Jameis Winston tells Jim Harbaugh about his Publix crab legs hookup

Betallsports · Apr 22, 2015

We now have Jameis Winston's side of the famous crab legs heist.

ESPN's "Draft Academy" showed a snippet of conversation from February when the former Florida State QB visited Michigan to talk to ex-49ers coach Jim Harbaugh as preparation for the NFL Draft process. In it, Harbaugh told Winston he needed to address NFL teams about the crustacean theft, which led Winston to say he hadn't stolen the food -- it was part of a routine with a Publix employee (via CollegeSpun)

At the time, Winston's crab leg theft was the subject of massive amounts of discourse. FSU coach Jimbo Fisher said that after investigating, he believed Winston failed to pay because he was used to shopping at Winn-Dixie rather than Publix and was preoccupied by an order for wings he had just placed. Winston apologized for his "youthful ignorance."

Of course, a guy at Publix handing out free food to FSU football players would be an obvious NCAA violation since college athletes can't grab free stuff, so both Fisher and Winston had a vested interest in not saying that story while he was still in school.

ESPN did not show any discussion Winston and Harbaugh had about Winston's alleged rape. Unlike the crab legs incident, for which Winston was cited, fined and given community service, Winston was never charged in the rape case, But it seems rather odd that Harbaugh and the Michigan coaching staff would dub Winston's crab legs incident "the elephant in the room" and urge him to discuss it with NFL teams while glossing over the more troubling allegation.

Enfuego · Apr 22, 2015

Harbaugh told him you can't just have stuff for free.

packer2012 · Apr 22, 2015

Holy shit. You guys are saying the Noles broke an NCAA rule?

And sounds like you may be insinuating that Winny is not the smartest guy in the world.

Well color me surprised twice!

GoSooners · Apr 22, 2015

I don't believe any of this for a second. He has had 20 months to explain this away and didn't do it. And I doubt very seriously that Winston fell on his sword to save the program on his own.

packer2012 · Apr 22, 2015

Does anyone believe he won't be in deep shit trouble pretty quick after he signs a contract?

packer2012 · Apr 22, 2015

As they continually kiss his butt on ESPN...... and make him sound like something he is not...... to pump up the NFL draft.....

They show the same tape over and over. Winny is underthrowing receivers on long routes. Players are waiting on the ball and they ignore that and keep talking the guy up.

Here is my prediction...... He will be given far more rope to hang himself than was J Football (because Winnie is not a Hobbit). But he is (if it's possible)..... dumber, cockier, and more hard headed than Manziel....... therefore, he will be allowed to throw pick after pick. He will look slow as smoke off of shit on the field in the NFL.

He will throw enough picks.... he could lead the league in tackles..... but he won't make the effort.

GoSooners · Apr 22, 2015

I'm betting that Florida St. wishes he would have just kept his mouth shut. I think they could have a major problem on their hands. The head coach just came out in public and stated that he had no idea that Winston had got these crab legs for free. So you are telling me one of two things happened. Either through the entire investigation, Winston lied to you the entire time. Or you knew about it and covered it up. If he lied about it, that means he accepted impermissible benefits, that means he is retroactively ineligible to play. And that means National Championship forfeiture. If he is telling the truth, it will be hard to believe that Florida State doesn't have the most incompetent compliance program in all of college football. I think most will believe that they knew exactly what happened and did not report what was a minor secondary violation. This could get messy...

seldomseen · Apr 22, 2015

Of course he was given the crab legs. Guarantee this wasn't the first time he did it, nor was the first time another athlete walked into that Publix and got free food. I could of told everyone this a year ago. How is this a surprise to anyone?

Vlad the Impaler · Apr 22, 2015

He will be a franchise qb for the bucs and will be thought of highly until 2017 rolls around, then once he realizes what I say, he will act out very badly. There will be other rape accusations, Lovie, The jackass will be fired. ....See this is a blue print on how not this this goes....."Reeeeeach" for a qb with record #1 simply because you need one. Dumb move. If you are not drafting a sure fire luck or manning, either trade back or take a shot in round 3. The Titans hopefully are offering a ransom for that pick. I would, I want the same deal as the back qb rg 36. When they dont give it to me, I play the race card. Most will buckle. Then I get what I want. The worst word in today's english is "racist". Normal guys will fall into that trap.

