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Gonna be the best LB in college this year
2013 College Football Thread (Realer than Real Deal Holyfield -->S/O Craftsy)
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by gunna get it,
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Nice avy, bro.
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Bama vs A&M on ESPN u
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Well I've heard about pretty much all the other recruits reading around not one mention about him. I didn't know if he was in camp or if maybe he didn't qualify
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he's a 24 LB 'backer, I wouldn't expect to hear much lol
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3 weeks... 
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today i learned i wont be able to watch any of the games on the 31st
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Vaya con Dios
mr marcus
Banned
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18 days
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thought u was in tally for a minute dre ... i see it was staples vid 
interior dline is reloaded
couple good articles on Winston
recruitment story
interior dline is reloaded
couple good articles on Winston
HUEYTOWN, Ala. - The superlatives and attention thrown his son's way are hardly new for Antonor Winston.
For two years, the best college head coaches in the country got on planes to sit on his couch and flatter the boy. By the time Jameis Winston, a five-star prospect, was a senior in high school, he had this third cell phone number and so many autograph requests coming to his home - five to six a day at its peak - that Ant made color prints to keep up with demand.
So attention? Not new. An offseason of Black Jesus proportions? That's a little bit new.
Gene Williams - Warchant.com
Jameis Winston starred in FSU's spring game, going 12 of 15 for 205 yards and two touchdowns.
"I've heard in Tallahassee they're calling Jaboo 'Black Jesus,'" Ant said. He cocked his head with suspicion while fighting off a fatherly grin. "I ain't lying. I haven't seen anything like that before. But I've heard that."
Propelled by his stellar work in April's spring game, Jameis, known officially as 'Jaboo' among a bevy of nicknames accrued already, is reaching hero status. No. 5 jerseys plaster the walls of local bookstores. The quarterback battle, which officially began on Tuesday, has become a formality despite coach Jimbo Fisher's hesitation to name a starter. Former FSU coach Bobby Bowden said Winston reminds him of RG3. Former NFL QB Trent Dilfer said he's a future No. 1 overall draft pick. Longtime ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit mentioned Winston as a darkhorse for the Heisman Trophy this fall.
Even his biggest fan is unsure about all of that.
"Oh the Heisman, they start talking about the Heisman, you know now I don't believe that now," Ant said with a laugh. "Those jokers, I don't believe that, you know what I'm saying. And I think the kid is pretty good. But not no Heisman. Not the first year.
"Not saying it can't happen, I would love for that to happen. But let's be real in this thing."
What's very real: Winston has zero college experience and one undisputed title - the most talked about player without an official down in FSU history.
With fall camp underway, hype starts to mesh with reality. And when it seems like the right time for concern about the multiplying expectations, the people closest to Winston are free from any doubt. They don't talk arm or speed. In hours of interviews, no one among Winston's family, former coaches and friends once brandished a football stat.
They lay out the formula for why he can get it done at FSU: His smarts, an uncanny ability to learn and apply and a harmonious mental balance - part cartoon-watching goof, part over-the-top competitor - that helps him handle it all.
"I've never seen anything like that guy. I'm not even talking about his talent," former Hueytown High coach Matt Scott said. "There's a lot of people that can throw the ball. What people don't understand is the difference with him. His football IQ is through the roof. If they had some kind of scientific study for it they'd have to do a special on CNN. It's unbelievable."
The mind of Winston
To Ant, the first sign of smarts was at age 3, when Jameis could sit on the floor, spread out a pile of spare change and count it. Jameis started football at 4 because his mother Loretta "thought he would look cute in pads," and by 6, he was asking his dad about making audibles.
But parents can embellish, and Ant knows this, so he looks all over for a red 70-page spiral notebook. It's his favorite piece of proof.
He checks the car and the attic and eventually finds it, and the thing has weathered the rigors of academia. The pages, blanketed in unsharpened pencil and gripping to perforation, offer a glimpse into the mind of a young Jameis Winston.
Each sheet in the notebook presents a defensive look - Cover 2, Cover 3, Cover 4, man. The coverage is diagrammed. He lists the defense's intentions and step-by-step directions to make the read pre-snap. Under that, a bulleted list of the best routes to beat the coverage followed by notes on what body part he should aim for on the receiver's body given the defender's assignment.
Page 5 is signed Jameis Winston, Hueytown Middle School.
It is incredible detail for a 13-year-old and a tangible look at the working mind behind Winston the QB. A year later, as a 150-pound freshman at Hueytown, he was juggling honors classes with varsity starting quarterback duties. He started four years, he became the top quarterback in the country, he graduated with a GPA north of 4.0.
Warchant.com
A page from Jameis Winston's QB notebook, compiled at Age 13.
"He was so smart that he didn't need the coach to tell him what's going on, he can see it for himself," said best friend and former Hueytown teammate Ricky Rabb. "(Playing defense) you can never say 'Oh Jameis is going to do this again, I know what you're fixing to do now.' You could never do that to him. If he made any errors in his previous series he was going to be smart enough to correct those errors the next time. That's the big thing about him, he's smart on the field."
There's smarts, and there's parlaying that with the ability to process information quickly. It changed the game for Scott, who came to Hueytown, tossed out the Wing-T that Winston ran in 9th grade and handed over a more complex spread attack.
"I could stand there and tell him one time and he can do it," Scott said. "And he could turn and tell other people how to do it. I'd tell him. Not show him, just tell him one time."
The ability to absorb information relayed to all facets of his game. After his ninth grade season, coaches at University of Alabama were intrigued with Winston already, then cooled some after Winston ran 4.95 in the 40-yard dash at their summer camp.
"Nick Saban said, 'Listen now, you got a slow-*** son,'" Ant said, chuckling at his own rephrasing. "So (Saban) said if you get that time down we've got you."
Brimming with motivation, Winston went to work with trainer Otis Leverette, a former star defensive end at UAB who played six seasons in the NFL. The work didn't take long.
"I remember when I first taught him the 40-yard dash stance and how to come out of the blocks. Literally, you're talking about something with kids that they need a year to really, really get it all the way," Leverette said. "Two sessions, man, this kid could have taught a class on 40-yard dash starts. That's what blew my mind about it. Talent is all over the place, but when you can see talent that can apply? That's when you run into something very special."
Winston goes back to Alabama camp the next offseason and runs again. 4.6 flat.
