Jameis Winston

Early life

Winston was born in Bessemer, Alabama on January 6, 1994. He attended Hueytown High School, where he played both football and baseball. Winston was considered the best dual-threat quarterback recruit in the nation by Rivals.com, the best overall quarterback recruit by ESPN. Winston was also named the MVP of the ESPN RISE Elite 11 quarterback camp. Additionally, Winston earned the Gatorade Player of the Year recognition for the state of Alabama. He led Hueytown to a state championship during his junior year.

Winston committed to attend Florida State University on February 3, 2012. The Texas Rangers selected Winston in the 15th round of the 2012 Major League Baseball Draft out of high school. Though the Rangers proposed allowing him to play for the Florida State Seminoles football team while working out with their baseball organization, Winston decided not to sign.

2012 season

Winston redshirted during the 2012 college football season behind senior quarterback EJ Manuel.

2013 season

Prior to the 2013 season, Winston was named Florida State's starting quarterback. In his college debut, he completed 25 of 27 passes with four passing touchdowns along with a rushing touchdown against the University of Pittsburgh.

Winston helped lead the team to an undefeated 13–0 regular season record, including a 45–7 victory in the ACC Championship against Duke.

Winston won the Heisman Trophy on December 14, 2013, beating out quarterbacks AJ McCarron, Jordan Lynch, and Johnny Manziel, the previous winner, as well as running backs Tre Mason and Andre Williams. He became the second freshman to win the award, after Manziel won the previous year. He also became the youngest to win the award, at 19 years and 342 days.

On January 6, 2014, Winston's 20th birthday, Florida State defeated Auburn 34–31 in the 2014 BCS National Championship Game. Winston was named the Offensive MVP of the game after passing for 235 yards with two touchdowns, including the game-winning touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left. Winston finished his freshman season with 4,057 passing yards and 40 passing touchdowns, which set an ACC record and a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision freshman record.

2014 season

Winston started 13 games his redshirt sophomore season. He did not play in one game due to suspension. After a 13–0 regular season, the Seminoles were selected to play in the 2015 Rose Bowl, a semifinal game in the College Football Playoff, against Oregon. Oregon would win the game by a score of 59–20, giving Winston his only loss as a starter during his college career. Winston finished the season with 3,907 passing yards and 25 touchdowns.

After the season, Winston decided to forgo the remaining two years of eligibility and enter the 2015 NFL Draft. He finished his career 26–1 as a starter and completed 562 of 851 passes for 7,964 yards, 65 touchdowns, and 28 interceptions.

Awards and honors

Baseball

Winston chose Florida State in part because he was allowed to play for the Florida State Seminoles baseball team in addition to football. A switch-hitting batter and a right-handed thrower, he played as an outfielder and a pitcher as a freshman in 2013. He batted .235 with a .723 on-base plus slugging in 119 at-bats and had a 3.00 earned run average in 27 innings pitched. Prior to the 2014 season, Winston was named a preseason All-American by Baseball America as a 3rd-team utility player.

2015 NFL Draft

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took Winston first overall in the 2015 NFL Draft.

On May 1, 2015, Winston signed a four-year, $23.35 million contract with the Buccaneers, with a $16.7 million signing bonus. The contract prevents him from playing any other sport than football.

2015 season: Rookie year

Winston played his first regular season game against the Tennessee Titans that featured fellow first rounder, Marcus Mariota. His first pass was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Coty Sensabaugh. Winston's interception was the first time a rookie's first pass was returned for a pick-6 since Brett Favre in 1991.

On November 22, 2015, against the Philadelphia Eagles Winston tied an NFL rookie, and Buccaneers franchise, record with 5 touchdown passes.

Winston set franchise rookie records in pass attempts, pass completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns. Winston finished his rookie season with 4,042 passing yards, finishing 23 yards short of the franchise record set by Josh Freeman in 2012. Winston also became the third rookie quarterback to pass over 4,000 yards in a season.

Following his team's loss in the AFC Championship game, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady elected not to participate in the 2016 Pro Bowl; as a result, Winston was selected to his first Pro Bowl game making him the first rookie quarterback in Buccaneers' history to be selected.

2016 season

Winston's sophomore season in the NFL began with an impressive performance against the Atlanta Falcons at the Georgia Dome, in which he completed over 70% of his throws and 4 touchdown passes in a 31-24 victory. Following Week 1 the Buccaneers began to struggle through injuries, inconsistent play, and offensive turnovers till mid-season, at which point the team was 3-5 and had experienced blow out losses to the Arizona Cardinals, Denver Broncos, and Atlanta Falcons and a 3-game losing streak. Following the loss to the Falcons, the Winston lead Buccaneers began playing efficient offense as well as exceptional defense and special teams play, resulting in the Buccaneers' first 5-game winning streak since the Super Bowl winning 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season. The win streak gave the Buccaneers possession of the 6th seed in the NFC playoff race, which they quickly lost after back-to-back losses to the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. Winston led the Buccaneers to their first winning season in 6 years after defeating the Carolina Panthers in the regular season finale, during which he broke the franchise records for passing yards and passing touchdowns in a season and became the first quarterback in NFL history to start his career with consecutive seasons of 4,000 yards passing; however the Buccaneers were eliminated from playoff contention via a tie breaker with the Detroit Lions.

