Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston has won the Heisman Trophy. The announcement comes little more than a week after Florida State Attorney William Meggs announced that no charges would be filed in the rape case against the 19-year-old college freshman, and only days after the attorney for Winston's accuser called for an independent investigation into the case.
Winston is the youngest player to take home the award. "I cannot explain the feeling that I have inside right now," he said of the award. "I'm so overwhelmed. It's awesome."
More on the announcement from BuzzFeed:
Winston drew 668 first-place votes and 2,205 points from a panel of media members and former winners, good for the seventh-largest margin of victory in the history of the award. He managed that large margin despite being left off 115 of the 900 ballots.
In the largest field of candidates since 1994, Winston followed Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel’s footsteps in becoming only the second freshman to win the award.
Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron finished a distant second, Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch was third, Boston College running back Andrew Williams was fourth, Manziel was fifth and Auburn running back Tre Mason finished sixth in the voting.
Winston is also the third quarterback from Florida State to win the Heisman, joining Charlie Ward from 1993 and Chris Weinke from 2000. He did it without much of the preseason hype that has accompanied winners in the past, not even earning the starting position for the Seminoles until a couple weeks before the start of the season.
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