If I were the Titans, I could four #1's and a number 3 # 2's. That is what I would offer. What does the coach/ GM have to lose? If it wins, they are genious, if fails they are back to old position with the 250K. a year. after thet already got paid off millions.

I can draft better than these guys. I have missed twice.

doubledeuce22 · Apr 22, 2015

All of the shady shit and crooks behind the scenes at these universities.. And people are this worried about crab legs.

Enfuego · Apr 22, 2015

seldomseen said:
Of course he was given the crab legs. Guarantee this wasn't the first time he did it, nor was the first time another athlete walked into that Publix and got free food. I could of told everyone this a year ago. How is this a surprise to anyone?

The problem is, the story he told Harbaugh isn't what he told Jimbo. He told Jimbo he was confused and walked out on accident. That's not what he said last night on Draft Academy.

Why lie about it?

GoSooners · Apr 22, 2015

Enfuego said:
The problem is, the story he told Harbaugh isn't what he told Jimbo. He told Jimbo he was confused and walked out on accident. That's not what he said last night on Draft Academy.

Why lie about it?

My thought exactly

seldomseen · Apr 22, 2015

Enfuego said:
The problem is, the story he told Harbaugh isn't what he told Jimbo. He told Jimbo he was confused and walked out on accident. That's not what he said last night on Draft Academy.

Why lie about it?

How do you know this? Let's say he told Jimbo the same story as he told Harbaugh. What do you think Jimbo would have said when questioned about it?

Enfuego · Apr 22, 2015

seldomseen said:
How do you know this? Let's say he told Jimbo the same story as he told Harbaugh. What do you think Jimbo would have said when questioned about it?

How do I know what? The "forgetting" story is the story Jimbo has told the media as relayed to him by Winston. It's different than what he told Harbaugh on the show last night.

The story Jimbo has been saying is not an NCAA violation. What Winston said last night is.

seldomseen · Apr 22, 2015

Enfuego said:
How do I know what? The "forgetting" story is the story Jimbo has told the media as relayed to him by Winston. It's different than what he told Harbaugh on the show last night.

The story Jimbo has been saying is not an NCAA violation. What Winston said last night is.

So if Jameis told Fisher the same story he told Harbaugh what would Jimbo have told the media as relayed to him by Winston?

Enfuego · Apr 22, 2015

seldomseen said:
So if Jameis told Fisher the same story he told Harbaugh what would Jimbo have told the media as relayed to him by Winston?

Jameis Winston didn't tell Fisher the same story he told Harbaugh. That's the point.

He told Fisher he inadvertently walked out of the store without paying.

He told Harbaugh a guy that worked at Publix always hooked him and his friends up with free stuff and that day he took the crab legs was no different.

seldomseen · Apr 22, 2015

Enfuego said:
Jameis Winston didn't tell Fisher the same story he told Harbaugh. That's the point.

He told Fisher he inadvertently walked out of the store without paying.

He told Harbaugh a guy that worked at Publix always hooked him and his friends up with free stuff and that day he took the crab legs was no different.

Since neither of us was there let's pretend that Jameis told Jimbo exactly the same story as he told Harbaugh. Now if you're Jimbo Fisher what do you tell the media when questioned?

doubledeuce22 · Apr 22, 2015

Enfuego said:
How do I know what? The "forgetting" story is the story Jimbo has told the media as relayed to him by Winston. It's different than what he told Harbaugh on the show last night.

The story Jimbo has been saying is not an NCAA violation. What Winston said last night is.

You are putting wayyyy to much stock into what a poor decision making college kid did/said involving some free seafood at a grocery store.

PatsFan1283 · Apr 22, 2015

Should I be more outraged about this than the Britt McHenry thing? Or is this more like the Harrison kid using the N word?

I definitely wanna pretend this fools fascination with seafood is important but I'm just not sure how to participate.

GoSooners · Apr 22, 2015

seldomseen said:
Since neither of us was there let's pretend that Jameis told Jimbo exactly the same story as he told Harbaugh. Now if you're Jimbo Fisher what do you tell the media when questioned?

You tell the media he stole the crab legs. He knew full well that the Tallahassee police department wasn't going to do anything to him, and that Publix wouldn't press charges so he ran with it as a legal issue, because if they had come out with this "they were given to me" thing at the time, then the NCAA is crawling up Florida State's ass and he's missing games.