Top 2015 NFL Draft prospect and expected first-overall selection quarterback Jameis Winston has been hammered by continuous reports of his low maturity level and questionable off-the-field antics throughout the pre-draft process.
Winston appeared on an episode of ESPN's Draft Academy on Tuesday night and revealed to University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh that at least one transgression linked to his name - the alleged pilfering of crustacean appendages - was not, in fact, a crime.
"How I'm supposed to handle, like, if I just got them for free? I just say, 'I just messed up?'" Winston pondered, via ESPN's news services.
In the segment, which was taped prior to the NFL rookie scouting combine in February, Winston explained to Harbaugh that the crab legs were given to him by a store employee - the same employee that had given him free food items during prior visits to the establishment.
"Well, a week before, it was my buddy's birthday and we had got a cake. And we met a dude that worked inside Publix and he said, 'Hey, anytime you come in here, I got you.' So that day we just walked out and he hooked us up with that," Winston said.
"And when I came in to get crab legs, I did the same thing and he just gave them to me and I walked out. And someone from inside the store had told the security that I didn't pay for them. And that's how the whole thing started."
Winston, a former Heisman Trophy-winner, was issued a civil citation on April 29, 2014 after walking out of a Tallahassee, Florida supermarket with what amounted to $32 worth of crab legs and crawfish.
Winston's former head coach at Florida State, Jimbo Fisher, said during the ACC spring teleconference that the Seminoles compliance department was looking into the matter.
"If he says it is, I guess it is," Fisher said of Winston. "I had no knowledge of it until I came in this morning. But FSU, we did make contact with Publix back then to make sure there was nothing going on."
Winston, despite a plethora of off-the-field concerns which include the allegedly stolen crab legs, accusations of rape, an investigation into whether or not he accepted money in exchange for autographs and a handful of other bone-headed decisions, is expected to be the first-overall selection of the 2015 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
