Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston suffered his first career loss in last week’s Rose Bowl. Before losing to Oregon 59-20, Jameis was previously 27-0 in his college career. Winston’s father Antonor told ESPN.com that
“the timetable for an announcement will be sometime after Monday, which means at least another week of waiting for Florida State fans, many of whom have already assumed the star quarterback will depart”.
By no means will this be an easy decision for the Seminoles superstar because he is a heck of a ball player. Winston is currently Florida State’s closer after posting a 1.08 ERA over 33.1 innings in 2014. If Jameis were to go the NFL route it would more than likely end his baseball playing career in preparation for the draft.
As of today Jameis Winston looks to be a first round lock being regarded the 2nd ranked quarterback on many teams draft boards. IF Jameis can clear some off the field concerns it still remains possible he becomes the first overall pick. Famous Jameis will also likely have to outperform Oregon’s Marcus Mariota in the scouting combine as well as his pro day for this to come true. Don’t underestimate his love for baseball though. In a yahoo sports report back on July 21st Winston father again chimed in his son’s chances at playing professional baseball.
“We have heard for him to go in the first round of the baseball draft then he will have to give up football,” Antonor Winston told AL.com.
By no means do I think Jameis will pass up on a NFL career but there has been some recent history of this. 5 star recruit Kohl Stewart had committed to Texas A&M to be the aggies starting quarterback for 2014. That all changed when the Minnesota Twins selected Stewart number three overall in the 2013 amateur baseball draft. He then smartly bypassed Texas A&M to sign with the Twins in what included a $4,544,400 signing bonus.
In the end I expect Winston to ultimately declare for this year’s NFL Draft. It will be tough for him to return to Florida State with all of these surrounding off the field allegations. Deon Sanders was also a Florida State multi-sport athlete in the same situation. We all know which route prime time ended up choosing. Winston will likely be doing everything he possibly can to convince the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to select him with the first overall pick come this May. This years NFL Scouting Combine will take place from February 17-23.
