Fisher, Martin land two-sport Winston

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Winter of Winston continues for Florida State’s redshirt freshman quarterback.

Jameis Winston is The Associated Press national player of the year, adding to his cadre of postseason accolades. He’s this year’s Heisman Trophy winner, the Walter Camp national player of the year, the Davey O’Brien quarterback of the year and the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year.

Seminole football fans should send a thank you note to Florida State’s baseball program.

If not for coach Mike Martin Sr. and one of his assistants, Mike Martin Jr., Winston - a two-sport athlete - might not be preparing to lead the No.1-ranked Seminoles against No. 2 Auburn in the BCS championship game Jan. 6 with the opportunity to bring a third national title back to the Florida State campus.

When Winston won the Heisman he thanked the usual cast of family, coaches and teammates. Then there was the thanks to “Eleven” and “Meat.” Most of the country ignored the peculiar names, but Winston wouldn’t have attended Florida State without the warm relationship between football coach Jimbo Fisher and the Florida State baseball coaching staff. “Eleven” - otherwise known as baseball coach Martin Sr., who has led the program for 34 years, and “Meat” - Martin Jr.

Martin Jr. was on a recruiting trip to watch Winston during his junior year of high school when he called to let Fisher know. Fisher actually had tape of Winston on his desk at the time and decided to put it in. About 30 minutes later, Fisher called Martin Jr. back and said, “Don’t let him get away.”

Winston hit a game-winning home run that day.

“Jimbo Fisher deserves the credit for giving the young man the opportunity to display his talents in another sport,” Martin Sr. said.

Fisher covets players that come from diverse backgrounds where football wasn’t their only sport. He actively looks for athletes that play numerous positions on the football field and play different sports.

“It makes you a different kind of competitor,” Fisher said. “You learn to learn the different situations. Handle different pressures. Handle noise. Handle quiet. Different games are played in different ways and in different environments. … You’re constantly competing and you don’t get in that rut of you only get it once a year. I think when you’re getting it two and three different times a year, the more you’re in competitive situations, the more you find out about yourself. …

“Every time you compete you learn something about yourself. I think it’s very good for athletes to do. I wish more athletes were multi-sportguys than they are now.”

Just like the Heisman voting, Winston was a landslide winner in AP player of the year voting. He received 49 out of 56 votes cast by AP Top 25 college football poll voters.

Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch received three votes. Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron got two votes. Boston College running back Andre Williams and Michigan State cornerback Darqueze Dennard each received one vote.

At a glance

AP PLAYER OF THE YEAR VOTING

PLAYER, TEAM VOTES

Jameis Winston, Florida State .......... 49

Jordan Lynch, Northern Illinois .......... 3

AJ McCarron, Alabama ....................... 2

Andre Williams, Boston College ......... 1

Darqueze Dennard, Michigan State .... 1

FORMER WINNERS

2012 Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M

2011 Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor

2010 Cam Newton, QB, Auburn

2009 Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska

2008 Sam Bradford, QB, Oklahoma

2007 Tim Tebow, QB, Florida

2006 Troy Smith, QB, Ohio State

2005 Reggie Bush, RB, Southern Cal

2004 Matt Leinart, QB, Southern Cal

2003 Jason White, QB, Oklahoma

2002 Brad Banks, QB, Iowa

2001 Rex Grossman, QB, Florida

2000 Josh Heupel, QB, Oklahoma

1999 Ron Dayne, RB, Wisconsin

1998 Ricky Williams, RB, Texas