Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said Monday that backup quarterback Jacob Coker will have arthroscopic surgery Tuesday and could miss the rest of the season.
Coker (6-foot-5, 230 pounds), a third-year sophomore, battled redshirt freshman Jameis Winston for the Seminoles' starting quarterback job during spring practice and fall camp. Though Coker played well, Winston won the job -- and is a leading Heisman contender who has FSU ranked No. 2 in the BCS standings.
Coker was injured during this past Saturday's rout of Wake Forest. Fisher said it was possible Coker could return this season.
FSU should roll in its next three games -- Syracuse, Idaho and Florida -- and a legitimate question was how much playing time Winston would get in the likely blowouts and whether that would hamper his Heisman hopes. Two other top challengers, Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel and Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, don't have any "gimme" games the rest of the way.
With Coker out, perhaps for the rest of the season, that question becomes more interesting. Winston's new backup is redshirt freshman Sean Maguire (6-3, 215), who has played sparingly in five games and thrown two passes.
There have been reports that Coker -- who attended the same high school, St. Paul's Episcopal in Mobile, Ala., as Alabama's AJ McCarron -- will graduate in December and thus be able to transfer to another school and have immediate eligibility.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
