Scandal-tainted college football star Jameis Winston was handed the daunting task of reviving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after being chosen as the top pick in the NFL draft on Thursday.
The Heisman Trophy-winning Florida State quarterback was widely expected to be chosen by the Buccaneers, who are desperate to halt a slide in fortunes that has seen them fail to reach the playoffs for the past seven seasons.
The Buccaneers have also failed to win a post-season game since their memorable triumph in the 2001-2002 Super Bowl and they finished last season’s campaign with a dismal 2-14 record.
Photo: AP
Winston is to be saddled with the responsibility of forging a franchise-changing upturn in the club’s fortunes, but the 21-year-old, who did not attend Thursday’s event in Chicago, comes with baggage.
Winston, the youngest winner of the Heisman Trophy in 2013, has already faced his fair share of controversy.
He was accused of sexually assaulting a college student, although he was never arrested or charged, and he also courted controversy when he was accused of shoplifting crab legs from a supermarket.
He was banned for one game last year for shouting a sexually explicit obscenity after climbing onto a college campus table.
With player conduct the dominant issue in the NFL over the past year following a series of domestic violence scandals, the Buccaneers carried out extensive checks on the player’s character before the draft.
However, the likelihood he would be chosen by the Buccaneers was all but guaranteed in March when general manager Jason Licht spoke glowingly about the player’s qualities after meeting him.
“He’s lively, he’s engaging, he’s incredibly smart, he confirmed all the things we thought about him going into this process,” Licht said.
The Buccaneers owners, the Glazer family, who also own English Premier League giants Manchester United, were also reported to be enthusiastic about Winston, despite his off-field record.
Buccaneers veterans had also signaled that they would crack down on Winston in the locker room if he stepped out of line, suggesting they would take a dim view of his brash style.
“If we draft him and he comes into the locker room, we have some veteran guys that will pull him to the side and make him understand that there’s a role here he has to play, and sometimes he may have to tone that down,” star linebacker Lavonte David told the Tampa Tribune.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was