Jameis Winston suspended for whole game as FSU extends quarterback's ban

The Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston has been suspended from the entirety of Saturday night’s game against Clemson, after several students tweeted that he stood on a table in the middle of campus and shouted: “Fuck her right in the pussy.”

Winston, the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner, was originally suspended for half a game. But in a national atmosphere thick with skepticism over football’s treatment of men who abuse women, the school faced harsh criticism for planning to allow the quarterback, who has already had several run-ins with law enforcement,
to play in the second half of the Clemson game.

In a weekly press conference, Winston said: “First of all, I want to apologize to the university, to my coaches and to my team-mates. I’m not a ‘me’ person, but in that situation it was a selfish act, and that’s not how you do things around here. I really want to apologize to my team-mates, because I’ve done a selfish act.”

The phrase shouted by Winston is an internet meme spawned by a newscast blooper parody video. What started as a fake video of a newscaster using the phrase has intruded into live newscasts, as interviewees have said the phrase to reporters.

With Winston suspended, the top-ranked FSU Seminoles will play the No22-ranked Clemson University Tigers in a nationally televised game with Sean Maguire at quarterback. Maguire has only thrown 26 career passes.

One of only two first-year college players to win the Heisman Trophy – the other is the now Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel – Winston is widely expected to enter the NFL after college.

The 20-year-old has made a series of missteps, however, while playing for the Seminoles. In the most high-profile incident, it was revealed last December that he had been the subject of a sexual assault complaint by another student almost a year earlier. Local police and school administrators were accused of doing little to investigate the claims, and only referring the case to the state attorney when the allegation became public. The case received enough public criticism to prompt police reforms, though no charges were filed.

In July 2012, Winston was accused of stealing soda from a Tallahassee Burger King, prompting a call to police. In November 2012, he was briefly detained by university police for taking part in “BB gun battles”. He and another football player were found with the guns, which shoot small metal pellets propelled by compressed gas and which they said they were using to shoot squirrels. An apartment manager believed Winston and another player had damaged 13 windows.

In April of this year, Winston apologized for shoplifting $32 worth of crab legs and crawfish from a local Publix store. He was caught on camera ordering the seafood and then walking out.

This week, a statement released by FSU athletic director Stan Wilcox and interim president Garnett Stokes and published by warchant.com said: “As the university’s most visible ambassadors, student-athletes at Florida State are expected to uphold at all times high standards of integrity and behavior that reflect well upon themselves, their families, coaches, team-mates, the department of athletics and Florida State University.

“Student athletes are expected to act in a way that reflects dignity and respect for others.”