Chris Weinke returning on Saturday to the stadium where he became a star

He still remembers the last time he played a football game inside Doak Campbell Stadium.

Heck, how could he forget it?

He was one of the frontrunners for the Heisman Trophy. His team was one win away from a spot in the national championship game. And he was sick as a dog.

Chris Weinke is currently the quarterbacks coach at Georgia Tech, which Florida State hosts on Saturday at noon, but back then he was an All-America QB looking for a second straight national title. And he was looking to beat the Florida Gators. Again.

“The night before (the game) I stayed at Dr. (Kris) Stowers’ house,” Weinke said on Wednesday with a smile. “They wanted to keep me away from the team. It was one of those games where I actually walked with Dr. Stowers through a bunch of tailgates on the way to the locker room.

“But that was a big win for us, obviously. A lot of big wins there in Doak Campbell.”

Ya think?

Weinke wound up throwing for 353 yards and three touchdowns in the Seminoles’ 30-7 win over No. 4 Florida that night. It was a fitting end for a quarterback, who rewrote the record books during his time at Florida State, finishing with a bevy of school records that still stand — including career passing yards and touchdowns.

In his three years as the starter for the Seminoles, he finished with a career record of 32-3.

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What makes him laugh now, some 25 years after he re-enrolled at FSU following a minor-league baseball career, was that Mark Richt literally told him he should go elsewhere to play college football.

It was on a recruiting trip, in October of 1996, with the Seminoles hosting Clemson that Weinke and Richt met about the quarterback’s future. When Weinke left Florida State to go play professional baseball with the Toronto Blue Jays organization in 1990, head coach Bobby Bowden had told him he’d have a scholarship waiting if he ever decided to return to the gridiron.

Six years later, on that visit during Clemson weekend, Weinke sat down with Richt and told him he was ready to pick up a football again

“He was trying to talk me out of coming back,” Weinke said with a smile. “He had Drew Henson on an official visit that weekend. They felt like they were going to get a commitment from him that weekend. So, they were leaning towards trying to talk me out of coming.

“Well, I asked Coach Richt one question. I said, ‘If I’m the best guy, will I play?” And he said, ‘We’re always going to play the best guy.'”

Weinke’s response to that news was, “Well, I’m coming back.”

Thirty-two wins, a national championship and a Heisman Trophy later, it worked out for everyone involved.

Except maybe Drew Henson.

Even when he was playing, Weinke always envisioned being a coach one day. He didn’t take the normal route after his playing days were over, becoming a graduate assistant at a big program — instead he helped open up the IMG Football Academy in Florida, which has since become a national juggernaut.

But he’s been on the college coaching carousel for a while now, starting as an offensive analyst at Alabama in 2017, going to Tennessee for three years before joining the Georgia Tech staff.

Weinke said he’s a tough coach, and anyone who remembers the way he played, isn’t surprised at all by that admission. But he will always be forever grateful for getting the chance to play under Richt and Bowden during his formative football years.

“One of the reasons I wanted to be a coach was the influence that Mark Richt had on me, that Coach Bowden had on me,” Weinke said.

Now, for the first time since his “flu game” against Florida in 2000, Weinke will be back competing inside Doak Campbell Stadium.

He’ll be wearing different colors. But he’ll certainly take a moment when he walks back inside, or maybe when Renegade and Osceola do their thing before the game, to reflect on all the great moments he and his teammates had inside that building over two decades ago.

“It’s a homecoming for me, in a sense,” Weinke said. “Obviously, I was back down there for Coach Bowden’s funeral. Prior to that, the previous spring, I was down. Spent a little time with Coach [Mike] Norvell. I obviously know some guys on that staff. And so, I love it down there. I really enjoyed my time down there.

“I haven’t been able to spend as much time down there. Obviously, in this profession you don’t get a lot of free time. But looking forward to getting back down there.”

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.