Posted by Jerry Hinnen

The latest Florida Gator to be arrested has also become the latest Gator to be suspended.

Rising sophomore tight end A.C. Leonard was suspended indefinitely by Florida head coach Will Muschamp Thursday, following Leonard's Wednesday evening arrest on charges of simple domestic battery.

"This behavior will not will be tolerated and A.C. has been suspended from team activities at this time," Muschamp said in a statement. "I certainly don't condone this type of behavior - it is not what we expect from the University of Florida football program."

That may be the case, but it's only fair to say that arrests of one kind or another are precisely what many other people expect from the University of Florida football program--Leonard's was the 10th arrest of a Gator since Muschamp's hire 14 months ago. And the details of this one are uglier than most: according to the account given to police by Leonard's girlfriend, Leonard knocked her over with a two-handed shove, attempted to drag her out of their apartment by her hair, did pull her out by grabbing both feet, then locked the door. She reportedly suffered abrasions on both arms.

Leonard was jailed overnight Wednesday and released on his own recognizance Thursday. A blue-chip prospect in Muschamp's inaugural 2011 recruiting class, he caught eight passes for 99 yards his freshman season.

In Muschamp's defense, of the nine Gators arrested during his tenure (former corner Janoris Jenkins was arrested twice in early 2011 before being dismissed), eight of them were either signed or recruited by his predecessor Urban Meyer, Leonard included. But it was also Muschamp who vowed when he was hired that the Gators would adhere to a higher standard of behavior he dubbed the "Florida Way"; as of yet, those words seem to have fallen on deaf ears where his roster is concerned.

And judging by this picture of an (as of yet officially) unidentified Florida player riding his scooter inside the Gator football complex, tweeted early Friday morning by safety Matt Elam, those ears haven't gone un-deaf yet:

Photo HT: Throw the Flag.

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Posted by Jerry Hinnen

Unfortunately for Will Muschamp, the 2012 offseason has started much the same way the 2011 version did: with a player arrested on marijuana charges.

Last January, it was soon-to-be-dismissed corner Janoris Jenkins. This January, according to student newspaper the Alligator, it's sophomore defensive tackle Leon Orr, arrested Jan. 10 after a search of Orr's dorm room. Orr is charged with possession of marijuana and of drug paraphernalia. 

According to the police report obtained by the Alligator, university police searched Orr's dorm room (with his consent) about 30 minutes before midnight, finding a "baggy [sic] of a green leafy substance, a glass pipe and rolling papers." Orr admitted to owning the items and was arrested.

It wasn't immediately clear why police had been called to Orr's room or why they has asked to search it. Both possession charges are misdemeanors, with Orr's court date set for Feb. 8. 

Since ranking as one of the top prospects in the nation when signing with Florida in 2010, Orr has been mostly relegated to backup duty, redshirting two seasons ago and collecting just 10 tackles (with one sack) in 20112.

Orr's arrest is the fifth in less than a year of a Gator player on marijuana charges, two of them belonging to Jenkins and two to other players last January. All together, eight different Gators have been arrested since Muschamp's hire, despite his pledge to have his players act in accordance with the "Florida Way." The Gators had already developed a thick reputation for off-field misdeeds under Urban Meyer, with Muschamp's stern words and emphasis on discipline expected to produce a change in his team's offseason behavior.

We don't want to make too much out of a routine possession arrest, one that occurs dozens of times on college campuses across the country every week. But there's also no point in pretending that, to this point, the "Florida Way" -- no matter who's the coach -- means petty criminal behavior, arrests, and marijuana problems. Muschamp still has a long way to go.

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Posted by Jerry Hinnen

In the end, the details of Janoris Jenkins' departure from the Florida Gators are just that: details. Whether Jenkins had any say in the matter, or whether he was simply dimissed by Will Muschamp following his second marijuana-related arrest in a matter of weeks, Jenkins will be playing his football somewhere else in 2011 regardless (if he plays at all).

But that doesn't mean Jenkins didn't deserve to offer the record his side of the story, as he emphatically did in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel Wednesday. Muschamp had tweeted that he and Jenkins "both felt" it was best for Jenkins to "move ahead to the next stage of his career." But according to Jenkins, it was only his coach who felt that way: 

"The only thing he said was I was dismissed as soon as I walked in the room," Jenkins said. "He washed his hands of me" ...

