Weinke played minor league baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system from 1990 to 1996, advancing to class Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs, before deciding to attend Florida State University.
Head coach Bobby Bowden had initially recruited Weinke when he was a prep quarterback in 1989 at Cretin-Derham Hall High School.
Despite this, Weinke is tied with Geno Smith, Tim Tebow, Jameis Winston, and Dak Prescott for fifth most rushing touchdowns by a rookie quarterback with six.
[citation needed] Although he was only one step away from playing in the major leagues, after the 1996 season Weinke decided to give up professional baseball and took a scholarship at Florida State University.
As a sophomore in 1998, Weinke led the Florida State Seminoles to a 9–1 record and #2 national ranking before a season-ending neck injury by Patrick Kerney in the Virginia game forced him to the sidelines for the rest of the season.
During his junior season in 1999, he led the #1-ranked Seminoles to the school's first undefeated national championship,[7] defeating Michael Vick and the Virginia Tech Hokies, 46–29.
He also led the Seminoles to the Orange Bowl for their third national championship game in as many years, where they lost 13–2 to the Oklahoma Sooners.
The consensus All-American honor for quarterback in 2000 went to the Heisman runner-up that year, Oklahoma's Josh Heupel, now the head football coach at the University of Tennessee.
Weinke threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Ricky Proehl, giving the Panthers the 21–20 win over the Lions.
The Panthers lost the game, but Weinke threw for 423 yards, topping the previous single-game team record of 373 set by Steve Beuerlein.
The San Francisco 49ers signed Weinke on December 12, 2007, after injuries to quarterbacks Alex Smith, Trent Dilfer and Shaun Hill.
After retirement, Weinke and his family lived in Austin, Texas, where he worked as a vice-president in marketing and event-planning for Triton Financial.
In 2011, Weinke worked with the Carolina Panthers' number one draft pick Cam Newton at IMG up to two hours a day during the NFL lockout.