"The coaches said there's no way. There's no way you did this here," Ant said. "They made him go back and run it again - not wait in line - get back in front. There's no way you could knock it down like that. They made him go back and run it again. Another 4.6 flat."
The mentality
Scott saw what he had with Winston at Hueytown in 2009. During his first practice as head coach, before Jameis' sophomore year, he planned to get acquainted with his roster before instilling any discipline.
His quarterback didn't wait, and when a senior receiver dropped a pass in the very first drill, Winston stopped the practice, ran over, grabbed him by the shirt and unleashed. The rest of team watched.
"(Jameis) says 'Hey, you mind catching the ball?' Scott recalled. "He had zero tolerance for anybody that wasn't cutting the mustard."
It's that fire that translated to the field immediately, giving Scott a spirited leader and a perfect complement to his own high-energy coaching style.
Scott would see his quarterback hand the ball off, then cut up the middle of the offensive line and make the final block on a long touchdown run. Winston would never ask to pad stats. He played cornerback for a game when his team needed it.
Jameis Winston was a passionate leader according to his former high school coach Matt Scott. "He had zero tolerance for anybody that wasn't cutting the mustard."
The same fire that aided team success and a burning will to win could overflow, making him, as Scott puts it, "good for a 15-yard penalty every game." For all that's right about his game, Winston has let his anger show since his youth football days. Most times he picked up penalties by being too aggressive or retaliating for what he felt were late hits.
"He's the meanest sun of a gun on Friday nights I have ever seen. That guy, when he's raised, he's money. He's money period. I've never seen anything like it," said Scott, who parlayed the success with Winston and Hueytown into a new job at the bigger Gadsden City (Ala.) High in January.
"But he played with such an intensity and sometimes it'd spill over. There were times when I'd have to tell him, 'Hey man if you don't calm down I'll take you out.'"
Patience could get away from him, but it didn't affect his output; Winston's game led to plenty wins for Hueytown, which lacked any winning tradition prior to Winston and Scott's arrival. The Gophers made the playoffs in each of Winston's last three seasons.
But the attitude, which made the intense Scott and Winston an effective pair, wasn't ingratiating to the community. As the program was getting its first taste of publicity, it didn't help the reputation of Winston, who never struggled to beat the wrap as a selfish player reveling in stardom. National attention poured in, but Winston never felt embraced by Hueytown because he couldn't beat the perception.
"The thing in our community, they tried to make it out that Jameis was the best player on the team and he was intense, they wanted to make it seem like he thought he could do whatever he wants," Rabb said. "They would see that as being cocky.
"You can ask anyone who played on the Hueytown football team that Jameis was a hard worker and the things that he did on the field, he might get a 15-yard penalty but on the next drive he's going to throw an 80-yard touchdown. A lot of people just didn't get that about him. I've seen him every day. That's just Jameis. He's going to work hard and he's going to do what he wants to do. But you can guarantee he gets the W."
"There are times when that fire burns out of control," Scott said. "What they don't understand is, they want him to be that guy, but they don't realize that mentality is what makes him great. They want him to be that (nice) guy but they don't realize you almost don't have one without the other. "
'He probably doesn't have a serious bone in his body'
The yang to Jameis' competitiveness is a child-like goofiness. He's a college student who still watches Looney Tunes. He dances in the locker room before games. He would pull pranks on his teammates on the sideline in high school, tight score in the fourth quarter be darned.
"He never shows all his seriousness when he's around his friends," Rabb said. "Off the field, he's straight playing. He probably doesn't have a serious bone in his body."
Winston can't suppress that off-field persona at Florida State, either. While his fame is multiplying, he hams it up on social media, posting pictures of himself eating cheese balls and a slew of Vine videos of he and his teammates goofing off.
During a FSU football camp two weeks ago, Winston rode his bicycle with a teammate on the handlebars and weaved between campers on the Doak Campbell Stadium turf. Before Fisher could get to him, he retreated, pedaling back into the tunnel.
"Man, he's a great guy, a great personality," receiver Rashad Greene said. "There is not one time where you're going to be around Jameis where he's not going to make you laugh.That's what you get from Jameis, that's him being himself, and you don't get that from a lot of quarterbacks. They're serious type of people. But it just makes you want to be more connected to him."
Winston let the jokes continue on the first day of fall camp . He scampered from drill to drill, laughing with teammates and jumping out and intercepting passes that weren't for him.
"Sometimes when you are comfortable - I'm not going to take that joy away. ... I don't want that atmosphere," Fisher said Tuesday.
"It may appear (like he is playing around), I'm telling you, he's locked in. That's just his personality."
What's next?
With hype unlike anything seen around these parts, even the people who love Winston most seem too sure. They believe he has the work ethic and smarts to thrive and the attitude to insulate himself from outside distractions.
"It's easier to know not to really fall into that if you haven't really played before," Ant said. "It would have been a whole lot different if he had played before, and then people say 'Oh, man he's Black Jesus, he's going to get the Heisman,' stuff like that, he may be nervous. But he hasn't taken a snap before. He's probably thinking ya'll are crazy. I'm like Jaboo - 'Man, guys I haven't taken a snap.'"
Gene Williams - Warchant.com
Is Winston ready to take the reins in 2013?
It's not that Winston isn't hearing all about it, though.
"(Jameis) was telling me, 'Man, everybody is just hyped up about me.' Rabb said. "He said 'It just feels like high school.' He's like 'I got in high school, I'm getting it in college. The only difference is that more people are giving it to me.'"
Most of the talk has come from outside the locker room, but Winston is creating believers on the inside.
"The thing I like about him, one of the best things I like is that he's very talented, but he's not a guy who sits and relies on his athletic ability," Fisher said. "He studies the game. He's learned, and I think that's a process as a quarterback you really have to really learn to do. ... for a young guy coming in, I think he's done a great job of studying the game and the why's of it."
"He takes a lot of pride in what he's doing mentally, and I think it's a very key component."
"I've seen him on scout team when he was a (true) freshman make throws that I've been around Christian Ponder and EJ (Manuel), they are making in their third year," senior safety Lamarcus Joyner said.
"He's a vocal guy, the energy he brings - some guys, (they've) got to know your role sometimes. But you can tell that's Jameis, he's a vocal guy, he's a passionate guy, and to be a young guy and to speak something and to come in and make it happen? Why wouldn't you respect this guy? Why can't you believe in this guy? You see the signs."