"They know he didn't give me no option to make. … There was nothing else I could have done or said."

Jenkins mentor Sandy Cornelio, who said he had also been present for Muschamp's meeting with Jenkins, claimed that the coach had offered Jenkins "no explanation" for his decision.

Of course, Muschamp didn't really have to spell things out for Jenkins, did he? Given his public mandate to put an end to the Gators' string of arrests under Urban Meyer and instill a greater sense of discipline in the team, Muschamp couldn't really let a three-time arrested star go unpunished without appearing to be as "soft" as Meyer was frequently criticzed for being. Jenkins may complain, but the conflict here really shouldn't be about Muschamp's decisions regarding his team.

That said, if the decision was entirely Muschamp's, he should be honest enough to present it as such. (A Florida athletic department spokesman said the school "stand[s] by" the earlier statement.) Besides: there didn't seem to be much doubt in the reaction to the news that Jenkins hadn't really left by choice anyway. The only functional difference in claiming the decision was mutual and admitting it wasn't was making an already acrimonious situation more acrimonious ... and while Jenkins might have deserved the dismissal he got, we're not sure he deserved that, too.

Posted by Jerry Hinnen

Will Muschamp may have an image problem on his hands.

His Florida team has already been embarrassed by cornerback Janoris Jenkins' pair of marijuana-related arrests this offseason, the most recent coming just this past weekend. And now the Palm Bech Post has reported that it's not just Jenkins that's been caught by law enforcement with pot this spring; redshirt freshman defensive end Chris Martin and sophomore reserve linebacker Kedric Johnson were both arrested on possession charges this past January. The details:

The Gainesville Police Department arrested Martin, who is expected to compete for a starting job at defensive end or linebacker this summer, on Jan. 29 after officers detected the scent of the drug coming from a vehicle. Martin was in the car and revealed approximately two grams of cannabis when the police confronted him, the report said.

Johnson ... was arrested on Jan. 9 after an officer pulled him over for speeding and smelled marijuana. He produced two grams of it from his glove compartment, the police report said.

Both players agreed to deferred prosecution, and the cases did not go to trial.

Combined with Jenkins' missteps, that makes four marijuana-related arrests for the Gators in 2011 alone.

At a program with a better track record, these incidents might be easily brushed off. But Florida under Urban Meyer became (in)famous for its string of petty (and not-so-petty) arrests, a record Muschamp has promised to change with an emphasis on the "Florida Way."

Though Muschamp will ultimately be judged on wins and losses and virtually nothing else -- for all the griping about the Gators' arrest record under Meyer, his two national championships meant he could have continued in Gainesville almost indefinitely had he not retired -- the "Florida Way" talk will quickly become a punchline if his Gators can't stay out of headlines with "marijuana" in them.

It's early and Muschamp deserves the benefit of the doubt for now -- Martin's and Johnson's arrests occurred within days of his hire -- but it's also a problem the new Gator head honcho will need to nip in the bud* for the sake of his program's already-dicey image.

*Yes, pun intended.

Posted by Chip Patterson

Florida cornerback Janoris Jenkins made headlines earlier this month his announcement to skip the NFL Draft and return to Gainesville for another season.  For new head coach Will Muschamp, it was a great display of leadership from one of the most talented upperclassmen on next year's roster.  Unfortunately that positive act was quickly offset with Jenkins' citation over the weekend for possession of marijuana.

The Gainesville Police Department informed the Associated Press that Jenkins was arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession early Saturday.  He was in the bathroom at a nightclub and caught with a "clear baggie" of marijuana.  The misdemeanor charge is for an amount of marijuana less than 20 grams, and his court date has been set for February 17.

Of course this is a notable arrest for Muschamp's campaign to win Florida their first Fulmer Cup, "awarded" to the program with the worst collective criminal record.  Urban Meyer often was criticized for the off-field issues under his watch in Gainesville, and this arrest does suggest that little has changed.

The timing was also not ideal for Jenkins' arrest.  Being the midst of changing coaching staffs, and just two weeks after his big return announcement, it will not be easy to quietly sweep this story under the rug.  Jenkins would like to keep his name in the headlines for next year's NFL Draft, but he would prefer the story to be on the football field.