Heisman Profile –25th Anniversary Winner Chris Weinke

There’s a universe out there where Florida State’s first two Heisman winners, Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke, were Seminole teammates and perhaps won the Heisman Trophy in back-to-back years.

Ward was a Seminole freshman in 1989 and Weinke signed his National of Letter of Intent to attend Florida State in February of 1990.

But just as Ward was a gifted multi-sport star, so was Weinke, and a shot at baseball postponed Weinke’s Seminole career and prevented the two QBs from sharing more than just a few days on campus.

Ward went on to win the 1993 Heisman. Weinke, following a six-year career in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league system, followed Ward to Tallahassee. Like Ward, he led the Seminoles to a national title and brought a Heisman Trophy to Florida State, which we are celebrating this year on the 25th Heisman anniversary of the award.

Weinke was a prodigy at baseball and football as a youth. But he also grew up in Minnesota where, rumor has it, all kids are assigned a pair of hockey skates at birth. Forget two sports, Weinke was a three-sport star whose slap shot was as good as his pocket presence and ability to drill a fastball.

He attended Cretin-Derham Hall High and thrived as a student-athlete. He was the captain of the Raiders’ hockey team and, as a junior, scored the winning goal that sent the school to its first state tournament. Also as a junior, Weinke led the Raiders’ football team to the state championship game. He became a Parade All-American first-teamer and the Minnesota Prep Player of the Year as a senior and was the top-ranked quarterback in the country, passing for 3,956 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Meanwhile, he was holding down first base for the Raiders’ baseball team and led Cretin-Derham to a pair of Class AA championships, earning Rawlings All-American first-team honors twice.

Weinke had 70 scholarship offers to play quarterback, including one from Florida State, which was in the midst of an incredible run in which it did not lose more than twice in a season between 1987 and 2000.

The 1990 signing period opened on Valentine’s Day and Weinke made it official. He would become a Seminole.

But fate threw him a curveball. Or was it a four-seamed fastball or maybe a slider. Come June, the Toronto Blue Jays — three years shy of winning back-to-back World Series titles — selected Weinke in the second round of the Major League Baseball draft, picking him 62nd overall.

He was taken 42 picks after future Hall of Famer Mike Mussina, three rounds ahead of current Yankee manager Bret Boone and some 20 rounds ahead of future Yankee battery mates Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada.

He was also in good company among the prep football stars who signed in his class, which included Jerome Bettis, Aaron Taylor, Drew Bledsoe, Willie McGinest and one future Hurricane and movie star, Dwayne Johnson.

Weinke was living the first chapter of a real-life Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book and the 18-year-old suddenly was eyeing two very different paths. But how do you negotiate these two amazing choices?

He spent most of the summer planning to play football, declining Toronto’s repeated contract offers. The Seminoles opened camp in August and Weinke was there, fully intending to begin classes in days.

But Toronto made a last-ditch run at Weinke and increased its signing bonus offer to $375,000, then the fourth-largest sum of all-time. It was a deal Weinke could not refuse.

FSU Coach Bobby Bowden replied with a generous proposal of his own — more of an open-ended promise that Weinke would always have a football scholarship waiting for him in Tallahassee.

He put that in his back pocket and became a professional baseball player. It took some six years, but Weinke eventually cashed in Bowden’s offer.

Weinke played six seasons in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system, collecting 620 hits, 69 home runs, 402 RBI and a posting a career average of .248.

His journey started in Ontario with the St. Catharines Blue Jays in A Ball in 1991 and was followed by an A season in Myrtle Beach (1992) and a 1993 season with the Advanced A Dunedin (Fla.) Blue Jays, where he posted a career-best .284 average.

He played for the Double-A Knoxville Smokies in 1994 followed by most of two seasons with the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs (1995-96) and a couple final months back in Knoxville to finish the 1996 season.

Future Hall of Famer Fred McGriff played first base for Toronto when Weinke was drafted and John Olerud held it down every year Weinke was in the minors, including in the Jays’ two World Series seasons. There just wasn’t much of an opportunity for a major league call-up.

But there was still time for a call, up to Tallahassee, where Weinke reached Bowden to ask if his offer was still good. Bowden honored his word and Weinke enrolled in time for the 1996 fall semester and became part of the Seminoles 1997 signing class.

Weinke, a 25-year-old freshman, shed his rust as a backup QB behind Thad Busby in 1997, appearing briefly in mop-up roles. He earned the starting job as a 1998 sophomore after expected starter Dan Kendra suffered a season-ending knee injury in the spring.

Having waited the better part of a decade to play QB, Weinke took full advantage of the opportunity. He passed for 2,017 yards and 17 touchdowns, leading Florida State to a 9-1 start and a No. 2 national ranking before a neck injury ended his year just short of bowl season.

He came back healthy for his 1999 junior season and cemented himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, leading the Seminoles to a 12-0 record and a win over Virginia Tech in the BCS championship game. Weinke passed for 3,103 yards and 25 scores, helping FSU win its first national title since Ward.

