INDIANAPOLIS — Heisman Trophy winner Chris Weinke would like to play in Cincinnati, where he would be reunited with former Florida State teammates Peter Warrick and Ron Dugans.

        “It'd be nice. I built such a great relationship with those guys while I was in college,” Weinke said Sunday night after he participated in the NFL scouting combine. “I feel comfortable with both of them. Who knows? It would be a great fit for me to throw to two guys I threw to in college.”

        And the Bengals are interested in Weinke.

        “Without question,” said Jim Lippincott, director of pro/college personnel. “He's very much on the list of quarterbacks we like.”

        In an effort to revive the NFL's worst passing game, Cincinnati officials want to bring in two or three quarterbacks to compete with Akili Smith in training camp for the starting job. The Bengals are expected to re-sign veteran Scott Mitchell, draft a quarterback and sign a veteran free agent, possibly Seattle's Jon Kitna.

        Quarterbacks coach Ken Anderson interviewed Weinke in Indianapolis, and Weinke's physical talent, ma turity and leadership skills stand on their own merits. He's already involved with several Florida charities, and friends predict Weinke will be elected to Congress after his pro football career.

        “You don't draft a guy because of who he played with in college,” Lippincott said. “You draft him because he's the best guy available at the time who can help your team.”

        Warrick and Dugans were the Bengals' Nos.1 and 3 draft choices a year ago, and they were believed to be the first set of wide receivers from the same school to start for the same team as rookies.

        “Who wouldn't want to play with guys they played with in college?” Dugans said Sunday night. “It's quite a remark to hear Chris say he would like to play with us. It makes me feel good.”

        Dugans, who started five games and played in another nine, had 14 receptions for 125 and one touchdown as a Bengals rookie. Warrick, the No.4 overall draft pick, started all 16 games and had 51 catches for 592 yards and four TDs. He also scored touchdowns rushing and on a return.

        Weinke missed several games as a junior in 1998 because of a back injury, but he returned in 1999, and Weinke, Warrick and Dugans led the Seminoles to the national championship.

        The trio accounted for more than 110 completions, almost 1,600 passing yards and 11 touchdown passes.

        The back injury and resulting surgery, along with Weinke's age, 28, were the big questions teams had about him entering the combine.

        Doctors from every NFL team examined Weinke, and he spent several hours Saturday at an Indianapolis hospital being looked at with more sophisticated medical equipment.

        “Everyone who checked it out said it's stable,” Weinke said of his back, injured in the 1998 game against Virginia when he was hit in the neck. The blow chipped a vertebra and ruptured a disc. Surgeons inserted a metal plate and fused two vertebrae.

        His recent run at Florida State was the second time he had been in Tallahassee. He enrolled in 1990 on a football scholarship but accepted a big bonus to play professional baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays system. After he failed to make the big leagues in six seasons, he returned to college football.

        Weinke won 25 consecutive games and left Florida State with a 32-3 record as a starter in three seasons.

        Now he's prepared to enter the NFL draft at 28, an age — he said — that's a plus, not a minus.

        “It's positive in terms of me going into the league and being able to pick things up quicker,” he said. “I don't have to go through the growing pains of being a professional athlete. I've already done that. Everyone I talked to here said age isn't a concern.”

        Even though he won the Heisman after throwing for 4,167 yards in 2000, Weinke is projected as a middle-round draft pick in April.

        “I have no idea where I will end up or when I will be drafted,” he said.

Weinke-Warrick reunion possible Browns coach has big goals

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