably going to need more than five guys. What can you speak to about the importance of having those second-team guys ready? And how much better do you feel about it now as opposed to a year ago?
COACH TAGGART: I feel much better now. And it's so important that you have depth because you think about that position group by itself, those guys are having a collision every single play, and there's some big, strong guys in there and they're falling all over each other.

So chances are somebody's going to go down, and to have somebody to be able to back up and come in there so you can keep things going is very important. And we saw that last year and I think the key is not only is having a backup, a backup that's ready to play -- sometimes last year we had backups that wasn't necessarily ready to play.

And, again, that was the position we were in; we tried to work through it, and we worked through it. And we're in a different position now. And I think it's so important that we have some synergy up there and consistency on the O line so those guys can play and work well together. And the only way that happens is consistency, consistently repping with each other.

Q. Tamorrion and Marvin returned to practice last week. How did you think they did last week, and where are they condition-wise?
COACH TAGGART: They've been -- I can tell you this, Marvin is -- Marvin's ready. Watching him on Saturday and watching him run after the football, he's ready to go. So I feel good about Marvin where he is.

And with Tamorrion, we're just trying to ease him back into it and not necessarily rushing. And we're going to speed up everything and go full bore this week as game week with Tamorrion. But he's looked good, running and cutting and catching the football.

Q. First, Leonard Warner, what have you seen out of him from the edge? Also do you think Amari Gainer is going to play some? But how much have you liked what Leonard Warner has done for you?
COACH TAGGART: I really like Leonard. Really started to fall in love with Leonard towards the end of last year, just could see him getting better as the season went on.

He's a smart football player. He's athletic. And I think he's a good pass rusher, too. And when it comes down to pass rush, he's one of our better blitzers.

But he's a guy -- him and Amari both are two guys that do a really good job of tackling in space. And you look at the game of football now, you've got to be good at doing that. Both of those are athletic and big enough to do it for us.

And then with Amari, yes he's going to play for us and I think he'll do a good job for us. I think they both fit that position perfectly.

Q. On the depth chart, Tru Thompson and Renardo Green, both second string as true freshmen. Again, I assume that means they're going to play a little bit. What have you seen from them, how impressive have they been?
COACH TAGGART: One thing, I appreciate those freshmen. Every single day they've been out at practice. They haven't missed a practice. And usually when you don't miss practice, you've got more chance to rep. When you have more chance to rep, you get better.

And I think that's what we saw out of both of those guys. And Renardo, especially when it came to a scrimmage, he stepped up big time. And this last week, week and a half, I would say he's probably the most improved guy in the secondary, just what he's been doing here lately.

He's turned a lot of heads in practice. And Tru, just being consistent up front and holding his own, especially I think in having Marvin out of there a little bit there early on helped get more reps and he started to improve. And he's been consistent doing it.

Q. Keith Gavin is a guy who came out of preseason camp with a starting job last season, maybe towards the end of the season faded off in terms of getting reps, what has he done this time around to get that job back and what do you feel is different from him?
COACH TAGGART: Well, Keith is older. He understands what we're doing. Keith is an old blue-collar, hardworking, quiet kid that I think has seen, this year he'll have his best year for us. He's been working his tail off. And it always helps when you have competition. I think when you have competition it brings the best out of everybody. When you're a competitor, you tend to step your game up a little more.

And I feel like Keith has gotten better this training camp doing that. And Keith, not just Keith, but a lot of those guys that we're seeing in positioning. It's nice to have. It's nice to have some depth and nice to have guys competing at that position.

And again, with us going tempo, a lot of those guys will play a lot. It's good to know that again we don't have to change anything because somebody else will go in.

Q. Speaking of Keith Gavin, he's listed as one of the kickoff returners, as well as Keyshawn Helton. What do you like about that combination of guys back there?
COACH TAGGART: Both of them are tough. Both of them are good with the ball in hand. You look at a guy like Keith, he has really good size, him back there; and Keyshawn, he's fast. And another man that's good with the football in his hand. It's another way to get him the ball and we want our special teams to be special. Both of those guys can help us be special on special teams.

Q. There's a lot of pressure now on college football teams to play kind of high-profile openers. And last week we saw Florida and Miami was kind of a sloppy game. Last year I think you guys had five turnovers in that opener, how much of a challenge --
COACH TAGGART: Last year.

Q. Just how difficult is it, just using it for reference, your first game to be against a high-quality opponent, and what's the key to limiting mistakes?
COACH TAGGART: Goes back to discipline. That's all we've been talking about all training camp and emphasizing is not being yourself, and a lot of times in those games, that's what you see in a lot of these first games. Most teams lose this game rather than win these ball games, first ball game. And a lot of it is because of some of those mistakes.

You hate to make those mistakes in the first game and then get better later. I think you've just got to emphasize those things that's going to hurt you in ball games like pre-snap penalties. Those things kill you when you don't give yourself a chance before you even snap the ball and turn the football over.

You've got to take care of the football. And I think you'll see more of that in this first week more than anything is -- and the team that does a great job with that usually is the team that's going to win ball games.

But, again, we've experienced it and it's so important that we learn from it. And I think it says a lot about our football team if we learn from it and make sure we don't make those same mistakes twice. But you look around. You'll see that in those ball games, and the team that does a good job taking care of the football and that are disciplined, that's going to be the team that's going to win.

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