Florida State trailed North Carolina State 17-7 late in the first quarter of the Wolfpack's' eventual Week 4 victory. True freshman quarterback James Blackman — in his first career start — took the 1st-and-10 snap from their own 41-yard line. North Carolina State rushed six players and sent safety Shawn Boone on a delayed blitz.
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Blackman calmly took a three-step drop, planted and fired to Keith Gavin on the near sideline for a nine-yard gain.
The next play, the Wolfpack sent just three players after Blackman, who again took a three-step drop and looked to Gavin on the near sideline. Bradley Chubb forced him up in the pocket but there was still plenty of time and space to throw. He rolled right and lofted a pass into the Florida State band.
One play later — on 2nd-and-6 following an illegal formation penalty — North Carolina State again blitzed Blackman, who slightly bobbled the snap before firing a pass to George Campbell on the far sideline for a first down.
As noted by ESPN's David Hale, through two games Blackman has 67 dropbacks. He's faced a blitz on 12 of those, during which he has taken zero sacks and is for 8-for-12 (66.7 percent) passing for 162 yards, an average of 13.5 yards per dropback. On the 55 non-blitz dropbacks, he has taken nine sacks and is 25-for-46 (54.5 percent) for 210 yards, an average of 3.82 yards per dropback.
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"He's gotten a lot of fastball looks against good people," Jimbo Fisher said of Blackman's practice preparation before his first start. "Blitz looks, tons of blitz looks. Every blitz you can think of, and he's done a really nice job."
Clearly that "really nice job" against practice blitzes has transferred to games, but, oddly for a young quarterback, he cannot remain calm in a less-crowded pocket and run through his progressions.
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“As far as the passing game, handling the blitz, making decisions where to go with the ball, he was really good [vs. NC State],” Fisher said the week after the loss. “Going to the right guy for the right reasons in the right coverage. He made really good throws and decisions and had some big plays on it."
Fisher has also credited their running backs with protecting Blackman vs. North Carolina State and Wake Forest a week later, saying Jacques Patrick "was outstanding" in all areas of the game.
Now it's James Blackman's turn to be outstanding in all areas, not just when he's under pressure.
