Florida State's Weinke wins Unitas award

Tuesday, November 21st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Louisville-AP) -- Florida State's Chris Weinke was named the 2000 recipient of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award today. The award is given annually to the nation's top senior quarterback.

Weinke was chosen from five finalists by a panel of football experts nationwide. The other finalists included Drew Brees of Purdue, Bart Hendricks of Boise State, Josh Heupel of Oklahoma and Marques Tuiasosopo of Washington.

Weinke, a native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, leads all Division One-A passers with more than 41-hundred passing yards and ranks second behind Hendricks with 33 touchdown passes this season. The Seminoles (11-1) are ranked third in the nation after a 30-to-7 win over Florida on Saturday.

Weinke will receive the award in Louisville on December Eighth. N-F-L Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas will make the official presentation. Unitas is a former Louisville quarterback for whom the award is named.

Previous winners of the award include Louisville's Chris Redman (1999), UCLA's Cade McNown (1998), Tennessee's Peyton Manning (1997) and former Florida State quarterbacks Casey Weldon (1991,) and Charlie Ward (1993).