On Florida State’s spring to-do list, finding a replacement for two-year starter EJ Manuel is somewhere at or near the top.
Four players will enter spring practice with an opportunity to win the job -- Clint Trickett, Jacob Coker, Sean Maguire and Jameis Winston. At least for now, and as expected, Trickett will head into the 15 practice sessions as the No. 1 quarterback, head coach Jimbo Fisher confirmed Monday.
Trickett spent the 2012 season as Manuel’s primary backup, appearing in eight games and completing 65 percent of his 34 attempts for 272 yards. He’s also started two games the past two seasons, the only one of the contenders to have started at the collegiate level. Coker, a redshirt sophomore, saw action in four games last season while Maguire, who Fisher warned people not to sell short in the competition, returns for his redshirt freshman season.
Winston, a redshirt as a true freshman last season, was the most highly-rated of the four coming to FSU, a five-star member of the Seminoles’ 2012 recruiting class and Rivals.com’s top dual-threat quarterback. The 6-4, 220-pound Winston is pulling double-duty as a member of FSU’s baseball team, although Fisher said earlier this month that the stick-and-ball sport will have no impact on Winston’s availability for spring practice or his chances of landing the starting job.
For now, though, it appears the job is Trickett’s to lose. For his part, Fisher would give no timeline for naming a starter at the position.
“I have no timetable on anything,” Fisher said according to ESPN.com. “I never put a timetable on anything.”
The Seminoles open spring practice Wednesday. They open the 2013 season Labor Day against Pittsburgh, which will mark the Panthers’ debut as members of the ACC.
