As the nation's top high school quarterback in 1989, Chris Weinke signed with Florida State and joined fellow freshman and future Heisman QB Charlie Ward in Tallahassee. But Weinke was also a second round draft choice of the Toronto Blue Jays.
For Weinke, two roads diverged in a yellow wood. He took the Blue Jays' signing bonus and left Florida State, and that has made all the difference.
In six years as a minor-league first baseman, Weinke got to play against Michael Jordan but eventually decided to give up the struggles of hitting a curveball. At the ripe age of 24, Weinke returned to Florida State and the scholarship coach Bobby Bowden promised would be waiting for him.
"I didn't think he would come back this late," Bowden said. "We have players that might play baseball for two years and then come back."
As a sophomore in 1998, Weinke started the Seminoles' season opener after an offseason injury to starting quarterback Dan Kendra. Weinke won that first game, but suffered a six-interception performance the following week in an upset loss to N.C. State.
"I think that [game] was beneficial to him," said Mark Richt, Florida State's offensive coordinator and quarterback coach. "I'm sure it just made him more determined to work harder and get better."
After the N.C. State game, Weinke set an ACC record with 237 consecutive pass attempts before a vicious blow from Virginia defensive end Patrick Kerney knocked him out for the year with a neck injury.
"A lot of people would have hung it up," Richt said of his now 28-year-old senior quarterback. "He's just mentally and physically tough. He's a great competitor and he just refuses to lose."
After watching from the sidelines as Florida State lost the national title game to Tennessee, Weinke returned last year to lead the Seminoles to their first undefeated season in the Bowden era and a national championship.
After that triumph, Weinke could have opted to leave school for the NFL, but instead he came back to the Seminoles for his senior year and became Bowden's first three-year starting quarterback.
"I knew that if I had made the decision to leave I would have been disappointed," Weinke said. "I would have looked back and said, Why didn't I go back for my senior year?"
Both Weinke and the Seminoles are glad he stayed. As the captain and leader of the nation's top offense, Weinke has put Florida State in position to challenge for another national championship.
As Weinke enters Saturday's home game against Virginia, he has never played better. He leads the nation in passing yardage (2,510), touchdowns (20), and is second in passing effiency (165.6). He has thrown for 1,032 yards the past two games, including a school-record 536 yards against Duke last week.
"He's the key," Bowden said. "It's like having another coach on the field."
Weinke has added his name to the college football record book this year. He ranks in the top 10 of Division I-A career winning percentage and is third in consecutive wins with 25.
"Statistically at our school, he has probably every record," Richt said, "but two championships is what he really wants to hang his hat on."
Weinke may have an edge in terms of experience and maturity compared to most college quarterbacks, but he wants to be remembered simply for what he has done on the field and not as a guy who had his 10-year high school reunion this summer.
"Hopefully people look at me as just a regular college quarterback," Weinke said. "And not a guy that has to have an asterisks next to his name all the time he accomplishes things"
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