Heisman winner Chris Weinke joins Georgia Tech football staff
There’s one wildcard the NFL expects to crash the playoffs: COVID-19.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills said on Thursday that overseas patters of the Omicron strain of the coronavirus indicate the NFL should brace for high numbers the next “2-3 weeks.”
“When we start talking about projecting where we’re going to be, I like to quote that great medical scientist Yogi Berra, who says it’s really difficult to make projections, especially about the future,” Sills said in an NFL Network interview. “If we’ve learned anything, it’s that COVID can take us a lot of different directions. If this follows the trend we’ve seen in other countries, we do expect there will be a rapid decline with Omicron.
“I would see us being in the thick of this the next 2-3 weeks. Then hopefully seeing declining cases as we get later in our playoffs. We’ve been wrong about where this thing goes before.”
Several prominent players were among the lot added to the COVID/reserve list this week, including frontand-center starters for playoff teams such as Bengals running back Joe Mixon, Cowboys left tackle Tyron Smith and Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons.
Parsons is officially out for
Sunday’s game and won’t travel to Philadelphia with the team.
Protocol for COVID-19 testing and return to play shifted along with CDC guidelines shortening quarantine periods from 10 days to five days.
For playoff teams, that makes next Tuesday and Wednesday critical for testing, although asymptomatic, vaccinated players can be cleared before the five-day quarantine window.
An unvaccinated player testing positive next Tuesday would not be cleared to return for a Saturday wildcard game. The same is true of Wednesday testing for players scheduled to play wildcard Sunday.
Heisman Trophy winner and seven-year National Football League veteran Chris Weinke has joined Georgia Tech football’s staff as quarterbacks coach, head coach Geoff Collins announced on Tuesday.
Weinke, who won the 2000 Heisman Trophy as a quarterback at Florida State and led the Seminoles to a national championship in 1999, is a 10-year coaching veteran with experience at the high school, college and National Football League levels. He most recently spent three seasons at Tennessee, as running backs coach (2018) and quarterbacks coach (2019-20).
“I’m excited to welcome Chris and his family to the Georgia Tech football family,” Collins said. “In addition to being one of the great quarterbacks in college football history himself, Chris has coached and trained some of the game’s top quarterbacks, and I can’t wait for our talented quarterbacks to benefit from his knowledge and experience.”
With Weinke’s addition to the staff as quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator Chip Long will coach the Yellow Jackets’ tight ends in addition to his coordinator duties.
In addition to his three seasons at Tennessee, Weinke’s coaching resumé includes a season as an offensive analyst at national champion Alabama (2017), two seasons as quarterbacks coach with the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams (2015-16) and five seasons as the director of the IMG Football Academy (2010-14), including two seasons as head coach and offensive coordinator (2013-14).
In Weinke’s first season as Tennessee’s quarterbacks coach (2019), the Vols ranked 11th nationally and second in the Southeastern Conference in yards per completion (14.4 avg.), en route to an 8-5 record and Gator Bowl victory. Tennessee’s passing offense improved by 13 percent over the year prior to Weinke becoming the quarterbacks coach.
Prior to his arrival at Tennessee, Weinke served under head coach Nick Saban and offensive coordinator/ quarterbacks coach Brian Daboll (now the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo
Bills) as an offensive analyst at Alabama. Also working closely with Alabama’s offensive line coach Brent Key (now Georgia Tech’s assistant head coach/offensive line coach/run game coordinator), Weinke was instrumental in a high-powered Crimson Tide offense that ranked No. 15 nationally and included quarterbacks Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa, who are now starting quarterbacks for the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins, respectively. Alabama won the 2017 national title with a 26-23 overtime win over Georgia in the College Football Playoff championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Before entering the college coaching ranks, Weinke spent two seasons as quarterbacks coach with the St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams, where he coached now-veteran NFL signal-callers Nick Foles, Case Keenum and Jared Goff. Keenum enjoyed great success under Weinke, throwing for more than 3,000 yards in just 14 starts, while Weinke also helped build the foundation for Goff’s future success as the No. 1 draft pick’s first NFL position coach.
Weinke began his coaching career as the director of football at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. He launched IMG’s football academy in 2010 and gained extensive experience training quarterbacks for the NFL Draft, including future Pro Bowlers Russell Wilson, Cam Newton, Teddy Bridgewater, Ryan Tannehill and Kirk Cousins.
With Weinke serving as IMG Academy’s head coach and offensive coordinator in 2013 and 2014, the Ascenders went 19-2 and produced several NCAA Division I student-athletes, including Florida State quarterback Deondre Francois and Alabama running back Bo Scarbrough.
“I’m excited to be at Georgia Tech and grateful to Coach Collins for the opportunity,” Weinke said. “I already have a lot of familiarity with the staff, having previously worked with Chip (Long) and Brent (Key), having played with (defensive backs coach) Travares Tillman with the Panthers and having recruited (running backs coach) Mike Daniels’ players when he was a high school head coach. It’s an honor to join such a great group of coaches. I can’t wait to get started with all of them and the really talented players in the quarterback room.”
As a player, Weinke put together one of the best careers by a quarterback in college football history at Florida State from 1997-2000. He helped lead the Seminoles to four Atlantic Coast Conference championships in his four seasons at FSU and still owns school records for passing yards (9,839), completions (650) and touchdown passes (79) in a career. His 14 300-yard passing games are tied for the most in FSU history. As a junior in 1999, he threw for 3,105 yards and 25 touchdowns while completing 61.5% of his passes en route to a perfect 12-0 record and a 46-29 Sugar Bowl win over Virginia Tech that gave FSU the national championship. As a senior in 2000, he passed for a school-record 4,167 yards and a then-record 33 touchdowns while completing 61.7% of his passes, en route to winning the Heisman Trophy, the Johnny Unitas Award and the Davey O’Brien Award.