By Scott Salomon
Florida State wide receiver Johnny Wilson announced on Wednesday that he will opt out of playing in the Orange Bowl against Georgia, and instead will forego his senior season and enter the NFL Draft, as first reported by ESPN's Pete Thamel.
The redshirt junior, who originally signed with Arizona State, will participate in the Senior Bowl and look to improve his draft stock, where is projected to be selected on the second day.
Despite nagging injuries, Wilson ended the 2023 campaign with 41 catches for 617 yards and two touchdowns.
In 2022, when Wilson was healthy and the primary target of Seminole quarterback Jordan Travis, the receiver recorded 43 catches for an amazing 895 yards and five touchdowns. The emergence of transfer Keon Coleman and an injury limited Wilson in 2023, but he had a stellar season nonetheless.
The bigger story is whether or not his former Seminole teammates will join him in not participating in the game. AP's Miami-based sports writer Tim Reynolds reported Wednesday that the Coaches Press Conference scheduled for today was canceled. There is no word on why it was canceled or whether it will be rescheduled.
Rumors have been circulating through the College Football world that Florida State players are so dismayed at not being selected for the College Football Playoff that they might boycott the consolation prize and not show up to play the game against Georgia at Hard Rock Stadium.
Florida State was dropped from the fourth and final playoff spot for Alabama after the Seminoles capped off an undefeated season and captured the ACC Championship Saturday night. The Seminoles watch party looked like a funeral on Sunday, and the players are reportedly still remiss from being left out of the tournament and might be looking to make a statement.
“This is a travesty to the sport,” said ESPN's Booger McFarland said Sunday. “Because we go out there on the field and we play the game, and regardless of whether it looks good at the QB position . . . the name of the game is to win. The fact that this committee could take a Power 5 conference champion that’s undefeated and [leave them out] based on the eye test has me bothered right now.”
ESPN's Greg McElroy, who won a national title at Alabama, said the following on Sunday following FSU's playoff snub.
“A lot of people will have big issues with this,” McElroy said. “They’ll ask, ‘why do we play the games?’ But the committee actually did the thing that they’ve talked about for the last 10 years. They took a step back, they acknowledged injury and they put in the four best teams. And that is not an easy thing to do, so I want to tip my hat to the committee.”
Georgia, meanwhile, the number one team for most of the season, dropped to sixth in the final regular season polls after a three-point loss to the Crimson Tide in the SEC title game in Atlanta. Had Georgia won the game, they would have been playing for a potential, unprecedented third straight national championship.
What ultimately happens will play out in the next few weeks. All we know for certain is that Wilson won't play to collect a participation trophy and that the coaches, who looked like they were going to the electric chair on Sunday, have unilaterally canceled a press conference for today.
It will be interesting to see what happens as we lead up to the game, which should be at 8 pm on December 30th.
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