Florida State QB Jameis Winston is taking notes from Tom Brady

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston has been hyped for quite some time. Whether it was the notebook he kept before he was a teenager that broke down how to beat the Cover-3, how he led Hueytown (Alabama) High School to the playoffs or how he launched a football over the Pike House at Florida State, something former Seminole quarterbacks E.J. Manuel and Christian Ponder, who started NFL games Sunday, never did, the legend of Winston continued to grow.

He lived up the hype in his debut, completing 25 of 27 passes for 356 yards with four touchdowns and another touchdown on the ground, leading the Seminoles to a 41-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Panthers last Monday.

One way Winston is improving his game is by watching one of the all-time great quarterbacks.

“I always liked Tom Brady because he was so fluid and he was so smooth and then he was the underdog,” Winston told Brandon Mellor of Seminoles.com. “I always looked at myself as being the underdog, even if people held me to this certain type of status because I knew if I felt that I was the underdog I knew that I would be able to persevere and get better every day.”

Winston watched as Brady led the New England Patriots to yet another fourth quarter comeback as they rallied for a late field goal to take down Winston’s former teammate, E.J. Manuel and the Buffalo Bills.

Of course it isn’t just about watching the greats.

“There’s always things when you watch film that you see that you can do better,” Winston said. “From a team standpoint, we have so many places where we can grow. Like on my [naked bootleg] I made a big mistake. I went the wrong way so that’s something that I have to avoid those mental errors.”

The home crowd will get their first look at Winston when the Seminoles host Nevada at 3:30 pm EST Saturday. The game is on ESPN.