Thursday, September 7 Weinke's return ensures stability for 'Noles By Bill Doherty Special to ESPN.com

Thanks to Chris Weinke's first audible of the 2000-2001 season, the road to next year's national title might still go through Tallahassee.

	FSU's Chris Weinke threw for 3,103 yards and 25 TDs last season

Everyone and their third cousin assumed that Weinke, who will turn 28 on July 31, would turn pro after leading the Seminoles to the national championship earlier this month. But Weinke surprised many folks when he announced that he was staying in school for his senior season.

The shocking announcement was met with rousing cheers. The Weinke press conference at Moore Athletic Center was even interrupted by FSU offensive coordinator Mark Richt and three of his offensive linemen, Tarlos Thomas, Ross Brannon and Brett Williams, all coming up to hug the 6-foot-5, 240-pound quarterback.

"I heard from a couple people yesterday who said I needed to go to the NFL now," Weinke said, explaining that he just about "lived on the phone" the last four days, trying to make up his mind.

"But there are a lot of things still to accomplish here. If you look around here at the success we've had, when's the last time you saw a three-year starter at quarterback?"

Because of that, Weinke can, with a productive senior season, cement his place in the FSU record books. He's only 153 completions, 180 attempts, 706 yards and 11 touchdowns shy of being FSU's all-time leader in each of those categories.

"That's not why I'm coming back," Weinke said. "I just think it'd be very special. It'd guarantee I'd get a degree, which I first and foremost said I wanted to go back to college for (he's 18 credit hours away.) In my mind, from today to until we start up again, I'm dedicating myself to be the best quarterback in the country. And I think I've got the ability and the heart to be the best. And right now, (the NFL) doesn't see me as the best in the country."

Weinke, who is already older than 15 starting NFL quarterbacks, said he had spoken with several NFL scouts and FSU staffers who had been in contact with the NFL in the past few days. He learned that he was not projected to be selected in the draft any higher than the third round, with several scouts guessing that he would not be taken until the fifth to the seventh round. That was too low for Weinke to pass up his senior year.

Thus, the former minor league baseball player who has been called "Rip Van Weinke" because of his advanced age for a college athlete decided Monday that his dreams of playing in the NFL can wait another year.

"I didn't want to be sitting on the bench somewhere, watching Florida State play. I did that already," he said. "I may not be drafted at all after next season but that's all right. This is the best decision for me."

"Chris wants to get better," Richt said, "and he can get better. We can trim him up a few pounds, work on his quickness, improve the accuracy of his throws and help him make better decisions. And with his timetable, he's not a guy the NFL can say we can wait two or three years to develop. We need to get him as close to being game ready as we can. And we definitely can do that."

Weinke originally came to Florida State in August of 1990 as a highly recruited football/baseball prospect from St. Paul, Minn. He was in camp for a few days, but the Toronto Blue Jays offered him $375,000, which at the time was the second-largest bonus ever offered to a high school player. Weinke took the offer, and after he left, FSU coach Bobby Bowden wrote him a letter promising a scholarship would be available if he ever changed his mind.

After six so-so years in the minor leagues, climbing as high as Triple A, Weinke decided to end his baseball career and called Bowden and asked if the offer was still good. Bowden said it was and Weinke came to FSU the next fall. When Dan Kendra injured a knee in the spring game before the 1998 season, Weinke was thrust into the starting role. He is 21-1 as a starter for FSU, losing only to North Carolina State in his second game as a starter.

With a winner like Weinke back in the fold, Bowden can redshirt either Jared Jones or incoming freshman Chris Rix, further strengthening the program for the long haul. Weinke continues a recent trend of FSU superstar senior-to-be football players opting to come back to Tallahassee rather than leaving for literally greener pastures. Weinke did what Peter Warrick did last year.

Which was also what Warrick Dunn and Derrick Brooks and Andre Wadsworth did a few years before. He's coming back to Florida State for his senior season. For an FSU team not even a week past winning a national championship, it was news that was too good to be true.

Some folks thought at 27 that it was time for Weinke to get on with his life. But Weinke looked a little deeper. He had the opportunity to play one more season of college football, and frankly, wasn't going to be that much better an NFL prospect at 28 than at 27.

He didn't agree with the NFL's assessment of his skills, that he wasn't any higher than a third-round pick and wanted to see if he could improve. Then there was the debt he felt to the guy who gave him a chance when his baseball career hit a reef, FSU coach Bobby Bowden.

