Chris Weinke

Christopher Jon Weinke (born July 31, 1972) is an American football coach and former football and baseball player. After spending six years in the Toronto Blue Jays minor league baseball system, he enrolled at Florida State University at the age of 25, and played college football as a quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles. He thereafter played in the National Football League (NFL), where he spent most of his career with the Carolina Panthers. Weinke played minor league baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system (Syracuse Mets; formerly the Syracuse Sky chiefs) from 1990 to 1996, advancing to class Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, before deciding to attend Florida State University. Head coach Bobby Bowden had initially recruited Weinke when he was a prep quarterback in 1989 at Cretin-Derham Hall High School. After quitting baseball, Weinke called Bowden, and Bowden offered him a scholarship with the 1997 recruiting class. After arriving he quickly distinguished himself as a starting quarterback, leading the team to victory in the 1999 national championship. In 2000, at 28, he became the oldest player to receive the Heisman Trophy. He was selected by the Panthers in the 2001 NFL draft, where he served mostly as backup quarterback until being released in 2006. He then spent one season with the San Francisco 49ers before leaving the NFL after the 2007 season. Weinke only had two victories as a starting quarterback in his NFL career. He won his first ever NFL game in the first game of the 2001 Carolina Panthers season, before losing the next 15, finishing the season with a 1–15 record. He also has the second longest losing streak in NFL history at seventeen, behind Dan Pastorini (21). Despite this, Weinke is tied with Geno Smith, Tim Tebow, Jameis Winston, and Dak Prescott for fifth most rushing touchdowns by a rookie quarterback with six.