Winston questions overshadow Seminoles' preparation for ACC title game
With a third straight ACC championship game on the horizon, all of Florida State's attention should be on their matchup with No. 11 Georgia Tech this Saturday.
Instead, many of the questions that head coach Jimbo Fisher has had to field this week have dealt with star quarterback Jameis Winston's student code of conduct hearing. Winston is facing charges of violating Florida State University's student code of conduct stemming from sexual assault allegations in 2012. If found guilty of the violations, the quarterback could be suspended or expelled from school.
What would be a distraction to most teams, the Seminoles don't seem to be phased by the thought of being without Winston because they've handled situations like this before.
"We've proven we can win," said Fisher. "We've played without him already this year. We played a great Clemson team and played very well."
With a brief answer of "no", Fisher brushed aside the notion that this hearing affects him in anyway personally, however, he did have a longer response when asked how this affects Winston, the man in the middle of the firestorm.
"It doesn't," the coach said confidently. "He'll handle this during the day and then go back at night and study and get ready for the game, he's an extremely bright young man. He can compartmentalize a lot and learn a lot."
After stating the hearing isn't a distraction, Fisher rescheduled Tuesday's practice from its normal time of 3:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. When asked if the time change was to accommodate Winston and allow him to be in attendance, Fisher admitted it was -- but also gave other reasoning.
"Yeah and I wanted to get night practice," a visibly uneasy Fisher told the media Tuesday night. "I was trying to get some cooler temperatures and get under lights, field some balls in the lights and stuff like that. And if the trial is going to go that long then we'll push it back."
"I think moving practice back and practicing with the lights on can help," added FSU kicker Roberto Aguayo. "And it gave me a chance to play nine holes today."
Florida State is used to handling off-the-field issues in regard to their quarterback, but are now in less familiar territory as they must wait and see if Winston can rebound from the worst outing of his career. In last Saturday's victory over Florida, the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner threw a career-high four interceptions and a career-low 125 passing yards.
His previous high for interceptions thrown in a game was three which he set in a Week 10 win over Louisville earlier this season. Winston followed up that poor performance with another sub-par effort, throwing two picks against Virginia that kept the Cavaliers in the game. He will have to play much better than that this Saturday if the Seminoles wish to beat the Yellow Jackets and stay alive in the College Football Playoffs' four-team scenario. Again, however, Winston's teammates believe the quarterback will be just fine.
"I've seen a lot of people come at Jameis in bad ways," FSU offensive lineman Cam Erving said. "You see all the negative things, but nobody sees the good things he does. He doesn't have the stats that he had last year, but he's a tremendous leader and great quarterback. He knows how to win and play great football -- at the end of the day he does what he has to do to win the game."
Winston, like his team has shown capable of doing all year, has an innate ability to always come back when he is down.
"When he's struggling, he always keeps his head in the game, bounces back from it," said senior wide receiver and team leader Rashad Greene. "He shows strong leadership, has a great head on his shoulders. He continuously moves on and plays the play."
A ruling from must come from former Florida Supreme Court Justice Major Harding, who is presiding, within 10 school days of the hearing. An appeal can be filed by either party within five days of that initial hearing decision.