That loyalty might be one of the biggest reason that Bowden's team has finished in the top four each of the last 13 seasons. And why it is a better-than-average bet to do it again in 2000-2001. Running backs Travis Minor and Jeff Chaney return, along with promising sophomore runner Nick Maddox. Three-fifths of the starting offensive line is back and the receiving corps will be young, but talented -- led by sophomores-to-be Anquan Boldin and Talman Gardner as well as juniors-to-be Marvin Minnis and Robert Morgan.

Defensively, Bowden has to replace just four starters: defensive tackles Corey Simon and Jerry Johnson, cornerback Mario Edwards and safety Sean Key. But his starting linebacking corps of Tommy Polley, Brian Allen and Bradley Jennings comes back intact, while the secondary (where junior Chris Hope, an experienced hand, will step in for Key at free safety) will be strong.

And the defensive forward wall, thanks to the return of ends Roland Seymour and Jamal Reynolds as well as the progress expected from sophomore-to-be tackles Rian Cason and Chris Woods (both of whom saw quality time as freshmen), should be stellar as well.

Back to the future
While Weinke and valuable rush end Roland Seymour are both back in the fold, assistant coach Chuck Amato must be replaced. Early speculation says that Amato's replacement likely can be found in Florida State defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews' coaching past.

Georgia assistant head coach Joe Kines and former FSU linebacker coach Wally Burnham have emerged as the two candidates to watch in the search to replace Amato, the Seminoles' assistant head coach who was hired as the head coach at North Carolina State last week.

If hired, Kines or Burnham would assume Amato's duties as linebackers coach. No decision has been made about the assistant head coach duties, which could be assigned to a current member of the staff. Kines and Burnham served under Andrews during his four-year tenure as head coach at Jacksonville State in the 1970s. Kines and Andrews were also together on staffs at Clemson and Florida.

Kines served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Florida for five years before becoming the defensive coordinator at Alabama in 1985. Kines' resume also includes one year as head coach at Arkansas (1992). He was the defensive coordinator at Georgia beginning in 1995 before taking over defensive ends this season.

Burnham and Andrews were on the Arizona Wranglers (USFL) staff in 1983, and Burnham coached linebackers at FSU from 1985 through the 1993 season before becoming defensive coordinator at South Carolina. Burnham has spent the past year in private business.

Andrews is in Alabama caring for his ill father, and FSU head coach Bobby Bowden is attending the national meeting of college football coaches in Anaheim, Calif. The two met to discuss the vacancy over the weekend prior to their trips, and Bowden could announce a decision by Friday.

State of confusion
N.C. State's new head man Amato is expected to take Florida State graduate assistant Steve Gabbard with him to N.C. State as an offensive line coach. FSU defensive line coach Odell Haggins and recruiting coordinator/tight ends coach John Lilly have been mentioned as possible hires by Amato, but both said they will remain in Tallahassee.

The good news is that Amato returns 14 starters from last year's 6-6 team, including nine on defense, his area of expertise. But he still must hire a staff. Amato, who was hired last Thursday to replace the fired Mike O'Cain, has only linebackers coach Joe Pate on the staff now. That defense will be bolstered by the return of linebacker Edrick Smith, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Pack's season opener at Texas. He was granted a medical redshirt year and has three years of eligibility remaining.

Clayton White, a two-year starter at linebacker, said Amato's success with defensive players at FSU has him optimistic.

"He's worked with some great coaches, like Lou Holtz and Bobby Bowden, and has been a winner everywhere he's been," White said. "He was here at State and was a winner here (as a player) so when he's telling us it can be done, he's not just talking about it. He's done it before."

Amato will have to make some quality hires -- and quickly -- if he hopes to put together any kind of recruiting class by next month. He'll have his work cut out, particularly in-state where former Wolfpack coach Mike O'Cain has joined the North Carolina staff, thus giving the Tar Heels the two men who have been recruiting the state of North Carolina the hardest the past 12 months.

Sure, Pate and Amato were able to land their quarterback of the future when Alabama State Player of the Year Phillip Rivers committed to the Wolfpack earlier this week. The 6-5, 215-pound Rivers, who chose N.C. State over Auburn, Mississippi and Duke, completed 109 of 195 passes for 2,025 yards and 15 TDs last season. He has a 3.7 GPA and will be able to enroll this spring, which will allow to compete with seldom-used sophomore Jatavis Sanders and redshirt freshman Toki McCray for Jamie Barnette's old starting job.

