A.C. Leonard arrested, ninth arrest under Muschamp

[travisduncan]

Update: Leonard has been suspended.

Muschamp released the following statement: “This behavior will not will be tolerated and A.C. has been suspended from team activities at this time. I certainly don’t condone this type of behavior – it is not what we expect from the University of Florida football program.”

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Yes the counting will continue-like it or not-the number of Gators arrested in recent years has been a point of embarrassment for the football program.

With the arrest of tight end A.C. Leonard, 9 Gators have been arrested since Will Muschamp took over the program a little over the year ago. (Janoris Jenkins, Kedric Johnson, Chris Martin De’Ante Saunders, Matt Elam, Dee Finley, Marcus Roberson and Leon Orr)

Coach Will Muschamp has yet to comment on the arrest.

Leonard was charged with a misdemeanor count of simple battery for allegedly shoving and dragging a woman in his apartment.

 

[Escambia94]

At least we are not as bad as TCU...?

 

[DRU2012]

At least we are not as bad as TCU...?

Yeah--and here in Austin there's a great deal of cynicism regarding the results of the follow-up "surprise snap drug test" for that whole TCU team--the idea being that these results (positive for pot: 5 definite, another 11 "trace amt.s", possibly false or by "contact"--"and nothing else!", goes the implied disbelief of the local commentators) were "too good to be true", and that it could eventually "blow up" into something bigger...the main point here being, as far as I can see, that the media, especially in towns following a team's rivals, will put the worst possible face on events, then run with it, as if it's already come to pass.
What do y'all think? Does Leonard have to go?
Look--as a guy, you just don't hit women, don't physically brutalize them in any way--and a big ol' TE in a major program is both a bully AND a fool if he does...having said that, we DON'T know everything, he is also still a kid in some respects, dealing with emotions, relationships and new living arrangements for the first time, and obviously letting it all get the better of him. There's a part of me (admittedly, the Gator-FAN part) that hopes that maybe this can be worked out and the young man able to eventually earn his way back onto the team--IF he understands how badly he screwed up, and why, and is WILLING to accept and carry out the conditions and expectations that might be stipulated by Coach Muschamp.
This assumes of course that the young woman involved, his live-in girlfriend, prefers not to press charges, as often occurs in such cases, and the prosecutor's office ends up proposing PTI ("pre-trial intervention") that (conditional upon completion) is expunged from his record, provided he goes through certain anger-management and domestic-abuse training sessions, and perhaps is required to participate in some kind of related community service. Coach's conditions , whatever they might entail, would be in addition to these legal ones, and together this would require a true commitment to "setting things right" over the next 6 months or more, and show remorse, determination to accept responsibility, and dedication to his own maturity, self-discipline--and above all, change.
Our Head Coach has already well-demonstrated that he's no Urban Meyer, slap on the wrist and get 'em back in there ASAP. All the things he talks about regarding truth, loyalty, honor and doing things "the Florida Way" he has backed up with action, regardless of how "valuable" the violator's skills might have been or will be to the team. He has nothing to prove to anyone here, on that score. I don't give a damn what outsiders say or how they might see it: if he WERE to go the above route in this case, require of Leonard a series of responsibilities and concrete signs of personal progress, along with continuing his academic work, staying in football shape, AND fulfilling whatever legal requirements that are put before him, and then were to eventually allow him back on the team, I would not only accept it, I'd call it a good outcome for everyone involved--especially for Leonard, if he learns and grows.
I will accept the Head Coach's decision either way, though.

 

[Escambia94]

It turns out that the TCU administration heard there was a lot of drug trafficking going on and they cooperated with the police and said to go in there and stop it, even if it means arresting football players and Senators' sons and daughters. Good on them.

 

[DRU2012]

It turns out that the TCU administration heard there was a lot of drug trafficking going on and they cooperated with the police and said to go in there and stop it, even if it means arresting football players and Senators' sons and daughters. Good on them.

