Jameis Winston took out a $10 million insurance policy just in case he has some sort of career ending injury or loses value from slipping in the draft. According to Tomahawk Nation, FSU is also pitching in on the policy using their student assist fund:
Following the Feldman article, I put feelers out to sources at Florida State, and they have confirmed that Florida State’s athletic department does plan to pay Winston’s premium, which is expected to be in the $55-60K range estimated by Yahoo! Sports.
If that does come out of Florida State’s Student Assistance Fund, it would be a large chunk of the pool, but Winston is by far Florida State’s most valuable athlete.
This raises a very interesting question. Should schools be allowed to pitch in on star players’ insurance policies to help keep them in school? My gut feeling is yes because it really helps college football by having these guys around longer and that will likely be the fan reaction. The players also get to stick around and perhaps earn their degree which can help them in the future. I see this one as a win-win, until someone abuses it.