Jackson Free Press

I didn't watch this year's Heisman Trophy presentation Saturday night. I knew who was going to win the award. It was a foregone conclusion, and I disagreed with it.

Sure enough, a quick check of Twitter after the show was over told me the award went to Florida State redshirt freshman Jameis Winston. Most believed that Winston was the Heisman favorite for the last two months of the season.

Winston won with 2,205 votes—well over double that of second-place Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron and his 704 votes. The win makes Winston the second-straight redshirt freshman to win the award, behind Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel.

Florida State is undefeated and will play Auburn for the national championship after playing a schedule (ranked 66th by ESPN) so weak it made Ohio State's schedule (ranked 59th) look daunting.

Personally, I couldn't vote for Winston after news came out that he had been accused of sexual assault more than a year ago. A YEAR AGO.

Last December, before he became the starting quarterback for the Seminoles and led them to undefeated season, Winston was accused of sexually assaulting a fellow student.

While the police sat on the investigation for a year, Winston was able to put up gaudy numbers against extremely weak competition. The accuser's family even claims that a detective on the case told them, "Tallahassee is a big football town," and her life could be ruined if she pursued the case.

After a quick investigation, Willie Meggs, the state attorney for the 2nd Judicial Circuit, which includes Leon County and Tallahassee, decided the evidence wasn't enough to pursue the case or bring charges. Meggs graduated from a Tallahassee high school, and got his bachelor's and law degree from Florida State.

How authorities handled the case would force me to withhold my Heisman vote for Winston (if I had a vote). Apparently 115 other Heisman voters have a moral compass and didn't just rubber-stamp Winston the winner, leaving him off their ballots completely.

ESPN's Ivan Maisel and Yahoo's Pat Forde (along with many others, by the looks of Winston's 668 first-place votes), both great sports writers, stated they felt free to vote for Winston because charges weren't filed. I guess I have a higher standard of burden for proof.

I'm a son, a husband and father to a daughter. With the way the case was handled, I can't give Winston my Heisman vote just because he wasn't charged. The fact that officials waited a year to investigate leaves a bad feeling in my gut.

I don't know if Maisel or Forde have daughters, but I can't turn off being a dad when giving an award. If the investigation had been handled in a timely manner, my thoughts might be different.

I would rather deny Winston the award—even if he is innocent—than chance fate and victimize the victim again (if she was assaulted) by waxing poetically about Winston's excellent season against inferior foes.

I am not alone. Maybe 115 others who voted feel the same way.