Of course Ant, who has seen it all with Jaboo, sees signs too. He's confident that his son has what it takes to handle whatever - a starting job, media attention, another wild moniker - comes at him this fall.
Except the Heisman. At least not yet.
"I told you, the Heisman is next year," Ant said. "Everybody, next year."
For two years, the best college head coaches in the country got on planes to sit on his couch and flatter the boy. By the time Jameis Winston, a five-star prospect, was a senior in high school, he had this third cell phone number and so many autograph requests coming to his home - five to six a day at its peak - that Ant made color prints to keep up with demand.
So attention? Not new. An offseason of Black Jesus proportions? That's a little bit new.
Gene Williams - Warchant.com
Jameis Winston starred in FSU's spring game, going 12 of 15 for 205 yards and two touchdowns.
"I've heard in Tallahassee they're calling Jaboo 'Black Jesus,'" Ant said. He cocked his head with suspicion while fighting off a fatherly grin. "I ain't lying. I haven't seen anything like that before. But I've heard that."
Propelled by his stellar work in April's spring game, Jameis, known officially as 'Jaboo' among a bevy of nicknames accrued already, is reaching hero status. No. 5 jerseys plaster the walls of local bookstores. The quarterback battle, which officially began on Tuesday, has become a formality despite coach Jimbo Fisher's hesitation to name a starter. Former FSU coach Bobby Bowden said Winston reminds him of RG3. Former NFL QB Trent Dilfer said he's a future No. 1 overall draft pick. Longtime ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit mentioned Winston as a darkhorse for the Heisman Trophy this fall.
Even his biggest fan is unsure about all of that.
"Oh the Heisman, they start talking about the Heisman, you know now I don't believe that now," Ant said with a laugh. "Those jokers, I don't believe that, you know what I'm saying. And I think the kid is pretty good. But not no Heisman. Not the first year.
"Not saying it can't happen, I would love for that to happen. But let's be real in this thing."
What's very real: Winston has zero college experience and one undisputed title - the most talked about player without an official down in FSU history.
With fall camp underway, hype starts to mesh with reality. And when it seems like the right time for concern about the multiplying expectations, the people closest to Winston are free from any doubt. They don't talk arm or speed. In hours of interviews, no one among Winston's family, former coaches and friends once brandished a football stat.
They lay out the formula for why he can get it done at FSU: His smarts, an uncanny ability to learn and apply and a harmonious mental balance - part cartoon-watching goof, part over-the-top competitor - that helps him handle it all.
"I've never seen anything like that guy. I'm not even talking about his talent," former Hueytown High coach Matt Scott said. "There's a lot of people that can throw the ball. What people don't understand is the difference with him. His football IQ is through the roof. If they had some kind of scientific study for it they'd have to do a special on CNN. It's unbelievable."
The mind of Winston
To Ant, the first sign of smarts was at age 3, when Jameis could sit on the floor, spread out a pile of spare change and count it. Jameis started football at 4 because his mother Loretta "thought he would look cute in pads," and by 6, he was asking his dad about making audibles.
But parents can embellish, and Ant knows this, so he looks all over for a red 70-page spiral notebook. It's his favorite piece of proof.
He checks the car and the attic and eventually finds it, and the thing has weathered the rigors of academia. The pages, blanketed in unsharpened pencil and gripping to perforation, offer a glimpse into the mind of a young Jameis Winston.
Each sheet in the notebook presents a defensive look - Cover 2, Cover 3, Cover 4, man. The coverage is diagrammed. He lists the defense's intentions and step-by-step directions to make the read pre-snap. Under that, a bulleted list of the best routes to beat the coverage followed by notes on what body part he should aim for on the receiver's body given the defender's assignment.
Page 5 is signed Jameis Winston, Hueytown Middle School.
It is incredible detail for a 13-year-old and a tangible look at the working mind behind Winston the QB. A year later, as a 150-pound freshman at Hueytown, he was juggling honors classes with varsity starting quarterback duties. He started four years, he became the top quarterback in the country, he graduated with a GPA north of 4.0.
Warchant.com
A page from Jameis Winston's QB notebook, compiled at Age 13.
"He was so smart that he didn't need the coach to tell him what's going on, he can see it for himself," said best friend and former Hueytown teammate Ricky Rabb. "(Playing defense) you can never say 'Oh Jameis is going to do this again, I know what you're fixing to do now.' You could never do that to him. If he made any errors in his previous series he was going to be smart enough to correct those errors the next time. That's the big thing about him, he's smart on the field."
There's smarts, and there's parlaying that with the ability to process information quickly. It changed the game for Scott, who came to Hueytown, tossed out the Wing-T that Winston ran in 9th grade and handed over a more complex spread attack.
"I could stand there and tell him one time and he can do it," Scott said. "And he could turn and tell other people how to do it. I'd tell him. Not show him, just tell him one time."
The ability to absorb information relayed to all facets of his game. After his ninth grade season, coaches at University of Alabama were intrigued with Winston already, then cooled some after Winston ran 4.95 in the 40-yard dash at their summer camp.
"Nick Saban said, 'Listen now, you got a slow-*** son,'" Ant said, chuckling at his own rephrasing. "So (Saban) said if you get that time down we've got you."
Brimming with motivation, Winston went to work with trainer Otis Leverette, a former star defensive end at UAB who played six seasons in the NFL. The work didn't take long.
"I remember when I first taught him the 40-yard dash stance and how to come out of the blocks. Literally, you're talking about something with kids that they need a year to really, really get it all the way," Leverette said. "Two sessions, man, this kid could have taught a class on 40-yard dash starts. That's what blew my mind about it. Talent is all over the place, but when you can see talent that can apply? That's when you run into something very special."
Winston goes back to Alabama camp the next offseason and runs again. 4.6 flat.
"The coaches said there's no way. There's no way you did this here," Ant said. "They made him go back and run it again - not wait in line - get back in front. There's no way you could knock it down like that. They made him go back and run it again. Another 4.6 flat."
The mentality
Scott saw what he had with Winston at Hueytown in 2009. During his first practice as head coach, before Jameis' sophomore year, he planned to get acquainted with his roster before instilling any discipline.
His quarterback didn't wait, and when a senior receiver dropped a pass in the very first drill, Winston stopped the practice, ran over, grabbed him by the shirt and unleashed. The rest of team watched.
