travisduncan
Gator Fan
Florida's Erik Murphy in Florida Gators 78-69 victory over the Auburn Tigers in the
First Round of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN (ICON SM)
Needless to say the arrest of Erik Murphy and Cody Larson is embarrassing for the Gator program.
Now that the arrest audio is public, the situation reinforces stereotypes about privileged Division-1 athletes who believe they can say and do what they want and don't believe there will be consequences because they are members of the hoops or football team.
For a few who would probably be critical of the UF program anyhow, it reinforces the idea that Gator athletes are arrested more often than athletes at other schools.
Billy Donovan had this to say:
“I want to find out if what was out there, how that plays itself out. I don’t know where I’m at until I find out more. I talked to both of them yesterday and told them upfront that I was not in a position to talk about what they were going through. They’ll have to get legal representation."
If I had to guess, based on Donovan's comments, he will give them both a second chance premised on several factors including if they are convicted, pre-trial diversion, plea bargains, etc. al a Chris Rainey. But you have to wonder how much Donovan really wants to deal with things like this at this point in his career.
First Coast News has the audio of their arrest. If you give a listen, it sounds like a bad episode of America's Dumbest Criminals, as they strategize about how to get out of the mess while sitting in a police cruiser.
Head scratching aside, they made a mistake, and they are just kids who lack experience, we've all been there.
Murphy is just 18 years old and Larson is 19. In Larson's case, he is still on probation for a February 2010 arrest back in South Dakota for distributing pain killers.
Meanwhile, Donovan brought in an old comrade and another veteran coach this week as assistants. John Pelfrey and Norm Roberts, both former Division-1 coaches, will be on campus this week to begin work on the Gators staff. Pelfrey was the head coach at Arkansas until this year and a former Gator assistant ('96-'02) and Roberts formerly the head coach of St. Johns until the of the 2009-2010 season.
The Gators staff suddenly become one of the more 'long in the tooth' coaching staffs in the business, even after the departures of Richard Pitino, Rob Lanier and associate head coach Larry Shyatt. Pitino is headed to Louisville to coach with his father, and there has been some talk he could be the coach in waiting, after his dad retires.
-Meanwhile, Walter Pitchford, a 6-foot-9 forward from East Lansing, Mi who played prep ball this past season, finally signed his letter of intent this week and will join the hoops team next fall.
Will Muschamp had a quote to CBSSports.com which indicates the shift of philosophy in a way from the Meyer era.
"Now we want to build an identity as a blue collar, overachieving team. If we recruit good players and they buy into that work ethic we will be fine. Do I wish we could have done more in spring practice? Sure, but you know what? Nobody is going to feel sorry for the Gators."
Muschamp's official website has posted a 2-minute highlight video from spring practice.
UF is recruiting Holy Trinity Episcopal's Marcus Maye (Melbourne, Fla.). The Class of 2012 linebacker told ESPN that Florida is his top school.
According to the report, at UF he would play as a safety or a linebacker hybrid.
He said this about his visit last weekend, "I enjoyed the spring game, I got a good opportunity to check out their defense, the safeties and nickel backs and see how they operate."
The rankings from most services haven't come out yet for 2012, but needless to say he's one of the top linebackers in the country which other schools recruiting him such as 'Bama, Florida State, Miami and LSU.
