PHILADELPHIA — The Heisman Trophy race has turned into a soap opera again.
This latest controversy to plague college football’s biggest award occurred this week when multiple sources reported Florida State redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston, one of the front runners along with Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota and Texas A & M quarterback Johnny Manziel, was being investigated by Tallahassee police for his potential involvement in an alleged sexual battery that occured in December of last year.
Winston has not been charged with any crime. And until TMZ reported the investigation, no one from the police or the prosecutor’s office had spoken to Winston or the woman during an 11-month open investigation, according to Winston’s lawyer, Tim Jansen. According to a heavily redacted police report obtained by Yahoo Sports,, the complainant admitted drinking. The location of the alleged assault was an apartment. the time of the incident was last Friday night. The listed motive was “sexual gratification.”
No one knows what really happened here, but it seems strange to us why this investigation would drag on for 11 months, especially after the woman came forward less to make a report less than two hours after the alleged incident occurred and why no one thought to speak to Winston.as quickly as possible Perhaps police didn’t act because he doesn’t fit the profile. The report listed the accused’s height as between 5-9 and 5-11. Winston is 6-4. There is also the possibility the complainant initially didn’t want to cooperate, although the Tallahassee Democrat is reporting she is working with the state attorney.
Winston isn’t talking but Jansen said Thursday two witnesses were with him at the time of the alleged assault and will back up his story.
Jansen told ESPN he was informed by authorities in Feb.2013 that the case was closed and relayed he information to Winston’s family and Florida State. No charges were filed and Jansen said no investigation has occurred since then until this week. On Wednesday, local police turned over the case to the state attorney, who asked them to further investigate the allegations.
Georgia Cappleman, chief assistant state attorney, said Thursday she could not speak to why there was a delay in prosecutors receiving the case. She also said there is no timeline for a decision on how to proceed, although no decision is expected within the next few days.
Florida State has released a statement saying that Winston’s status with the team has not changed, and he is expected to start Saturday against Syracuse.Florida State is 9-0 and second in the BCS standings. Winston has been spectacular in his first college season, passing for 2,661 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Both parties deserve some kind of resolution, the sooner the better before this blows up into another headline another scandal that will take the interest away from the award to the people involved.
Two years ago, Auburn’s gifted quarterback Cam Newton spent much of the second half of the 2010 football season embroiled in a controversy regarding allegations that his father, Cecil Newton, sought substantial sums of money in return for his son playing for a major college football team, in violation of NCAA rules In early November 2010, several Mississippi State boosters reported to the media that, during their recruitment of his son out of Blinn, Tex College nearly a year earlier, Cecil Newton said that it would take “more than just a scholarship” to secure his son’s services.
This demand was communicated by booster and former Mississippi State football player Kenny Rogers to fellow boosters and former teammates Bill Bell and John Bond. Rogers said in a Dallas radio interview that Cecil Newton said it would take “anywhere between $100,000 and $180,000” to get his son to transfer to Mississippi State.
Auburn officials maintained throughout the investigation they were not involved in any pay-for-play scheme and that Cam Newton was fully eligible to play.Newton was temporarily suspended but the NCAA eventually sided with Auburn, although they did limit the access Cecil Newton had to the program as result of NCAA findings. Cecil Newton announced he would not attend the Heisman Trophy Ceremony, which Newton won in a landslide victory with 2,263 points and 729 first-place votes. Newton went on to lead the Tigers to a national championship. In October 2011, the NCAA officially closed its 13-month investigation, unable to substantiate any allegation or speculation of illicit recruiting by Auburn, and concluded that Cecil Newton only solicited a cash payment from Mississippi State and no other institution attempting to recruit his son.
Last year, Johnny Manziel, the first red shirt freshman to win the award, had his coronation upstaged by Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o, who finished second in the balloting. Te’o created an uproar when it was revealed he had been the victim of a hoax by a California man posing as his imaginary on line girl friend. This summer, Manziel was investigated for violating rules of amateurism when he allegedly took money for signing hundreds of autographs for memorabilia dealers . The NCAA suspended Manziel for half a game in the opener.