"(Jameis) says 'Hey, you mind catching the ball?' Scott recalled. "He had zero tolerance for anybody that wasn't cutting the mustard."
It's that fire that translated to the field immediately, giving Scott a spirited leader and a perfect complement to his own high-energy coaching style.
Scott would see his quarterback hand the ball off, then cut up the middle of the offensive line and make the final block on a long touchdown run. Winston would never ask to pad stats. He played cornerback for a game when his team needed it.
Jameis Winston was a passionate leader according to his former high school coach Matt Scott. "He had zero tolerance for anybody that wasn't cutting the mustard."
The same fire that aided team success and a burning will to win could overflow, making him, as Scott puts it, "good for a 15-yard penalty every game." For all that's right about his game, Winston has let his anger show since his youth football days. Most times he picked up penalties by being too aggressive or retaliating for what he felt were late hits.
"He's the meanest sun of a gun on Friday nights I have ever seen. That guy, when he's raised, he's money. He's money period. I've never seen anything like it," said Scott, who parlayed the success with Winston and Hueytown into a new job at the bigger Gadsden City (Ala.) High in January.
"But he played with such an intensity and sometimes it'd spill over. There were times when I'd have to tell him, 'Hey man if you don't calm down I'll take you out.'"
Patience could get away from him, but it didn't affect his output; Winston's game led to plenty wins for Hueytown, which lacked any winning tradition prior to Winston and Scott's arrival. The Gophers made the playoffs in each of Winston's last three seasons.
But the attitude, which made the intense Scott and Winston an effective pair, wasn't ingratiating to the community. As the program was getting its first taste of publicity, it didn't help the reputation of Winston, who never struggled to beat the wrap as a selfish player reveling in stardom. National attention poured in, but Winston never felt embraced by Hueytown because he couldn't beat the perception.
"The thing in our community, they tried to make it out that Jameis was the best player on the team and he was intense, they wanted to make it seem like he thought he could do whatever he wants," Rabb said. "They would see that as being cocky.
"You can ask anyone who played on the Hueytown football team that Jameis was a hard worker and the things that he did on the field, he might get a 15-yard penalty but on the next drive he's going to throw an 80-yard touchdown. A lot of people just didn't get that about him. I've seen him every day. That's just Jameis. He's going to work hard and he's going to do what he wants to do. But you can guarantee he gets the W."
"There are times when that fire burns out of control," Scott said. "What they don't understand is, they want him to be that guy, but they don't realize that mentality is what makes him great. They want him to be that (nice) guy but they don't realize you almost don't have one without the other. "
'He probably doesn't have a serious bone in his body'
The yang to Jameis' competitiveness is a child-like goofiness. He's a college student who still watches Looney Tunes. He dances in the locker room before games. He would pull pranks on his teammates on the sideline in high school, tight score in the fourth quarter be darned.
"He never shows all his seriousness when he's around his friends," Rabb said. "Off the field, he's straight playing. He probably doesn't have a serious bone in his body."
Winston can't suppress that off-field persona at Florida State, either. While his fame is multiplying, he hams it up on social media, posting pictures of himself eating cheese balls and a slew of Vine videos of he and his teammates goofing off.
During a FSU football camp two weeks ago, Winston rode his bicycle with a teammate on the handlebars and weaved between campers on the Doak Campbell Stadium turf. Before Fisher could get to him, he retreated, pedaling back into the tunnel.
"Man, he's a great guy, a great personality," receiver Rashad Greene said. "There is not one time where you're going to be around Jameis where he's not going to make you laugh.That's what you get from Jameis, that's him being himself, and you don't get that from a lot of quarterbacks. They're serious type of people. But it just makes you want to be more connected to him."
Winston let the jokes continue on the first day of fall camp . He scampered from drill to drill, laughing with teammates and jumping out and intercepting passes that weren't for him.
"Sometimes when you are comfortable - I'm not going to take that joy away. ... I don't want that atmosphere," Fisher said Tuesday.
"It may appear (like he is playing around), I'm telling you, he's locked in. That's just his personality."
What's next?
With hype unlike anything seen around these parts, even the people who love Winston most seem too sure. They believe he has the work ethic and smarts to thrive and the attitude to insulate himself from outside distractions.
"It's easier to know not to really fall into that if you haven't really played before," Ant said. "It would have been a whole lot different if he had played before, and then people say 'Oh, man he's Black Jesus, he's going to get the Heisman,' stuff like that, he may be nervous. But he hasn't taken a snap before. He's probably thinking ya'll are crazy. I'm like Jaboo - 'Man, guys I haven't taken a snap.'"
Gene Williams - Warchant.com
Is Winston ready to take the reins in 2013?
It's not that Winston isn't hearing all about it, though.
"(Jameis) was telling me, 'Man, everybody is just hyped up about me.' Rabb said. "He said 'It just feels like high school.' He's like 'I got in high school, I'm getting it in college. The only difference is that more people are giving it to me.'"
Most of the talk has come from outside the locker room, but Winston is creating believers on the inside.
"The thing I like about him, one of the best things I like is that he's very talented, but he's not a guy who sits and relies on his athletic ability," Fisher said. "He studies the game. He's learned, and I think that's a process as a quarterback you really have to really learn to do. ... for a young guy coming in, I think he's done a great job of studying the game and the why's of it."
"He takes a lot of pride in what he's doing mentally, and I think it's a very key component."
"I've seen him on scout team when he was a (true) freshman make throws that I've been around Christian Ponder and EJ (Manuel), they are making in their third year," senior safety Lamarcus Joyner said.
"He's a vocal guy, the energy he brings - some guys, (they've) got to know your role sometimes. But you can tell that's Jameis, he's a vocal guy, he's a passionate guy, and to be a young guy and to speak something and to come in and make it happen? Why wouldn't you respect this guy? Why can't you believe in this guy? You see the signs."
Of course Ant, who has seen it all with Jaboo, sees signs too. He's confident that his son has what it takes to handle whatever - a starting job, media attention, another wild moniker - comes at him this fall.
Except the Heisman. At least not yet.
"I told you, the Heisman is next year," Ant said. "Everybody, next year."
recruitment story
HUEYTOWN, Ala. - Jameis Winston has yet to play a down in a college football game. But he's already built a tower of hype since he arrived on Florida State's campus in 2012.
