Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton made waves in the NFL on Sunday for his comments about the number of hits he was taking on the field and might even go as far as to bring it up with it up with commissioner Roger Goodell.
As it turns out, he might have somebody in the college game looking to do the same as well.
Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher told reporters on Monday that he wants stiffer penalties for late hits on quarterbacks, just a few days after his own signal-caller Deondre Francois was beaten up in a tough loss to Clemson over the weekend.
“I think we have to do a better of job of really emphasizing like they do in pro football,” Fisher said, according to ESPN. “Late hits need to be really, really scrutinized and maybe even more severe punishments to stop people, like we throw guys out of games for head shots. If you’re going to do that and you want to protect [players] and the integrity of the game, make those penalties very severe for hitting [quarterbacks] late.”
Fisher was reprimanded by the ACC and the program fined a whopping $20,000 on Sunday after the coach complained mightily about the officials and a lack of a targeting call on Clemson when Francois was nearly knocked out of the game late in the fourth quarter. The quarterback is apparently a little sore and bruised up after the outing but is still in line to play at N.C. State this week.
While Fisher probably won’t get many sympathetic ears right now after his little tirade following Saturday’s loss, you do wonder about his larger point becoming something the rest of the sport will address over the offseason. The NFL has stiffened rules in recent years to protect the quarterback and college football has increasingly tried to outlaw big hits and protect players from concussions.
Could we see NFL-style rules filter down to the college game so quarterbacks don’t take shots like Francois did against Clemson? That’s anybody’s guess but one coaches around the country are likely to rally behind.