| | By Gregg Doyel
Special to ESPN.com
Chris Weinke plays the right position (quarterback). He plays at the right school (Florida State). He plays on the right channel (almost all of them).
Heisman Trophy prerequisites -- check.
"Chris is going to have a great chance at it this year," says FSU coach Bobby Bowden. "We won't push him for the award, just like we didn't with Peter Warrick or Charlie Ward, but we'll be on TV so much, the opportunity will be there."
Historically, dominating quarterbacks on dominating teams in the television-market bonanza that is Florida have fared well in Heisman balloting. In 1992, Miami's Gino Torretta -- probably not the best player in his own backfield, much less the entire country -- won the Heisman one year after leading the Hurricanes to the national championship. In 1993, Ward pulled off the Heisman-national championship double. Three years later, Danny Wuerffel of Florida did the same.
The exception to the rule actually has been Weinke, 28, who spent six seasons in professional baseball between high school and his freshman year of college. The Seminoles cruised to the national title last season, but Weinke finished 16th in the Heisman, well behind a safety from New Mexico (Brian Uhrlacher, 12th).
|  | | FSU's Chris Weinke threw for 3,103 yards and 25 TDs last season |
Unlike last season, which he entered as a lingering curiosity from his baseball travails, Weinke comes into 2000 with an impeccable gridiron resume. He threw for 3,103 yards and 25 touchdowns in the regular season, and added another 329 yards and four touchdowns in the title game against Virginia Tech. Weinke merely has to stay healthy to break every significant school passing record for a career.
The Heisman might follow.
"I think he is a very deserving candidate," says North Carolina coach Carl Torbush. "Chris Weinke is without a doubt one of the finest football players in the country."
Skeptics will say Weinke's stats of a year ago were bloated by receivers Peter Warrick and Laveranues Coles, now in the NFL. However, with that duo suspended for consecutive games last season against Miami and Wake Forest, Weinke threw for 332 and 354 yards.
Weinke's biggest Heisman obstacles are two quarterbacks who finished in the top four last season: Virginia Tech's Michael Vick, third, and Purdue's Drew Brees, fourth. Weinke's passing numbers might not compare to those of Brees, and his ESPN highlights might not compare to the dashing Vick's.
But neither Vick nor Brees has won a Hinesman. Of course, neither Vick nor Brees probably has heard of the Hinesman, an award FSU coaches give to the most dominating player in spring practice.
That was Weinke this season, winner of the 2000 Hinesman. The 2000 Heisman would make for a nice bookend to the season, although Weinke isn't exactly falling all over himself to push his candidacy.
"I don't know if I'm the best candidate, and it really doesn't matter to me," Weinke says. "If we win the national championship, that's all that matters to me. I didn't come back for my senior year to win the Heisman."
But he might anyway.
Gregg Doyel covers the ACC for The Charlotte Observer.
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Chris Weinke puts the Noles up for good with a 20-yard strike to Minnis.
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