travisduncan
Gator Fan
ICON Sports Media
It's Monday afternoon and there has not been a peep from a Florida official concerning the weekend arrest of cornerback Janoris Jenkins.
Jenkins was arrested in a parking lot late Friday night-early Saturday morning (around 12:30 a.m.) for possession of a marijuana cigar in the console of the car he was sitting in.
As has been well publicized, this is his third legal problem/arrest since June of 2009 and his second pot related charge since January.
Will Muschamp will ultimately be judged on wins, but in the short term, he'll be judged on how he handles this situation.
Coaches say all the time they want to do things a certain way, and that certain off-the-field behavior won't be tolerated. Often though, as long as the coach and player are on good terms the athlete is allowed to stay with the program for so-called "minor crimes".
Will CWM really do what Urban Meyer did not, though the former had his reasons, and simply kick a very talented player off the team-a tough decision given the depth issues and the pressure to win games in his inaugural season.
But Muschamp makes 2.7 million per year.
Don't feel sorry for him.
Let's hope we don't get a "we'll handle this matter internally on this one".
Apparently he's already dealt internally with two arrests earlier this year, those of sophomore linebacker Kendric Johnson and freshman linebacker Chris Martin.
Johnson and Martin were arrested in January for marijuana possession, and took a pre-trial deferment. Somehow, someway we didn't hear anything about his, until the Palm Beach Post over the weekend, in conjunction with the news that Jenkins was arrested for marijuana possession, broke the story.
No matter how you feel about marijuana use, the news headlines that three Gators were arrested is embarrassing for UF and has the potential to create stress around the program.
But in reality, the way it works in college football is you win, and nobody remembers the arrests or even talks about them.
Muschamp has said he was going to get tough on player misbehavior off the field, and do things 'The Florida way'.
Besides the obvious depletion of roster spots left and right, should Jenkins be suspended or kicked off the team, this is not how Muschamp wanted to begin his tenure as a head coach.
But don't feel sorry for him. That's why he is paid $2.7 million. He's not just paid to know the X's and Os, recruit, etc, maybe a wideouts coach is, but a head coach at a Top 10 program, is paid to be the face of the university and handle the good and the bad.
As for Jenkins, two arrests for marijuana in three months seems downright foolish and it's hard to imagine that he should be allowed back on the field right away if he is allowed to finish his college football career at Florida.
He's a three year starter, and is considered first-round NFL draft material.
If he's gone the Gators are going to be hurting at cornerback.
-ESPN's relationship with Florida is strong and that's good for UF, regardless of your opinion of the World Wide Leader in general.
-Muschamp's big visit to the campus Thursday didn't reveal too much, but it's all about facetime at this point.
But if you are interested here's the story about how he and Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher co-own a beach house.
-ESPN's College Football Live, released a pre-season Top 25 poll and they have the Gators at No. 18. 'Bama is N0. 2, and LSU is No. 4, Florida State is No. 6, Arkansas No. 13 but Auburn minus Nick Fairley and Cam Newton is projected as No. 22.
-Muschamp spoke with ESPN senior writer Ivan Maisel on his podcast Thursday.
-Billy Donovan has filled out his coaching staff. He has hired Florida-Atlantic assistant Mike McCall.
McCall served on the basketball staff at UF for seven years while completing his undergrad and grad degrees.
Here's what Donovan had to say about bringing him back.
"Matt is someone that worked for our program for seven years, he knows the University of Florida and he knows me. I felt, in losing three assistant coaches, that it was really important to have a level of familiarity on my staff."
“He is a hard worker, he was a part of us winning two national championships here and he helped FAU win its league title this year. He has great ties in the state of Florida, will be a great fit to our staff and I'm thrilled to have Matt come back to the University of Florida."
