Jameis Winston waiting on decision

ByDavid M. Hale ESPN logo

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Jameis Winston won't announce a decision on whether he'll enter the NFL draft until after the College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T, his father said Tuesday.

Antonor Winston said the timetable for an announcement will be sometime after Monday, which means at least another week of waiting for Florida State fans, many of whom have already assumed the star quarterback will depart.

The deadline for underclassmen to declare is Jan. 15.

Jameis Winston threw for 348 yards against Oregon in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual on Thursday, but thanks to five turnovers from the Florida State offense -- including one stumbling fumble from Winston -- the Seminoles lost 59-20, the first defeat of his college career. Still, the performance did little to damage Winston's on-the-field reputation among NFL scouts, and he's widely considered to be one of the first two quarterbacks taken in the upcoming NFL draft should he decide to leave school early.

Fellow Heisman winner Marcus Mariota is also at the top of many draft boards.

Winston redshirted in 2012 as a true freshman, but in his two seasons of action, he threw for nearly 8,000 yards and 65 touchdowns, was 26-1 as a starter and won a Heisman Trophy and a national championship in 2013.

Winston also plays baseball at Florida State, and he has routinely suggested he would like to continue with both sports. An early departure for the NFL this spring would likely mean an end to his baseball career. TheTexas Rangersdrafted Winston in the 15th round in 2012 after his senior season in high school.

The biggest knocks on Winston remain his off-the-field scandals, which included a rape allegation for which he was not charged. In December 2014, Florida State held an internal student code of conduct hearing regarding those allegations in which an independent arbiter ruled that there was not enough evidence to find Winston guilty. Winston also served a one-game suspension earlier this season for yelling a vulgar phrase in an on-campus dining area.