FSU Gives No Second Chance … Now

Jameis Winston won a national championship and lost only one game as Florida State’s starting quarterback. No matter what sort of questionable behavior Winston indulged in – and there was plenty – the university and even local authorities did very little to hold him accountable.

 
Now, with a freshman quarterback acting up and acting out, FSU has a ‘get tough’ possibility. Highly-recruited De’Andre Johnson, who was suspended in June for striking a woman at a club, was dismissed from the team on Monday when the state’s attorney’s office released video of the incident.

Winston’s list of transgressions is well known – pilfering crab legs from a grocery store, shouting an obscene phrase from atop a table in a public area of the university, allegations of sexual assault – and his punishment at FSU was a one-game suspension, that for the shouted obscenity. Then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made him the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft.

Johnson, who likely would not have been either the starter or even a competitor for the job this season with the Seminoles, has already paid a higher price than Winston ever did.

 
Johnson is facing misdemeanor battery charges and his family’s attorney says he is “currently participating in community service and faith-based programs focused on battered women, substance abuse and the empowerment of children.”

Maybe that will help him learn and grow. Which is what college was supposed to do.

And it’s a little easier for FSU to find its moral base with transfer Everett Golson (formerly of Notre Dame) likely to be the starting quarterback and some other talented players on hand.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .