Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher thinks he has two more years with Jameis Winston. Photo: USA Today Sports
In one year — forget the redshirt year for a moment — Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston has accomplished just about everything there is to do in college football.
Win the ACC? Check.
Win the Heisman Trophy? Check.
Win a handful of other individual awards? Check.
All-American? Check.
Win the national championship? Checkmate.
Despite one dazzling year of success most college football players could only dream of, Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher says he believes he has tow more years to look forward to coaching Winston. Two more years, eh? I'll take the under on that one.
As he addressed the most recent recruiting class on Wednesday with the Florida State media — Florida State signed the No. 4 class according to 247 Sports — Fisher said it was his belief Winston will be playing in Tallahassee for two more seasons. This despite the fact that Winston will be eligible for the NFL Draft in 2015 and if he has a successful season in 2014 he will likely be among the top quarterback prospects on the big board.
“Everybody says he’s going to stay one year and leave,” Fisher said according to Noles 247. “Which I don’t think that’s true. I think it will be two.”
The Seminoles lost dual-threat quarterback commit Treon Harris ended up with the Florida Gators. If Harris was looking for a chance to play early, Florida was likely to be the better option because he certainly was not going to walk in to Tallahassee and dethrone a Heisman Trophy and BCS national championship quarterback. At Florida he may have a chance to compete right away. Florida State also added pro style quarterback JJ Cosentino, a four-star prospect out of Pittsburgh, to their Class of 2014.
An NFL record number of underclassmen filed for the 2014 NFL Draft, an effect of the latest collective bargaining agreement making it financially incentive for players to get in to the league as early as possible in hopes of cashing in larger paychecks form the league with more potential years left to play. Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was in a similar situation in 2013 that Winston will be in 2014. Like Winston, Manziel won the Heisman Trophy in his redshirt freshman season and had no choice but to return for another year in College Station. Manziel held off on making his decision official, but ended up being among the many early entrants to the upcoming NFL Draft.
I suspect Winston will follow a similar path, because he already has little to prove other than that the 2013 season was no fluke. I have a hunch it was not.
Kevin McGuire is the managing editor of Crystal Ball Run. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
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