Winston Takes Home Heisman
New York—Redshirt freshman quarterback, Jameis Winston traveled to New York for the Heisman trophy presentation with his family and friends on Saturday, Dec. 14. The man they call “Famous Jameis” left with a Heisman trophy declaring him the best player in Division I college football.
Winston cruised to the award, receiving 668 first-place votes and 2,205 points overall. He won by 1,501 points, over runner-up Alabama senior quarterback, A.J. McCarron, which is good for the seventh largest margin victory in a Heisman race. Winston is also the youngest player in college football history to win the coveted award, turning 20-years-old in 23 days.
When asked about winning the Heisman trophy, Winston replied with the natural reaction of, “I’m so overwhelmed. It’s awesome.”
The Alabama native wowed voters with his overwhelming statistics, such as a 67.9 percent completion rate, 3,820 passing yards and 38 touchdowns. Winston’s best game of the year arguably came in a 52-14 win against the, then third ranked, Clemson. For the game, Winston completed 22 of 34 passes for 444-yards and three touchdowns putting him on the map as a player to watch in college football.
This tremendous award comes on the heels of a sexual battery investigation against Winston that began on Nov. 14, 2013. The complaint, originating in December of 2012, caused the State Attorney in Florida’s second judicial circuit to conduct an investigation that lasted three weeks. On Dec. 7, 2013 it was announced that there was not enough evidence to file charges. Experts were left to wonder if the negative publicity would affect how voters selected their winner, but the only affect it had was Winston not being on 13 percent of the ballots.
From here, Winston and his Florida State teammates will prepare for their Rose Bowl Championship matchup against second ranked Auburn on Monday, Jan. 6 at 8:30 p.m.
