It seems like every six months since the world was introduced to Jameis Winston, there has been some kind of distraction that has been attached to his name. The guy is a very talented football player, who very well could be the first pick in the NFL draft one day. However, that will not be the case if his off-the-field behavior does not get itself under control. With a current record of 2-0, the Florida State Seminoles are looking to repeat as national champions after a season that saw them finally dethrone the SEC from the top college football conference. They are at the moment the favorites to win this year’s trophy, but a lot of that depends upon the man playing quarterback for the Seminoles.
Taking a look at Jameis Winston’s off-the-field behavior since his arrival at Florida State, he does not look very good. It starts with a July 2011 incident where he was accused of stealing soda from a local Burger King, and he apparently used ketchup cups to do so. While many will chalk this up to immaturity, it still has to be said that Winston knew what he was doing with this whole scenario.
Winston’s next headline making action unfortunately was one that became an ongoing story throughout the entire 2013 college football season. In December of 2012 Winston was accused of raping an FSU student, with the charges not becoming public until November of 2013. The state attorney made a final verdict on the situation and announced Florida would not press charges against Winston due to a lack of evidence to meet the burden of proof. It is worth noting, however, that Georgia Cappleman, the chief assistant state attorney who helped operate the sexual-assault investigation, told The New York Times this past April, that “I believe that Mr. Winston cannot be convicted. I don’t necessarily believe that he’s innocent.” While Winston was cleared in this case, he could have cost his team a chance at the title.
The last two reports that have surfaced concerning the Florida State quarterback have also been on the side of immature behavior as well. He and his teammate Chris Casher were detained by the Florida State campus police for carrying pellet guns near campus. Then later that week, Winston and Casher were investigated for damaging their apartment complex. To top it all off, this past April, Winston was cited for shoplifting seafood at a local Tallahassee grocery store. He was suspended from the baseball team for a week and was required to participate in community service as well.
Now, this week, the public received word of Winston’s latest misdeed. It is reported that Winston climbed onto one of the tables in his school’s student union center and proceeded to yell a sexually lewd comment, which was described as being highly offensive to women. He will be suspended for the first half of this Saturday’s ACC showdown against Clemson as a result.
To be honest, outside of the rape accusation, this is by far the worst thing that Winston has been cited of doing thus far. He was cleared of sexual assault charges, and seven months later he’s yelling sexually explicit comments in a student union, where at minimum 200 people probably heard the comments. The act in itself is childish, but when you take into account Winston’s past, this comes off as clueless on Winston’s part. There will be people who view Winston as a guy who truly doesn’t respect women (if they didn’t already think that), and his status as a bad apple will just continue to fester in the public eye.
Winston, to his credit, did own up to how selfish this behavior was in a statement made Wednesday, but really he needs to be more aware of how stupid stuff like this could really derail his draft status, his team’s season and, most importantly, the people around him. In a week where domestic abuse has been the main topic in the headlines for the sports world, Winston should know better than to further add to the fire by making any sort of comment that attempts to belittle women in any way.
Winston will be hard pressed to recover some of his image, but honestly, that’s not the main point in all of this. I think for Winston, it’s about understanding that it’s time to buck up and stop before this escalates into something that could damage his future. I know people will say these are all small matters, outside of the rape accusation, but at the same time anyone who acts like Winston’s behavior is not concerning is delusional. Next time, Winston decides to do something questionable, I hope he will choose to use more foresight, so that we can just focus on his excellent play on the field and not this nonsense off of it.
