Heisman Trophy-winning QB Jameis Winston has been suspended for the first half of the Clemson game by Florida State Head Coach Jimbo Fisher. Winston reportedly jumped on a cafeteria table yesterday and shouted a sexually-explicit phrase, witnessed and tweeted about by many nearby Florida State students.
Jameis Winston Suspended for First Half of Clemson Game
#FSU benches #JameisWinston for making "offensive and vulgar" comments about women http://t.co/6IhR4GWVut pic.twitter.com/COxBxspN3h
— ABC Action News (@abcactionnews) September 17, 2014
This is the latest in a string of off-field incidents for the young star Quarterback, who has shown a tendency toward questionable decision-making off the field, in start contrast to his strong decision-making ability between the lines on Saturdays. As a person who has recently been accused of sexual assault, this recent behavior is especially worrisome. Add to that the unnecessary distraction visited upon a team looking to be the first in recent memory to successfully defend its national championship, this demonstrates a severe lack of leadership from Winston, given his stature as his team’s (and the nation’s) best player last season.
While it is encouraging that Head Coach Fisher is taking discipline upon himself in this instance, it creates questions about Winston himself. This might be chalked up as a “youthful indiscretion”, but how many of those are allowed for an individual who is seen as a potential top draft pick into the NFL at the league’s most important (and glamorous) position? In light of the NFL’s recent spate of serious off-field issues, this cannot be seen as anything but troublesome to any of the 32 NFL general managers who might consider making Winston the face of a franchise within the next 12-24 months, depending on when Winston elects to declare himself eligible for the draft.
Let’s hope that this most recent discipline by Coach Fisher helps Winston understand that his standard for behavior is much higher than that of a typical third year college student. It would be easy to chalk this up to to the typical maturation process of any young, male college student. Jameis Winston needs to improve his off-field behavior to match that of his on-field talent. He needs to do so quickly, before he imperils his own future professional prospects.
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