HOT SPRINGS, Va. -- Florida State linebackers Ernie Sims and A.J. Nicholson will both be in the lineup for the Sept. 5 season opener against Miami, despite their summer brushes with the law.
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said Monday he'll handle the discipline since the legal issues are misdemeanors.
Sims was arrested following an early morning fight with his live-in girlfriend outside a university residence hall. Nicholson had a pair of run-ins with local police, including a misdemeanor DUI.
"There are more ways to discipline other than suspension," Bowden said at the Atlantic Coast Conference's football media kickoff. "You've heard of pain, haven't you?"
One of Bowden's favorite punishments through the years has been making players run stadium steps for mistakes of many kinds, including those involving police.
Bowden also said redshirt freshmen Xavier Lee and Drew Weatherford will be even when the quarterback competition starts next month. And unless one player clearly separates during the August workouts, Bowden said he wouldn't hesitate to play both.
Aside from their legal distractions, the Seminoles also have a slew of problems to contend with as they enter Bowden's 30th year the helm.
The season's anticipated starting quarterback, Wyatt Sexton, will miss the season while he's treated for Lyme disease.
"Who could have ever predicted Lyme disease?" Bowden asked. "The good news is it's something that's curable."
Bowden said he has not yet visited Sexton, the son of Florida State assistant coach Billy Sexton.
"Until his parents say 'go by and see him,' I will not," the 75-year-old coach said.
The Seminoles will also be without cornerback Antonio Cromartie for the season. A first team all-conference pick a year ago, Cromartie had surgery last week after he injured his left knee during a voluntary workout earlier this month.
Cromartie also returned kickoffs as one of the team's fastest players.
Florida State also has an academic casualty.
Clifton Dickson, the team's most dominating interior defensive lineman in the spring, was declared academically ineligible and must graduate from a community college before he can be readmitted to the university.
"We've always had somebody in trouble, somebody with grades," Bowden said. "That's life. It's the way it is."
With all the turmoil, Bowden was mildly surprised writers voted the Seminoles to win the Atlantic Division of the ACC by a fairly comfortable margin. Florida State received 65 first-place votes compared to 24 for league newcomer Boston College.
"Y'all must not read the newspapers," he joked.
FSU Boston 
