Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said Thursday he is hopeful the half-game suspension for Jameis Winston is enough to change his quarterback's behavior.
"The object isn't to punish them; it's to change their behavior," Fisher said during an appearance on SiriusXM's "College Sports Nation," as per coachingsearch.com. "We can punish easily, but does the punishment change behavior? ... In silly mistakes like this, there's no doubt (Winston hasn't learned), so we have to continue to educate and find another way to do it. Maybe this punishment will do that. We'll find out."
Fisher also said Winston has had trouble understanding his status.
"You can't do what normal people do," Fisher said. "There were other students doing it there, but you cannot. You were wrong. You're Jameis Winston. We live in a glass house. You can't do the things other people do."
Further, Fisher said, "I think the Heisman Trophy may mean more to all of us than it does to him, and I don't mean that in disrespect to the Heisman. He still sees himself as 'Jameis.' We see him as 'Jameis, the Heisman Trophy winner.' And that's what he has to see, in my opinion, because that's when the actions will change."
Fisher was asked how he would handle things if backup quarterback Sean Maguire plays well in the first half and consistently moves FSU's offense.
"Jameis is still your guy, but we'll have to see the flow of the game and what goes on," Fisher said. "I've thought of that, hypothetically, a bunch of times. I really have. It's got to be a feel, a game-time decision, what's going on. I will have that discussion with those guys before the game because I think it's unfair to both of them to surprise them. That's one thing, as a coach, you have to do because that's when relationships become broken.
"I'll tell you this: If we're winning big and Jameis thought that was the best way for us to win the game, as much as he'd want to play, he wouldn't have one problem with it. I truly believe that."
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