He's the likely starter at quarterback as a redshirt freshman. He was arguably the best quarterback in the country in his class. And then there's that touchdown throw in the spring game.
Gene Williams - Warchant.com
The Seminoles are excited about Winston's potential now, but landing him as a recruit was a wild ride.
But how exactly did Florida State get the guy? In Winston, the Seminoles snaked away arguably the best quarterback in the class of 2012 from Alabama's backyard. Turns out it was a bit of luck and one very hard-headed assistant coach.
We spoke with the people closest to Winston about what into the wild recruiting process for a five-star quarterback and what pushed him to FSU.
By the time Winston started high school, it was clear to his parents, Antonor and Loretta, that their oldest son would have a chance to play somewhere in college. They just didn't know how big things would get. One school, Georgia Tech, requested Jameis' transcript in the 9th grade. By his sophomore year it was apparent to the people around him that Jameis was going to be a major prospect.
Former Hueytown head coach Matt Scott: It's not like at that school every year you've got a 4-star 5-star players. It was unbelievable the publicity. It wasn't just locally. He was under a hot spotlight.
Loretta Winston, Jameis' mother: It did get to be a bit much.
Scott: After his 10th grade year I knew that was something that we're going to have to be more aware of. I knew when we sent his film out. There's some guys that you send out film to 80 schools. For him, I knew my No. 1 job right here was to try and keep it under control. At the end of the day he can go wherever he wants to. … Ohio State, as soon as they got that film, they offered right there and then.
Antonor (Ant) Winston, Jameis' father: (UCLA) Put a letter in the mailbox every day from 10th grade on. They were the second offer. Georgia Tech was the first. UCLA was the first with handwritten letters.
The offers for Winston, who was quickly regarded as one of the top quarterbacks in his class, continued to pile up. Before his junior year, the Winston family came up with an idea to see who wanted Jameis most: His parents instructed all college coaches to go only though Scott at the high school, but it was a setup; they wanted to see which coach would be bold enough to break the rules. The first coach to try go around Scott and contact the family was then-FSU assistant Dameyune Craig.
Ant:Which one of those recruiters are going to be bold enough to say, 'Enough of this coach. His mom and dad had him, I'm gonna go find the mom and dad?' Most recruiters are going to respect what the coach tells you. 'Family doesn't want you to talk to them right now, they just want you to talk to me and all this here.' So if you fall for that, how bad to you really want him?
Loretta: It took them a while to put it together.
Ant: Dameyune was the one who really said, 'Wait a minute. I'm not going to be in there going through this coach and the dad is in there (in the coaches' office) walking past (me).'
I always knew. Whichever coach broke away from Coach Scott and came to me, that's the one he was going to give the most attention to. It could have been Miles College, and that's the team that wanted him. When Dameyune came, I knew it would be Florida State. Kids can swap and flip or whatever, but when Dameyune came I felt, 'OK, they're first.'
Craig's hard-headed approach put Florida State in the lead for Winston, unbeknownst to other coaches. But that didn't mean Winston to FSU was a landslide.
Ant: Once Dameyune said, 'I got him,' Then Coach Cheese (Clemson assistant coach Charlie Harbison) said, 'How'd you do that?' Then the others said, 'OK, I got you now.' Then Coach Scott said 'Well, it's getting late in the game I think you should open it up.' By that point you'd had time to be real and you can just sit back.
Coach Cheese, I wanted to tell him almost what to do. 'C'mon man, just call me and I'll tell you.' Because Clemson recruited (Jameis) so well. But Dameyune man, Dameyune, the good thing I could say about Dameyune is that he related to Jameis. But I've been knowing Dameyune, just following his career.
(Former Alabama assistant and now FSU assistant) Sal Sunseri got kind of upset when he found out. He said 'I told them to let me go in!'
Ant: Let me tell you, Auburn attacked (Jameis' mother Loretta Winston). They knew she was a fan. She had like five letters a day. They were always addressed to her.
Loretta: It didn't have any effect.
Ant: (UCLA) put a letter in the mailbox every day from 10th grade on. They were the second offer. Georgia Tech was the first. UCLA was the first with handwritten letters.
Loretta: He didn't think that they'd be able to get Jameis because it's the state of Alabama.
Ant: Jimbo tells me all the time, 'It wasn't me Mr. Winston.'
Even once Winston's recruitment opened up and as head coaches made their visits to the house, the family kept conducting their own little tests. For some, they would leave the television volume turned up just to see who would ask to turn it down and who would talk over it. Even Jameis' grandmother served to intimidate. Some coaches passed with flying colors, some didn't handle it well.
Ant: Oh God, Les Miles and Nick Saban were probably the best ones, if I had to pick one it was Les Miles. He turned the TV down. I loved that. I always tried to have the TV up and have the noise. I always used to leave it up when the college coaches came in. I wanted to see who's going to try to talk over the damn TV and who's going to ask you to turn it down. I talked quieter and quieter. Les Miles came in and said, 'Hey, turn that down man!'
Nick Saban didn't say anything. Sunseri did all the talking. Sal had a good relationship by then, he knew what I was doing. But Nick, you could tell when stuff bothered him.
I kind of knew Jimbo, he was the last one in and I knew my son was going to go there, so I gave him a little respect. I didn't want to let him sit there with the TV on. I didn't do Jimbo like that. I knew he was going to be kind of nervous because my momma was here and she was a big Alabama fan. I didn't want to do anything.
Grandma stayed quiet. She talked to everybody else but not a word to him.
Loretta: She knew he was going to go to FSU and she said she didn't want to build a relationship. But she's on board now.
Winston was a hot enough commodity to Auburn that it even violated its own self-imposed sanctions to recruit Winston, though neither his family nor his high school coaches were aware of it at the time. Then-Tigers coach Gene Chizik was the first head coach to visit the Winston home.
So it did seem strange to the Winstons and to Scott when Auburn abruptly stopped recruiting Jameis for several months, but Auburn ended its recruitment of Jameis for good once it received a commitment from another highly touted quarterback in the class of 2012, Zeke Pike. And when Auburn's violations came out, the NCAA showed up.
Ant: Because they can come to your house right after the national championship game, they could come back in. (Auburn) came right after the championship game (in 2011). It was that Tuesday when they came. They brought three coaches.
Scott: I mean really the whole time the (Auburn) sanctions were in place nobody knew about it. The only reason we thought about it is, 'Why aren't they recruiting him?'