Weinke did not crack the top 10 of the 1999 Heisman balloting, but was a clear contender as a 2000 senior, along with two returning quarterbacks who finished in the top 4, Virginia Tech’s Michael Vick and Purdue’s Drew Brees.

Florida State kicked off its title defense ranked second and traveled east to play BYU in the Pigskin Classic in Jacksonville, defeating the Cougars, 29-3. Weinke completed 32-of-50 passes for 318 yards and two TDs as he eased into his pursuit of the Heisman.

After a week off, the Seminoles traveled to No. 17 Georgia Tech and Weinke led FSU to a come-from-behind 26-21 win over the Yellow Jackets. He threw for a career-best 443 yards on just 25 completions, tossing another two scores. He also passed Danny Kannell to become Florida State’s all-time leading passer.

The Seminoles blew out North Carolina, 63-14, the following week in FSU’s home opener, Weinke throwing four TD passes to go along with 262 yards passing, leaving the game well before its end.

Florida State kept the pedal down the following two weeks, beating Louisville 31-0 and Maryland, 59-7, on a Thursday night. Weinke continued to guide a dominant offense, although he was forced out of the game against the Terrapins in the third quarter with an ankle injury.

Though it was a sprain, it was still a bad break for Weinke and the newly No. 1-ranked Seminoles, who were set to face rival Miami the following Saturday. He spent much of game week in a boot, but played in what turned out to be a game for the ages.

The No. 2 Hurricanes dominated the first half, taking a 17-0 lead into the locker room. Weinke rallied the Seminoles in the second half, throwing three TD passes, the last giving FSU a 24-20 lead with 1:37 left to play.

The Ken Dorsey-led Hurricanes regained the lead with a touchdown with 46 seconds left. Weinke somehow drove the Seminoles close enough for a game-tying field goal attempt, but it sailed wide right.

Weinke finished with a career-high 496 yards on a career-high 58 attempts, playing with a heavily wrapped left ankle. But he was not perfect and two red-zone interceptions were a pair of throws he surely wanted back.

He did not let his left ankle or anything else get in his or the Seminoles’ way the rest of the regular season, including the following week when No. 7 FSU throttled winless Duke, 63-14. Weinke re-set his school record with 536 passing yards, going 37-of-47, with five touchdowns. He passed for 446 yards by halftime.

Florida State followed with another blowout at North Carolina State on Oct.28, Weinke letting the Seminoles ground game do most of the damage while contributing 185 passing yards and his nation-leading 23rd TD pass.

No. 4 FSU opened November by hosting No. 16 Clemson and Bowden again turned Weinke’s arm loose, the senior throwing for 521 yards and two scores in a 54-7 win as the Seminoles clinched their ninth straight ACC title. Weinke broke the school record for passing yards in a season in the win, reaching 3,490.

Weinke threw for 324 yards and five touchdowns the following week in a 35-6 win at Wake Forest. The win moved FSU to 10-1 as it vied for a top 2 spot in the BCS rankings.

FSU and Weinke had their final opportunity to make a statement regarding its respective BCS and Heisman hopes with the regular-season finale against No. 4 Florida on Nov. 18.

Weinke fought off the flu and the Gators defense to throw for 353 yards and three touchdowns in a lopsided 30-7 victory. He became the ACC’s career passing leader in the win, reaching 9,789 career yards. The performance was enough to move FSU into the No. 2 spot in the BCS rankings while Weinke’s efforts strengthened his Heisman resume.

Two weeks later, the ballots were in and Weinke, at 28 years old, became the Heisman’s oldest winner. He finished with 1,628 points while Oklahoma quarterback Josh Huepel was second with 1,552 in one of the closest races in the trophy’s history.

Weinke, who was named first on 369 of 922 ballots, closed the season with 4,167 passing yards and 33 touchdowns, capturing the Seminoles second Heisman. He also won the Davey O’Brien and Johnny Unitas Awards as the nation’s top signal caller.

Weinke threw for another 274 yards in his career finale, but Huepel and unbeaten Oklahoma were too much for the Seminoles as the Sooners won the BCS title game, 13-2.

The following April, Weinke became the oldest player ever selected in the NFL Draft, taken in the fourth round by the Carolina Panthers.

Weinke started for the Panthers as a 2001 rookie and passed for 2,931 yards and 11 TDs and ran for six more scores. He spent the next three seasons in Carolina as a back-up and closed his NFL career in 2007 with San Francisco.

Weinke is currently the assistant head coach, co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Georgia Tech and has been instrumental in the development of current Yellow Jackets QB Haynes King, a leading 2025 Heisman candidate.

Weinke is in his fourth year at Georgia Tech, which followed three seasons as an assistant at Tennessee, a season at Alabama as well as two seasons as the QB coach for the St. Louis/L.A. Rams. He began his coaching career with five seasons as IMG Football Academy, including two as its head coach.

Congratulations to Chris Weinke our Heisman Trophy 25th Anniversary winner.