By Robert MacRae, Ed McGranahan, Hale McGranahan, William Qualkinbush, Will Vandervort.
The TCI staff of Hale McGranahan, Will Vandervort, William Qualkinbush and Robert MacRae go Around the Horn to answer some of the questions surrounding Clemson athletics and college football.
Is the half game suspension for Jameis Winston the right punishment?
Robert MacRae: “This question is a very easy one this week. No, the half game was not the right punishment. Jameis should have been suspended for the entire game at Clemson. Jimbo Fisher must have gone to the Steve Spurrier class on discipline. Steven Garcia ring any bells?
There are some schools, like Clemson where Winston would have already received some punishments along the way that might have prevented what happened this week. He would likely have already been off the team at some schools. When looking at the punishment for the incident this week you don’t look at the one incident, but as Dabo likes to say you see how much money the player has in the bank based on previous behavior. Winston’s bank account might already be in default with some coaches.
Because of the poor decision by Fisher and Florida State it will be up to Clemson to decide if Winston gets punished or not. If the Tigers can win the game then this will be a punishment he will remember. If Winston comes in for the second half and rallies the Noles to a victory then all it will do is feed his ego and the “punishment” will backfire.”
Hale McGranahan: “If this was a first-time offense for Winston, I think a one half suspension suits just fine, but this isn’t just an isolated, bone-headed incident. As we all know, the guy has a bit of a track record. From Publix crab legs to Burger King soda and BB guns on campus, Winston has quite a rap sheet of minor, petty, college-kid-type of stuff. But, of course, there was also the alleged incident that’s far from minor or petty. I tend to agree with what my former employer said during his radio show on Wednesday: If Winston did all that stuff at one of the three programs in Clemson, Columbia and Athens, Georgia, then he’s lucky to miss only one half of a game. Shoot, he probably would have been looking for a new place to play college football after the crab leg theft, if not sooner. Maybe, just maybe, missing some actual game time will help turn the light for Winston.”
William Qualkinbush: “On its face, suspending a player for being immature seems iffy. I’m not sure anybody would say much if this action wasn’t punished. We see seemingly innocuous actions result in suspensions across the country all the time, so there’s some wiggle room for FSU here. But given Winston’s body of work, one half is an outrage. Clearly his behavior indicates an ambivalence toward authority and a lack of self-awareness. He should have learned that lesson long before now, but apparently no one would teach it to him. Seriously, when is enough enough with this guy? He wouldn’t be playing at Clemson at all for the rest of his life. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that.”
Will Vandervort: “If this was anyone else and this was a first or second offense by someone else, I would say yes or maybe don’t suspend them at all. Just have them run stadium steps or something. But given the fact Jameis Winston has repeatedly been in trouble and is coming off the Crab Gate incident back in the spring, plus he was accused of sexually assaulting a young woman last year, this would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I mean a guy that is already looked at in a negative light by a lot of women, stands up and says something like that about what to do to a woman in a public place in front of a bunch of young women — that’s just wrong! He says “its not about me” but when has he ever showed us anything different. If I was Jimbo Fisher, I would have suspended him for the whole game and I would not have needed the BOT or the acting President and AD to help me make this decision. So to answer the question, for Jameis Winston, the half-game suspension was not enough. Plus, if Clemson leads at halftime and Winston engineers a second-half comeback, guess what? Now FSU has made him a hero because that is all the national media is going to talk about. SMH! ”
Ed McGranahan: “So many of these kids are made to feel entitled from a very young age and are not held accountable for their transgressions, so it shouldn’t be any surprise that he still doesn’t understand his place, still hasn’t matured. He actually believes, “I’m not a ‘me’ person.” That he made it to kickoff last season speaks to the hypocrisy at Florida State and, to an even larger degree college football. As I understand, this punishment came down to Fisher. Should it have been more strident? Probably, but there’s a bigger issue.”