At one point, we're sitting there in a room with like eight or nine attorneys and people breaking out pictures like it's an FBI telescopic lens and they're asking 'Who's that guy? Who's that guy?' Jameis wasn't in trouble but they were asking about the school. I've done two or three depositions over the phone about Jameis' recruitment.
Scott: Zeke Pike. When he commits, (Auburn) called me and said he committed and they weren't going to recruit Jameis anymore. I don't think they realized then is that has no bearing for Jameis (who else is recruited at QB), he doesn't care. That's not going to make him say yea or nay.
When Winston left town for visits, his mindset didn't change, but he always came prepared. Scott frequently warned visiting coaches not to try the company line with Jameis, knowing that he'd already done research on whichever coach was visiting. And Jameis, a renowned jokester, wasn't above playing one on a college coach.
Scott: This one guy, the coach is about that far from Jameis' face and he's saying 'Jameis, let me ask you this.' And I don't know where the guy came up with this - 'I've been recruiting you a long time. You're hanging off a cliff by rope, dangling off the cliff. Somebody on the other end of that cliff is holding that rope. If they let go you fall to your death. Who do you want holding that rope?'
(Jameis) doesn't even check up, he says, 'Coach Scott.' And the coach says, 'Hold on, wait a minute - you don't know what I'm saying.' (The coach) just knew he was going say him. And 99 percent of kids would because they knew that was what he wanted them to say. I spoke to some of the other coaches from that school and I said, 'You might as well just not send him back.'
Winston was identified early as a star as a freshman in high school.
Scott: The only coach that Jameis wouldn't mess with as far as kidding around a little bit was Nick Saban. Head coaches would be serious as all get out and he wouldn't be. He would do it just to watch me squirm. I'd get so mad at him.
Ant: (The recruiting process) got so comfortable, because they were coming so much, Jameis probably wouldn't even come out after the second (visit). He'd probably just stay back in the bed. After the first time we answer questions, me and Jameis are in on the plan, but after the first time they came, Jameis really wasn't in the conversation anymore. He's back there laying in the bed with the coaches out here (in the living room).
The Winston's were also prepared. They asked each school to come up with a plan in writing to show how Jameis would be able to play baseball and football in college. Ultimately, the close bond between FSU baseball coach Mike Martin and Fisher gave the Seminoles an advantage.
Ant: We didn't want you to just tell us, 'He can do that.' We wanted them to show us how. … (FSU) they weren't the best now. They were about the fourth best plan.
Loretta : But he still knew where he wanted to go. The thing that really got him was the recruitment by both parts. Regardless of whether for Jimbo wanted him for football, Mike Martin still wanted him for baseball. And their willingness to work together and let him come really appealed to him.
Much was made about the battle between Alabama and FSU for Winston, but in the end, the biggest push in the days leading up to his commitment came from Stanford. Stanford's location and academics genuinely appealed to Jameis.
Loretta: I don't think he was ever second-guessing until Stanford came into the picture. ... He just wanted to do the application to see if he could get in. That was the thing for him. He wanted to see. And he did the application and was like 'Wow, I got in.'
When Jameis was ready to announce his decision, he was tasked with the toughest part - calling the coaches from his other top three schools to say he was picking Florida State.
Ant:He had to do it, it's part of your choice. He was listening them tell him how great he was and oh, we love you you're going to be the next future of our program and stuff, you have to be able to tell them thank you and no thank you.
I didn't want to listen (to Jameis tell them no). Not with them. Georgia Tech and the rest of them, I was around. I wanted to know how he was going to talk to them. He did a great job. But Les Miles? I couldn't. That man worked too hard. Nick Saban, I couldn't be around him when he told them.
Loretta: I wanted him to be where he wanted to be, but it would have been so much easier to be 45 minutes or an hour and a half away. I had to take myself out of it.
Winston decided to publicly announce his recruitment with a short video shoot with the local ABC station in Birmingham. Word got out about Winston's commitment announcement and media swarmed the studio location.
Winston and Scott snuck in the back door of the studio to shoot his announcement, and even when the pair left to shoot an additional segment for the local Fox station, news crews tailed them all the way to Winston's house.
Scott: He did a good job with it. I think we did a good job managing it. But after a while it's gonna get wild.
Ant: Only me and Jameis knew. Because we knew the plan. We did this together. If he'd have said, 'No dad, I don't want to do it that way, I'd have said, 'OK, but you've got to find a way.' So when I said Dameyune Craig did that. … You've got to realize that Alabama and Auburn were recruiting him before that. And he's seen these coaches. But they weren't talking to mom and dad.
There's nothing that he can do at Alabama, anything he can do someone is always going to say 'you can do it better' And then going to a state college like Alabama, what are you going to do now? That was a big part of that. If you go somewhere else you can make your own mark. Either Tallahassee's not going to like you, or they'll love you.
He's the likely starter at quarterback as a redshirt freshman. He was arguably the best quarterback in the country in his class. And then there's that touchdown throw in the spring game.
Gene Williams - Warchant.com
The Seminoles are excited about Winston's potential now, but landing him as a recruit was a wild ride.
But how exactly did Florida State get the guy? In Winston, the Seminoles snaked away arguably the best quarterback in the class of 2012 from Alabama's backyard. Turns out it was a bit of luck and one very hard-headed assistant coach.
We spoke with the people closest to Winston about what into the wild recruiting process for a five-star quarterback and what pushed him to FSU.
By the time Winston started high school, it was clear to his parents, Antonor and Loretta, that their oldest son would have a chance to play somewhere in college. They just didn't know how big things would get. One school, Georgia Tech, requested Jameis' transcript in the 9th grade. By his sophomore year it was apparent to the people around him that Jameis was going to be a major prospect.
Former Hueytown head coach Matt Scott: It's not like at that school every year you've got a 4-star 5-star players. It was unbelievable the publicity. It wasn't just locally. He was under a hot spotlight.
Loretta Winston, Jameis' mother: It did get to be a bit much.
Scott: After his 10th grade year I knew that was something that we're going to have to be more aware of. I knew when we sent his film out. There's some guys that you send out film to 80 schools. For him, I knew my No. 1 job right here was to try and keep it under control. At the end of the day he can go wherever he wants to. … Ohio State, as soon as they got that film, they offered right there and then.
