Jameis Winston Should Walk Away From College Football

Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston would be best served by walking away from college football immediately.

Jameis Winston has 196 days.

196 days are all that stand between leaving a successful-yet-turbulent college football career behind and beginning a professional career with a clean slate.

We’ve seen a rape accusation. We’ve seen him shoplift crablegs. We’ve see him suspended for yelling an obscene statement in the middle of the student union. We’ve seen him linked to a merchandise signing scandal.

I’ve seen enough, and I think Jameis has too.

Oct 11, 2014; Syracuse, NY, USA; Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston (5) calls a play at the line against the Syracuse Orange during the first quarter at the Carrier Dome. Florida State defeated Syracuse 38-20. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports /

If I were him, I wouldn’t stay. If I were him, I’d grow tired of waking up every day to a new story or take on something I did or didn’t do.

If I were him, I’d leave college football immediately.

Winston — in just one season of college football — accomplished the two things every player who ever dreams of playing the sport wishes to accomplish: Win a national title and the Heisman Trophy. Sadly, once you’ve done that in college football, there is really no place else to go but down unless you repeat. In terms of the Heisman Trophy, that shipped has sailed for Winston. In regard to another national title, that’s a more complicated story. The polls that don’t matter would have you believe the Seminoles are right in the mix. The reality of the eye test should tell you that the 2014 Florida State Seminoles are a shell of the machine that steamrolled pretty much every opponent a season ago.

Jameis Winston is carrying this bunch.

With the weight of everything else going on right now, that’s a lot for one guy to carry. I wouldn’t do it.

As each of those 196 days between now and the NFL Draft passes, someone out there is going to be investigating, brainstorming or publishing another Jameis Winston story — likely a negative one — for their own personal gain. Winston, his character, his behavior and his past will all be used in shock pieces and breaking news stories that really just restate things we already know. Those stories will continue to drive public opinion. NFL general managers will continue to move his name down or completely off their draft boards.

The Florida State faithful will hate to hear this, but Jameis Winston has nothing to gain by staying in school and finishing the season. His Seminoles have a bullseye on their backs that they realistically aren’t equipped to carry around and defend. It’s only a matter of time — whether it happens this weekend against Notre Dame or later in the season — until Winston and the Seminoles are taken down. Everyone outside Seminole Nation will celebrate and rejoice, as it will mean a new champion will be crowned and college football’s resident villain (I’d lean toward the Joker if I had to pick) won’t be part of the coronation. In the meantime, Winston will carry the Seminoles through a remaining slate of pointless games, risking injury every step of the way with no real reward to show for it.

It’s just not worth it.

The smart thing to do is just leave. I wouldn’t consider it quitting. I’d consider it leaving. He’d be leaving a vile, poisonous and unstable world full of bitter, hateful and ignorant fanatics. He’d be leaving a world designed to make money off his hard work from every direction — from universities to media outlets — and be publicly stoned for his sins along the way. He’d leave and be so much better for it.

Sep 20, 2014; Tallahassee, FL, USA; Florida State Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston (5) who returned to the field after warming up in pads during pre game before their game against the Clemson Tigers at Doak Campbell Stadium. Winston was suspended for Saturday s game against Clemson pending an investigation into some alleged lewd comments he made on campus. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports /

When you wade through the off-field issues and brush aside the cobwebs of sensationalism, what you have left is a prototypical NFL passer with a high football IQ who can make every throw, lead a lockerroom full of young men and win the biggest of games in the clutch. From the neck down, Jameis Winston is the No.1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. He’s ready. From the neck up, you have a kid who achieved unfathomable success from the moment he stepped on the field and spent the next year and a half on the wrong side of the tabloids of the sports world. He needs time to get his mind right.

The best thing for Winston would be to get away from the insanity that is college football immediately, hire an agent, a financial advisor, an image consultant and a lawyer he can trust. Then start training. Take the route some wondered whether or not Jadeveon Clowney should have taken and train for the most important job interview of his life, physically and mentally.

Should Jameis Winston make that decision, he would immediately go from being on the brink of losing everything with nothing left to gain to having nothing to lose and everything to gain. He’s the type of kid who thrives in that situation. How do I know this? Because I watched him thrive in the same situation all last season — as did you.

Jameis Winston should walk away from college football right now. It would make his life so much easier. And that’s why he won’t. And that alone should speak louder than any scathing take you’ll read or hear about him as people try to tear him down for the next 196 days.

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