Florida State offensive coordinator Jimbo Fisher, who will be taking over the program from Bobby Bowden after the Gator Bowl, said the key to avoiding academic issues is diligently checking out prospect's grades and character.

"Young men who don’t do very well in school usually don’t do very well on the field,'' he said when asked about ESPN's "Outside the Line'' installment on Sunday that focused on FSU's admitting a large number of learning-disabled student-athletes and then helping them stay eligible.

"Why would I want a guy who’s not good in the classroom because I’ve got to teach him the same things on the field. Today’s football is a different animal. You can’t play with guys who can’t learn. The old day of saying we’re going to line up like we used to and run four plays. ... Guys have to have intelligence. They have to have the ability to learn and the more we’re around them, the more we see it.''

He added that he doesn't want players who don't want to be in a school.

"I loved ball more than I loved school; I didn’t love it,'' he said. "But I knew I had to have it to get what I wanted and be who I wanted to be and what’s wrong with that? We can help educate the world that way. ... We’ll win games with talent. We’ll win championships with character. That’s the way we’ve got to go about it -- (get) character and intelligence.''