Column: Door opens for Winston era
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Wednesday's news that Clint Trickett will transfer from FSU opens the door wide for the Jameis Winston era to begin at Florida State.
Considering how well the former five-star quarterback performed in last Saturday's spring game the program already seemed to be rolling in that direction. But absent a Winston injury or a really strong push from redshirt sophomore Jacob Coker leading up to the Sept. 2 opener at Pittsburgh, fans won't have to wait long to see the highly regarded quarterback take the reigns of the Seminole offense.
That should allow the Winston hype machine to kick into high gear with few obstacles to slow it down.
The swell of support for Winston isn't surprising given all the high school accolades. Not only was the Hueytown, Ala. native Rivals.com's No. 1 rated prep quarterback in 2012, he was also a standout in baseball and has excelled for Mike Martin's team the past couple months.
The anticipation by the Seminole fanbase really started the minute his redshirt season concluded. That hype picked up rapidly with his near perfect performance in last Saturday's spring game that included a 58-yard touchdown pass on his very first play.
Winston continued to showcase his skills all afternoon completing 12 of 15 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also showed his quick feet, rushing away from pressure on several occasions. More impressive - Winston's standout performance took place against FSU's first team defense.
If there was any doubt about how the fans feel about which direction FSU should go at quarterback, a poll of Warchant.com subscribers - taken before the news of Trickett's transfer - indicated that about 85 percent were in favor of Winston starting. A recent tweet by Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Johnny Manziel gave props to Winston and former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer said that Winston can be "rock star" in the NFL and a future No. 1 overall draft pick. If that doesn't turn a spark into a potential forest fire I don't know what will.
All the buzz combined with Wednesday's Trickett news will likely result in the Winston hype reaching a feverous level for the next four months. Fisher will have the impossible task of trying to contain the massive buildup surrounding his freshman quarterback.
"You keep it realistic and tell him what's real and what's not real and let everybody else be legends and hype," said Fisher during the post-spring game press conference. "What I fear about all that stuff is that it's great to write but you build a guy up to be so great that he can't live up to it and then all you do is build disappointment for the guy. It's unfair to the player with how you do it. Just be careful and let him play."
Good luck with that.
Even Fisher's players couldn't stop raving about the highly regarded rookie quarterback following his performance on Saturday.
"He doesn't have experience but he's a very smart kid that can take over a game," said senior DB Lamarcus Joyner. "Jameis just plays with so much confidence that you've got no choice but to respect the kid. He's a kid that has to play, he has to play... You have no choice but to see the talent and the uniqueness that kid has."
A lot riding on the season opener
Normally a game between Florida State and Pittsburgh would barely register as a blip on the college football radar. While this matchup may seem tame on the surface its prime time national television slot makes it both huge for the conference and the two participating schools. A Florida State loss could effectively destroy the Seminoles' season and give Pittsburgh a lot of momentum entering its first season in the ACC.
On the other hand, an FSU win with Winston posting big numbers could ramp up the ESPN national media machine and propel the Wunderkind chatter to new heights.
It's easy to speculate that Winston should have a big game against Pittsburgh but the history of early starts by rookie FSU quarterbacks may say otherwise.
Even FSU's two Heisman-winning quarterbacks, who had more time under their belt before starting, struggled greatly in their first couple starts. Charlie Ward, as a redshirt junior, racked up eight interceptions in his first two games. In a stunning road loss at NC State, a then 26-year old Chris Weinke threw a school-record six interceptions in his second career start.
In the third game of his redshirt freshman season Chris Rix melted down at North Carolina and the end result was an embarrassing 41-9 setback at the hands of an unranked Tar Heel team.
Not all rookie FSU quarterbacks have struggled coming out of the gates. Most recently, EJ Manuel went 3-1 as a starter during his redshirt freshman season when he came on in relief for an injured Christian Ponder in 2009. One of those wins included an MVP performance in the 2010 Gator Bowl.
No matter how it all shakes out it's going to be a fun for fans and media to ride the Winston train for 2013 and beyond.