Career statistics

Source: NFL

NFL records

Buccaneers franchise records

BB gun complaint

In 2012, Winston and another FSU player were held by campus police for allegedly bringing a BB gun on campus and firing at squirrels. Officers handcuffed Winston, but he was later released when it was noticed he was not on campus and the gun was just a BB gun. No charges were filed against Winston in this incident.

Sexual assault allegation

On November 14, 2013, the State Attorney of the Second Judicial Circuit announced they were opening an investigation into a sexual assault allegation involving Winston that was originally filed with the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) on December 7, 2012. The complaint was originally investigated by the police and classified as open/inactive in February 2013 with no charges being filed. The police report, containing the complainant's original statement, has been posted by the Tallahassee Police Department. Tallahassee police stated that the complaint was made inactive "when the victim in the case broke off contact with TPD, and her attorney indicated she did not want to move forward at that time" and then re-examined after media requests for information started coming in early November. On December 5, 2013, State Attorney Willie Meggs announced the completion of the investigation and that no charges would be filed against anyone in this case, citing "major issues" with the woman's testimony. Meggs stated that "As prosecutors, we only bring charges for cases where the evidence will result in a likely conviction at trial. In this case, the evidence does not show that." Allegations of improper police conduct have been made by both parties, with the complainant claiming to have been pressured into dropping her claim and Winston's attorney alleging inappropriate leaks to the media. Florida State's policy is that athletes charged with a felony cannot play until their case is resolved, but Winston continued to play throughout the investigation because he was never charged.

On April 16, 2014, The New York Times reported irregularities in the rape investigation involving Winston. The complainant developed bruises and semen was found on her underwear. 34 days later, the complainant identified Winston by name as her attacker. Tallahassee police contacted Winston about 13 days later. No DNA sample was taken from Winston until the prosecutor took over the case, months later; once it was taken in November 2013, it was found to match DNA found in the complainant's underwear. The investigation was conducted by Officer Scott Angulo, who, the Times' article notes, did private security work for the Seminole Boosters, the primary financier of Florida State athletics.

The official FSU hearing, presided over by retired Florida Supreme Court Justice Major B. Harding, on December 21, 2014, cleared Winston of violating the student conduct code in the sexual assault allegation. An extract from Harding's decision is below.

I do not find the credibility of one story substantially stronger than that of the other. Both have their own strengths and weaknesses. I cannot find with any confidence that the events as set forth by you, (accuser), or a particular combination thereof is more probable than not as required to find you responsible for a violation of the Code. Therein lies the determinative factor of my decision.

The accuser, Erica Kinsman (who has publicly identified herself), filed a civil suit against Winston in April 2014 and Winston countersued her for defamation and tortious interference in May 2014. In a September 2015 ruling, federal judge Anne C. Conway dismissed Winston's tortious interference claim, but declined a motion to dismiss his claim for defamation. Winston's and Kinsman's suits were combined and are scheduled for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida to begin in May 2017.

In November 2015, Winston told CNN that he was prepared to file suit if the network airs The Hunting Ground, a documentary about college campus rape which includes disputed allegations about Winston. An edited version aired on CNN on November 22, 2015.

In 2016, the university paid $950,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by Kinsman alleging a violation of Title IX by FSU in handling her complaint. The university also agreed to conduct five years of sexual awareness programs. It did not admit liability.

Shoplifting incidents

In July 2013, a Burger King employee called police in July to complain that Winston was stealing soda. According to the police report, Winston came into the restaurant with three men, but did not order any food. An employee, who recognized him, first saw him using ketchup cups to take some soda. He asked for a water cup after she told him to stop, but he said he would use it for soda and filled it repeatedly with soda over her objections, the report said. On April 29, 2014, Winston was issued an adult civil citation for shoplifting crab legs from a Tallahassee Publix store. Winston was ordered to undergo 20 hours of community service, and was suspended from any college baseball activity until he completed his community service.

Vulgar comments

On September 17, 2014, Winston was suspended for the first half of Florida State's upcoming game against Clemson. The Guardian reported that "several students tweeted" that Winston shouted, "Fuck her right in the pussy!" an Internet meme, while standing atop a table in Florida State University's Student Union. Two days later, university president Garnett S. Stokes and athletic director Stan Wilcox, citing results of an "ongoing investigation", announced that Winston would be suspended for the whole game.