But, Amato has lots of work to do in-state. Since O'Cain has joined forces with Torbush at North Carolina, Clarence Gaddy (6-4, 225) from Western Harnett High School, the Gatorade State Player of the Year, and pass rushing end Jermicus Banks (6-4, 245) from Millbrook (N.C.) have rescinded their verbal commitments to the Wolfpack and have committed to the Tar Heels. And earlier this week, Durham (N.C.) Riverside High quarterback Aaron Alston chose North Carolina over N.C. State -- in large part because of the presence of O'Cain in Chapel Hill.

Extra points
Despite receiving advice to the contrary from Virginia Tech coaches and former Tech and NFL player-turned agent Tony Paige, Hokies tailback Shyrone Stith is going pro. The 5-8, 210-pound Stith rushed 1,119 yards and 13 TDs for the No.2 Hokies. He is projected to be a late-third or early-fourth round pick, according to the NFL folks that Tech coaches talked to. & The early recruiting returns show that Florida State has far and away the most attractive list of verbal commitments among ACC teams. Florida State has already landed verbals from Chris Rix, one of the nation's top 10 quarterbacks out of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., as well as four outstanding high school linebacker types in 6-3, 220-pound Chad Mascoe of Kissimmee, Fla., 6-1, 210-pound Yohance Buchanan of Atlanta, Ga., 6-2, 220-pound DeVaughan Darling of Sugar Land, Texas, and 6-2, 220-pound Nathaniel Hardage from Sylvester, Ga. All four linebackers run in the 4.4 to 4.5 range and the scary part is that the Seminoles will probably convert a couple of them into defensive lineman. Bobby Bowden and Co. aren't through yet either. The Seminoles remain very much in the running for three of the nation's top four prep players -- 6-2, 220-pound linebacker D.J. Williams from Concord, Calif. (Florida State, Texas, Michigan, California and Miami), 6-4, 195-pound wide receiver Charles Rogers from Saginaw, Mich. (Florida State, Tennessee, UCLA, Michigan and Michigan State) and 6-2, 200-pound running back Marcus Houston of Denver, Colorado (Florida State, Colorado, UCLA and others). If Bowden can land two of those three, then the distinction of getting the nation's top recruiting haul is possible. & In the Big East, Miami (Fla.) and fast-charging Virginia Tech will rule the recruiting roost, if their early verbal commitments become signees next month. Butch Davis' top commitments thus far are from 6-1, 215-pound running back Willis McGahee from Miami, 6-1, 315-pound defensive lineman Vince Wilfork of Lantana, Fla., 6-3 quarterback Derek Crudup Jr. from Deerfield, Fla., and 6-6, 215-pound tight end Willie Roberts from Miami. Tech, meanwhile, is doing very well in state as well as in Maryland. The Hokies have verbals from four of the top 10 football players in the state of Virginia already (linebacker Chad Cooper, offensive tackle John Dunn, defensive back Mike Daniels and linebacker Josh Spence). What's more, the Hokies remain in the hunt for the state's crown jewel -- record-setting running back Brandon Royster, who is still undecided among Notre Dame, Virginia, Stanford and Tech. Frank Beamer's squad has cleaned up in the state of Maryland already, landing speedy corner Richard Jefferson from Randallstown (4.4 speed) and DeMatha (Md.) standouts Jason Lallis (who chose Tech over Michigan and Georgia Tech) and outside linebacker Mikaal Baaquee (who chose the Hokies over a number of ACC schools). Tech is also in the hunt for DeMatha's Derek Wade, who was recently chosen the 1999 Washington D.C. Metro Player of the Year by the Washington Post, and DeMatha junior wide receiver Dominique Stewart, the cousin of ex-Hokie and current Green Bay Packer Antonio Freeman. What is Tech's secret weapon in recruiting at DeMatha, which was 10-1-1 this past fall? It's the alma mater of Tech assistant coach Billy Hite. & Syracuse has landed verbal commitments from quarterback Jared Jones of Somerville, N.J. and tailback Troy Swittenburg of Norristown, Pa. within the past few days. Both players chose SU over other major schools, including Penn State. Their commitments give the Orangemen an unofficial total of 18 with a little more than three weeks remaining until national signing day.

Bill Doherty, a freelance writer from Bethlehem, Pa., is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.