This month, two years ago high school senior Jameis Winston committed to Florida State University over Alabama and LSU. Winston was a true prep dual threat who accounted for 1,065 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground and completed 69% of his throws for an additional 2,424 yards and 28 touchdowns. If he’d chosen either one of those schools he probably wouldn’t have touched the field as a starter until his redshirt sophomore season.
On Saturday, the most popular two-sport student-athlete in the nation was officially named Florida State’s starter. In FSU’s spring game Winston made his move by completing 12 of 15 passes for a cool 205 yards and two touchdowns. On the baseball diamond, Winston hit .265 in 102 at-bats and posted a .180 ERA in 14 appearances on the pitching mound.
While it was believed to be a foregone conclusion that Winston would eventually be the starter for Week 1 from the outside looking in, there was still an open competition going on between Winston and Jacob Coker.
Via Orlando Sentinel:
The competition was so close that Winston won it by out-lasting perhaps the most furious preseason charge Coker could mount. Senior cornerback Lamarcus Joyner was beyond impressed with the elder signal-caller.
"Jacob had the best — and I mean this wholeheartedly — he had the best camp that I've ever seen since he's been here," Joyner said. "He looked like a new guy in camp. You go home at night and you wonder, 'Who's going to be the starting quarterback?'
"Everybody expected Jameis. I mean, you see him in the newspaper articles here and there. Everyone already had him as the appointed starter, and then you have a guy like Jacob Coker who's just as talented and tough, and having a great camp. As an organization, it was tough. We were always in [the dark]."
From the moment Winston burned Joyner on his first passing attempt of April's spring game for a 58-yard touchdown, he became the favorite in FSU's quarterback race.
