Jimbo Fisher says Jameis Winston won’t be suspended for shoplifting incident
Florida State’s Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jameis Winston caused quite the stir when he was cited for shoplifting crab legs at the end of April, but the Seminoles created a stir of their own when Winston was only disciplined by the baseball team and not the football team.
Winston was suspended for three baseball games in May to the satisfaction of football coach Jimbo Fisher who said, “I fully support Coach Martin’s decision and will also make sure Jameis meets all of his obligations, which I know he will.”
All of his obligations were met as Winston worked as a janitor at a Tallahassee YMCA and after completing his 20 hours of community service will no longer face charges. However, the question remained why Winston was not suspended from the football team as well. Fisher addressed that question today at the ACC spring meetings when he said he won’t be suspended from football activities.
It’s easy to second-guess the disciplinary actions of coaches in any sport, but just like with parents, each has their own style of discipline, but it doesn’t mean Jimbo won’t be criticized for not publicly disciplining his star quarterback.
“If he would have been in football only, he would have been suspended from football activities only until we took care of all those things,” Fisher told reporters. “To him, that’s [missing baseball] just as devastating. To me too, I like baseball.”
“They’re [baseball] No. 4 in the country. He’s playing right field, he’s hitting, he’s the closer,” Fisher said. “Taking him out of three games until he got that done is no different than if he was in football.”
Nevertheless, he wouldn’t have been suspended for any football games over this shoplifting citation and I’m willing to bet he will have some behind-the-scenes punishment coming his way from Fisher if it hasn’t already.