So Winston said it was all about getting hooked up by a store employee.
Jimbo Fisher takes him at his word, adding a school investigation as support:
According to the coach, the FSU compliance department looked into the issue at the time — they contacted the Publix store — and found it to be an isolated incident, although Winston’s public comments has the department taking a peek yet again. “[T]hey think it’s totally an isolated incident that happened and [we’re in] the process working it right now. So I don’t think it’s anything else more than that,” Fisher said.
The problem with that, it seems, is FSU doesn’t know anything about that.
“We have become aware of statements made by Jameis Winston during a recent interview with Jim Harbaugh describing the circumstances of his alleged receipt of food from a local grocery store. The details disclosed by Winston in that interview were not previously known to the University. As is the case with all matters of this type, we will work in partnership with the NCAA to determine whether a violation occurred.”
And neither does Publix.
Following Winston’s claim on ESPN’s Draft Academy that the April 2014 incident wasn’t shoplifting but an inside connection, a Publix spokeswoman affirmed that the company’s investigation in May did not suggest an employee had given Winston merchandise.
“When we conducted the original investigation with the store associates and management both, we found no information that would corroborate the story that there was any arrangement for Jameis or any other FSU athlete to get any product for free,” said Maria Brous, Publix’s director of media and community relations.
What everyone does know is what Winston claimed when it happened.
Brous pointed to the report from the sheriff’s office in which Winston said he forgot to pay, which was consistent with the statement his lawyer released to the media at that time. [Emphasis added.]
So, what I can’t figure out here is that Winston went to great lengths to hide the truth from a lot of people, including his own lawyer, took a hit on a criminal charge… and now, almost casually, goes ahead and spills the beans on what he says really went down. Why now?
Then, again, I’m not going to be the first pick in the NFL draft, so does it really matter?
As the Arizona Cardinals general manager puts it,
Hell, maybe the suspension from the baseball team was overly harsh.