Antonor (Ant) Winston, Jameis' father: (UCLA) Put a letter in the mailbox every day from 10th grade on. They were the second offer. Georgia Tech was the first. UCLA was the first with handwritten letters.
The offers for Winston, who was quickly regarded as one of the top quarterbacks in his class, continued to pile up. Before his junior year, the Winston family came up with an idea to see who wanted Jameis most: His parents instructed all college coaches to go only though Scott at the high school, but it was a setup; they wanted to see which coach would be bold enough to break the rules. The first coach to try go around Scott and contact the family was then-FSU assistant Dameyune Craig.
Ant:Which one of those recruiters are going to be bold enough to say, 'Enough of this coach. His mom and dad had him, I'm gonna go find the mom and dad?' Most recruiters are going to respect what the coach tells you. 'Family doesn't want you to talk to them right now, they just want you to talk to me and all this here.' So if you fall for that, how bad to you really want him?
Loretta: It took them a while to put it together.
Ant: Dameyune was the one who really said, 'Wait a minute. I'm not going to be in there going through this coach and the dad is in there (in the coaches' office) walking past (me).'
I always knew. Whichever coach broke away from Coach Scott and came to me, that's the one he was going to give the most attention to. It could have been Miles College, and that's the team that wanted him. When Dameyune came, I knew it would be Florida State. Kids can swap and flip or whatever, but when Dameyune came I felt, 'OK, they're first.'
Craig's hard-headed approach put Florida State in the lead for Winston, unbeknownst to other coaches. But that didn't mean Winston to FSU was a landslide.
Ant: Once Dameyune said, 'I got him,' Then Coach Cheese (Clemson assistant coach Charlie Harbison) said, 'How'd you do that?' Then the others said, 'OK, I got you now.' Then Coach Scott said 'Well, it's getting late in the game I think you should open it up.' By that point you'd had time to be real and you can just sit back.
Coach Cheese, I wanted to tell him almost what to do. 'C'mon man, just call me and I'll tell you.' Because Clemson recruited (Jameis) so well. But Dameyune man, Dameyune, the good thing I could say about Dameyune is that he related to Jameis. But I've been knowing Dameyune, just following his career.
(Former Alabama assistant and now FSU assistant) Sal Sunseri got kind of upset when he found out. He said 'I told them to let me go in!'
Ant: Let me tell you, Auburn attacked (Jameis' mother Loretta Winston). They knew she was a fan. She had like five letters a day. They were always addressed to her.
Loretta: It didn't have any effect.
Ant: (UCLA) put a letter in the mailbox every day from 10th grade on. They were the second offer. Georgia Tech was the first. UCLA was the first with handwritten letters.
Loretta: He didn't think that they'd be able to get Jameis because it's the state of Alabama.
Ant: Jimbo tells me all the time, 'It wasn't me Mr. Winston.'
Even once Winston's recruitment opened up and as head coaches made their visits to the house, the family kept conducting their own little tests. For some, they would leave the television volume turned up just to see who would ask to turn it down and who would talk over it. Even Jameis' grandmother served to intimidate. Some coaches passed with flying colors, some didn't handle it well.
Ant: Oh God, Les Miles and Nick Saban were probably the best ones, if I had to pick one it was Les Miles. He turned the TV down. I loved that. I always tried to have the TV up and have the noise. I always used to leave it up when the college coaches came in. I wanted to see who's going to try to talk over the damn TV and who's going to ask you to turn it down. I talked quieter and quieter. Les Miles came in and said, 'Hey, turn that down man!'
Nick Saban didn't say anything. Sunseri did all the talking. Sal had a good relationship by then, he knew what I was doing. But Nick, you could tell when stuff bothered him.
I kind of knew Jimbo, he was the last one in and I knew my son was going to go there, so I gave him a little respect. I didn't want to let him sit there with the TV on. I didn't do Jimbo like that. I knew he was going to be kind of nervous because my momma was here and she was a big Alabama fan. I didn't want to do anything.
Grandma stayed quiet. She talked to everybody else but not a word to him.
Loretta: She knew he was going to go to FSU and she said she didn't want to build a relationship. But she's on board now.
Winston was a hot enough commodity to Auburn that it even violated its own self-imposed sanctions to recruit Winston, though neither his family nor his high school coaches were aware of it at the time. Then-Tigers coach Gene Chizik was the first head coach to visit the Winston home.
So it did seem strange to the Winstons and to Scott when Auburn abruptly stopped recruiting Jameis for several months, but Auburn ended its recruitment of Jameis for good once it received a commitment from another highly touted quarterback in the class of 2012, Zeke Pike. And when Auburn's violations came out, the NCAA showed up.
Ant: Because they can come to your house right after the national championship game, they could come back in. (Auburn) came right after the championship game (in 2011). It was that Tuesday when they came. They brought three coaches.
Scott: I mean really the whole time the (Auburn) sanctions were in place nobody knew about it. The only reason we thought about it is, 'Why aren't they recruiting him?'
At one point, we're sitting there in a room with like eight or nine attorneys and people breaking out pictures like it's an FBI telescopic lens and they're asking 'Who's that guy? Who's that guy?' Jameis wasn't in trouble but they were asking about the school. I've done two or three depositions over the phone about Jameis' recruitment.
Scott: Zeke Pike. When he commits, (Auburn) called me and said he committed and they weren't going to recruit Jameis anymore. I don't think they realized then is that has no bearing for Jameis (who else is recruited at QB), he doesn't care. That's not going to make him say yea or nay.
When Winston left town for visits, his mindset didn't change, but he always came prepared. Scott frequently warned visiting coaches not to try the company line with Jameis, knowing that he'd already done research on whichever coach was visiting. And Jameis, a renowned jokester, wasn't above playing one on a college coach.
Scott: This one guy, the coach is about that far from Jameis' face and he's saying 'Jameis, let me ask you this.' And I don't know where the guy came up with this - 'I've been recruiting you a long time. You're hanging off a cliff by rope, dangling off the cliff. Somebody on the other end of that cliff is holding that rope. If they let go you fall to your death. Who do you want holding that rope?'
(Jameis) doesn't even check up, he says, 'Coach Scott.' And the coach says, 'Hold on, wait a minute - you don't know what I'm saying.' (The coach) just knew he was going say him. And 99 percent of kids would because they knew that was what he wanted them to say. I spoke to some of the other coaches from that school and I said, 'You might as well just not send him back.'
