Despite Jameis Winston spending the entire game on the sideline, suspended for yet another one of his misjudgments, much of last Saturday’s broadcast of Florida State’s come-from-behind win was focused on the Heisman Trophy-winner. As he rushed onto the field to celebrate with teammates after the game-winning score, I asked myself a couple questions. Is Jameis Winston the only one to blame for the mistakes he continues to make? And was the point of the suspension really made by allowing him to remain on the sidelines with his team?
Sure, it would be easy to answer the first question by simply putting all of the blame on Winston himself. It still seems as if he hasn’t fully grasped the idea that playing quarterback at Florida State is about more than just himself. He represents his team, his university, and as a Heisman Trophy winner, an elite group of 77 of the greatest college football players of all time. As a college football fan, I want to see the kid figure it out, hopefully sooner than later.
There is no denying Winston himself is the issue, but he has not been without enablers along the way. Through all of his incidents — being stopped by campus police at gunpoint while carrying a pellet gun, the rape allegations, shoplifting crab legs, and shouting a vulgar obscenity — there is plenty of blame to go around. As far as I am concerned, Winston has been allowed to continue to act in an unacceptable manner by his coaches, the university, and even local police because football has taken precedence over teaching a young man right from wrong.
Everyone likes winning, but winning should never become more important than teaching a young man life lessons that will help him long after his football days end. I for one am not going to be upset with a head coach for losing if it is the result of properly disciplining a player, and neither should you.
As for the second question I asked myself on Saturday, the answer is no, I don’t think Winston learned a damn thing. Time and time again, when he has made poor decisions, he acts alone. Winston clearly does not consider his team or the consequences and how they may impact things down the road when acting. Winning that game was the worst thing that could have happened in my opinion. FSU made the mistake of allowing him to warm-up with his team and remain on the sideline. The way I see it, he was still able to influence the game, even if he never took a snap.
Winston should have been watching the game from home, alone. Maybe that would actually help him make some sense of things. Maybe that would make him realize that it’s not all about him. I guess we’ll see if anything has really changed for Famous Jameis as his career continues in college and at the next level.