In this photo provided by the Heisman Trust, Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston hoists the Heisman Trophy after being named college footballs best player during the Heisman Trophy presentation in New York on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2013.



Jameis Winston left voters no choice but to give him the Heisman Trophy. And like every other Florida State victory this season, it was a blowout.

The quarterback they call Famous Jameis became the youngest Heisman winner and the second straight freshman to win the trophy Saturday night, earning college football's most prestigious individual trophy award with a performance so dominant even a criminal investigation couldn't derail his candidacy.

"I cannot explain the feeling that I have inside right now," Winston said. "I'm so overwhelmed. It's awesome."


He talked about trusting in the "process" on the field and in life and "after all the things I've been through this past month." He got choked up a bit when talking about his parents.

"When you see your mom and you see your dad and they've been struggling through this whole process and now you see a smile on their face, it comforted me," he said later.



Manziel was the first freshman to win the Heisman last year, and was trying to join Ohio State's Archie Griffin as a two-time winner. Instead, Winston made it two redshirt freshman winners in the 79-year history of the Heisman. He also became the youngest winner at 23 days short of 20.


"I really believe that people actually just trusted me. People obviously saw us play. But that comes from my team, too," Winston said.

Winston is the nation's top-rated passer and has led the top-ranked Seminoles (13-0) to a spot in the BCS championship game against No. 2 Auburn on Jan. 6, his birthday. The former five-star recruit from Bessemer, Ala., made college football look easy from his very first game. On Labor Day night, on national television, Winston went 25 for 27 for 356 yards and four touchdowns in a victory at Pittsburgh.

"I can't explain how truly intelligent he is," Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. "He always wanted to know why he had success or why he had failure so he could either repeat it or fix it."

There wasn't much failure on the way to becoming the third Seminoles quarterback to win the Heisman. The last was Chris Weinke in 2000.



During three weeks of uncertainty, Winston continued to play sensationally, while other contenders stumbled or failed to distinguish themselves. If voters were looking to Manziel or McCarron or Lynch or Williams or even Marcus Mariota of Oregon to give them a good alternative to Winston, it didn't happen.




The accusations against Winston were serious and documents released by the police with the accuser's allegations were not flattering to him. It probably explains why so many voters left him out of their top three. Last year, Manziel appeared on 92 percent of the ballots. Winston appeared on 87 percent this year.

"Everyone has their own opinion," Winston said. "It's basically a numbers game and I was blessed to have the majority vote."


The investigation has taken some of the shine off Winston's Heisman coronation, at least for some people. But if the question is simply who was college football's best player in 2013, Famous Jameis was the clear answer.


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