Winston was identified early as a star as a freshman in high school.
Scott: The only coach that Jameis wouldn't mess with as far as kidding around a little bit was Nick Saban. Head coaches would be serious as all get out and he wouldn't be. He would do it just to watch me squirm. I'd get so mad at him.
Ant: (The recruiting process) got so comfortable, because they were coming so much, Jameis probably wouldn't even come out after the second (visit). He'd probably just stay back in the bed. After the first time we answer questions, me and Jameis are in on the plan, but after the first time they came, Jameis really wasn't in the conversation anymore. He's back there laying in the bed with the coaches out here (in the living room).
The Winston's were also prepared. They asked each school to come up with a plan in writing to show how Jameis would be able to play baseball and football in college. Ultimately, the close bond between FSU baseball coach Mike Martin and Fisher gave the Seminoles an advantage.
Ant: We didn't want you to just tell us, 'He can do that.' We wanted them to show us how. … (FSU) they weren't the best now. They were about the fourth best plan.
Loretta : But he still knew where he wanted to go. The thing that really got him was the recruitment by both parts. Regardless of whether for Jimbo wanted him for football, Mike Martin still wanted him for baseball. And their willingness to work together and let him come really appealed to him.
Much was made about the battle between Alabama and FSU for Winston, but in the end, the biggest push in the days leading up to his commitment came from Stanford. Stanford's location and academics genuinely appealed to Jameis.
Loretta: I don't think he was ever second-guessing until Stanford came into the picture. ... He just wanted to do the application to see if he could get in. That was the thing for him. He wanted to see. And he did the application and was like 'Wow, I got in.'
When Jameis was ready to announce his decision, he was tasked with the toughest part - calling the coaches from his other top three schools to say he was picking Florida State.
Ant:He had to do it, it's part of your choice. He was listening them tell him how great he was and oh, we love you you're going to be the next future of our program and stuff, you have to be able to tell them thank you and no thank you.
I didn't want to listen (to Jameis tell them no). Not with them. Georgia Tech and the rest of them, I was around. I wanted to know how he was going to talk to them. He did a great job. But Les Miles? I couldn't. That man worked too hard. Nick Saban, I couldn't be around him when he told them.
Loretta: I wanted him to be where he wanted to be, but it would have been so much easier to be 45 minutes or an hour and a half away. I had to take myself out of it.
Winston decided to publicly announce his recruitment with a short video shoot with the local ABC station in Birmingham. Word got out about Winston's commitment announcement and media swarmed the studio location.
Winston and Scott snuck in the back door of the studio to shoot his announcement, and even when the pair left to shoot an additional segment for the local Fox station, news crews tailed them all the way to Winston's house.
Scott: He did a good job with it. I think we did a good job managing it. But after a while it's gonna get wild.
Ant: Only me and Jameis knew. Because we knew the plan. We did this together. If he'd have said, 'No dad, I don't want to do it that way, I'd have said, 'OK, but you've got to find a way.' So when I said Dameyune Craig did that. … You've got to realize that Alabama and Auburn were recruiting him before that. And he's seen these coaches. But they weren't talking to mom and dad.
There's nothing that he can do at Alabama, anything he can do someone is always going to say 'you can do it better' And then going to a state college like Alabama, what are you going to do now? That was a big part of that. If you go somewhere else you can make your own mark. Either Tallahassee's not going to like you, or they'll love you.
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SEC hype...plain and simple...
He was unblocked, the running back didn't have a ball...essentially hit a defenseless running back...
ESPN always have to have an SEC defensive player to hang it's hat on...that way that they can continue the illusion that the SEC plays "great defensive" because the defensive players are so great and not because the offensives are bland, boring and straight out of the 1970's...
Funny how an average program from the Big 12 comes to the SEC and has the most explosive offense in the conference...LOL
JM
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Stacy Coley was the best WR on Miami team as a Soph in HS tho
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I didnt think Stacey was gonna get a lot of pt this year guess I was wrong lol but he's gonna. be maybe he can be the amari cooper of this year. Best freshman reciever in The league.
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i still think herb waters can have a breakout year
also he played with ermon so maybe he can help
recuit'em
stacy coley x derrick griffin x herb waters next year
is gonna be crazy....throw in ermon and its OVER
especially with the backfield we're gonna have
who's gonna compete at qb next year?
doubt it matters now though because if we do get ermon ,
some blue chipper's gonna want transfer to try and
get that heisman
also he played with ermon so maybe he can help
recuit'em
stacy coley x derrick griffin x herb waters next year
is gonna be crazy....throw in ermon and its OVER
especially with the backfield we're gonna have
who's gonna compete at qb next year?
doubt it matters now though because if we do get ermon ,
some blue chipper's gonna want transfer to try and
get that heisman
dacomeup
Supporter
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Relax.
Hope is for Kevin Olsen anyways.
Hope is for Kevin Olsen anyways.
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Well why did Jarvis Jones go unnoticed by espn last year?
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he's not THAT dynamic to get clowney like hype... , he was a workhorse with a crazy
motor and football instinct's ..mel kiper LOVED him , he kept saying if you take away the spine issue he would
take him first
motor and football instinct's ..mel kiper LOVED him , he kept saying if you take away the spine issue he would
take him first
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Ermon Lane is gonna be a gator, No?
And if any of those ****** QB's outside of Olsen play next year
And if any of those ****** QB's outside of Olsen play next year
dacomeup
Supporter
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He'll be a Gator now, but Canes will recruit him until NSD.
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At this point a year ago, Stacey Coley was gonna be a Gator too
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the tie will make a final push before signing day....as will everyone else
we all know the saying of "the easiest player to recruit"..
and yeah i think he's locked in to the gators right now
im definitely hoping kevin gets the starting job next year
we all know the saying of "the easiest player to recruit"..
and yeah i think he's locked in to the gators right now
im definitely hoping kevin gets the starting job next year
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Nevermind that the average program from the Big 12 woulda beat the brakes off every team in that conference and still finished 5th in the SEC.
What A&M did for 15 years in the Big 12 has NOTHING to do with what they did last season. Johnny didn't play in the Big 12. Kevin Sumlin didn't coach there. A&M had NEVER had that much offensive talent at the skill positions. Nevermind that they had probably the best offensive line in the nation.
