Chris Weinke

Christopher Jon Weinke (born July 31, 1972) is an American football coach and former football and baseball player.

After spending six years in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league baseball system, he enrolled at Florida State University at the age of 25, and played college football as a quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles.

He thereafter played in the National Football League (NFL), where he spent most of his career with the Carolina Panthers.

Head coach Bobby Bowden had initially recruited Weinke when he was a prep quarterback in 1989 at Cretin-Derham Hall High School.

In 1989 during his senior year in high school, he was a Parade magazine and USA Today first-team All-America selection, was named Minnesota's prep football player of the year, and was seen as the top senior quarterback in the country.

Weinke was recruited by over seventy Division 1 schools, including Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Florida State, Illinois, Minnesota, Miami, Washington, and Wisconsin, but ultimately signed a national letter of intent and committed to play quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University despite being a diehard Miami Hurricanes fan (due to fellow Cretin-Derham Hall alumnus Steve Walsh attending the school and starring for the team at quarterback).

Weinke played minor league baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system from 1990 to 1996, advancing to class Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, before deciding to attend Florida State University.

However, he was also an all-state baseball player and was named to the ABCA/Rawlings High School All-America Baseball First Team in 1990.

He was drafted in the second round of the 1990 Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft (the 62nd player taken overall) by the Toronto Blue Jays.

After spending four days in August 1990 on the FSU campus, Weinke put his college career on hold and instead signed a contract to play professional baseball and reported to the Toronto Blue Jays' Class A affiliate Myrtle Beach Blue Jays.

Head football coach Bobby Bowden promised Weinke that he would always have a scholarship offer if he wished to return.

They both were members of the 1990 Florida State football team, but Weinke left to pursue baseball before the 1990 season started.

Weinke was the first Heisman Trophy winner to not be named a consensus All-American.

Although he was only one step away from playing in the major leagues, after the 1996 season Weinke decided to give up professional baseball and took a scholarship at Florida State University.

After quitting baseball, Weinke called Bowden, and Bowden offered him a scholarship with the 1997 recruiting class.

Weinke entered Florida State University in 1997, when he was 25 years old and joined the Florida State Seminoles football team as a quarterback.

As a sophomore in 1998, Weinke led the Florida State Seminoles to a 9–1 record and #2 national ranking before a season-ending neck injury by Patrick Kerney in the Virginia game forced him to the sidelines for the rest of the season.

After arriving he quickly distinguished himself as a starting quarterback, leading the team to victory in the 1999 national championship.

During his junior season in 1999, he led the #1-ranked Seminoles to the school's first undefeated national championship, defeating Michael Vick and the Virginia Tech Hokies, 46–29.

In 2000, at 28, he became the oldest player to receive the Heisman Trophy.

As a senior in 2000, Weinke led the nation in passing with 4,167 yards and won the Heisman Trophy, awarded to college football's best player, as well as the Davey O'Brien Award and the Johnny Unitas Award.

He also led the Seminoles to the Orange Bowl for their third national championship game in as many years, where they lost 13–2 to the Oklahoma Sooners.

At the age of 28, Weinke was the oldest player ever to win the Heisman Trophy.

He finished his Florida State career with a 32–3 record and held numerous FSU records including most passing yards in a career and most career touchdown passes.

The consensus All-American honor for quarterback in 2000 went to the Heisman runner-up that year, Oklahoma's Josh Heupel, now the head football coach at the University of Tennessee.

He was selected by the Panthers in the 2001 NFL Draft, where he served mostly as backup quarterback until being released in 2006.

He won his first ever NFL game in the first game of the 2001 Carolina Panthers season, before losing the next 15, finishing the season with a 1-15 record.

He also has the second longest losing streak in NFL history at seventeen, behind Dan Pastorini (21).

Despite this, Weinke is tied with Geno Smith for fifth most rushing touchdowns by a rookie quarterback with six.

Weinke was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he attended Cretin-Derham Hall High School and was a three-sport star, playing first base for the baseball team, quarterback for the football team, and was captain of the hockey team.

In 2001, Weinke became the seventh Seminole (and second quarterback) to have his jersey retired.

He also graduated with a degree in Sports Management and was a two-time ACC All-Academic Team selection.

Weinke was originally recruited by Florida State as part of the same recruiting class as Charlie Ward, another quarterback who also won a Heisman Trophy and led the Seminoles to a national championship.

Weinke was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the fourth round (106th overall pick) of the 2001 NFL Draft.

In 2001, he was the starter when the Panthers finished with a 1–15 record.

At the time, the Panthers' fifteen consecutive losses in 2001 was a single season record.

Weinke averaged 36 pass attempts per game, more than any rookie in NFL history up to that point.

He then spent one season with the San Francisco 49ers before leaving the NFL after the 2007 season.

Weinke only had two victories as a starting QB in his entire NFL career.