Yes--if it turns out to be the case, and there was widespread trade and use of hard drugs like X, coke and meth among the rest, as was rumored (and some of which was indeed reportedly sold by the expelled players)...but if results of these across-the-board drug tests, showing the limited use of pot alone, were indeed accurate, it will be time to back off and concentrate solely on moving on--disassociating the team from the original group of arrested players, addressing the relatively minor problem of a handful of student athletes having been around pot smoking sometime in the previous few weeks, getting out of the self-righteous wanna-be judge-and-jury game, and returning to their role of running an educational institution, and its football program, in AMERICA, where citizens do have certain rights, even when they're young students (ESPECIALLY when they're young students at college, who at least unofficially-but-nonetheless-traditionally are partly THERE to make and learn from the mistakes they inevitably make)--and leave the wheels of justice, and any attempt at trampling those rights, to the law enforcement officials who are charged with enforcing the Law, and are presumably overseen and answerable to folks more familiar and concerned with the Constitution of the United States of America, upon which ALL our rights are based.
Sorry, E-, but as I get older, the principles for which I once supposedly fought (but didn't really appreciate at the time) become more and more important to me, and I have less and less patience or trust in those who are so eager to dispense with them, for the sake of anger, convenience or WHATEVER. Parents need to take MORE responsibility (from the start--and be given freer reign to do so), and not hand it off to others, least of all to institutions outside the home, nor those institutions be so eager to shoulder them.
Moreover, while I agree with the quick reaction and open, general testing of all with no regard for "connections" being explicitly a part of the process, you know as well as I do that once it DOES get to the legal system, those distinctions, wealth and political entanglements, WILL "make a difference" in the relative dispensation of "justice", all the more reason to see that due process is properly followed and extended to everyone involved now, in the early going.
None of this contradicts your original statement or POV, I know, but I just felt it important to remind ourselves there are limits--and that is a good thing.

 

[Escambia94]

I heard it was only a big deal because it was more than marijuana. If schools came down hard on marijuana there would be nobody left in college! Perhaps I am in the minority here, but I do not see the difference between marijuana and the other drugs.

I am just glad that the administration was willing to go on record that Senator kids were not excluded from the drug raid. Once this gets into the legal system, We will see if Senators can buy off judges.

If I were a student at UT Austin I would breathe a sigh of relief now and hide the stash. If TCU is willing to crack down on prominent private university kids, does that make prominent public university kids fair game?

 

[DRU2012]

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this point, E-...the only thing pot has in common with the other drugs mentioned is its illegality--and even that is changing now, for one thing, with its acknowledged change-in-classification and use in many states (the so-called "Medical Marijuana Movement"--having been thru' chemo myself, I understand and support ANYTHING that can mitigate the misery while doing little or no damage, or intruding on treatment or overall health improvement in any other way than the observed and intended effects--ie. to lessen the sickness and help to regain appetite ...it's not "my cup of tea"--I'm more a drinking man, but I'll not judge anyone else their preferences in this regard--and alcohol is one thing you CAN'T use when taking powerful medications)--and as for "blanket illegality", well, that sure didn't work well in the case of booze (Prohibition turned "crime" from a relatively fragmented, local problem into a huge, powerful American Business ruled by "corporate thugs" to this very day), and has continued to have a similar effect in pot's case.
Lumping it together with the truly dangerous and destructive harder drugs not only tends to make them available from the same sources, but in young people it tends to smack of "throwing the baby out with the bathwater": having found that they were lied to about the one (ie. that pot ISN'T physically addictive, or cause them to do anything they don't want to do--unlike over-use of alcohol, which they quickly learn CAN do that), they begin to think you've lied to them about ALL of it, and are more liable to try, and if they have a weakness for "addictive behavior", eventually come to abuse these other, MUCH more dangerous and (for them) evilly seductive drugs.
I'd rather not have our players "gettin' high", but a snap-UA-test of a whole team yielding mainly "contact"-gained amounts (ie. minute levels likely gained by being in the same room as where marijuana was being smoked--and it DOES stay in one's system MUCH longer than any of the harder drugs, up to a month, as opposed to 2-or-3 days as with most of the others), for students on a modern college campus, does NOT seem overly worrisome--and CERTAINLY doesn't warrant gestapo-like overkill and trampling not only on their rights, but the very concept of trust and honor you're trying to instill and maintain in your TEAM.

 

[DRU2012]

Another point here, one that is worth noting where trolls (and even some disgruntled Gators, if we're to believe their claims) voice blanket condemnation of our program:
Literally 9 of the 10 "arrests since Muschamp took over" have been of Meyer recruits, guys whom HE recruited, brought in, and were used to the way he TALKED of "honor", "pride", and "self-discipline", but winked at the many breakdowns in actual behavior...or, as Janoris Jenkins came right out and said publicly after being unceremoniously cut from the team, "I can tell you that if Urban Meyer were still the Coach, I'd still be a Gator, no doubt about it..."
Though unintentional, he made a good and valid point: our current Head Coach has already more than proven himself regarding true standards and tough decisions: far from the only instance of his putting his TEAM, its health and sense of fairness and mutual dependence, ahead of any one individual's efforts to see themselves above the rest, cutting the most talented and heralded senior on your team going into your first season--one full of unknowns and holes that HE could see but knew the fans did not--that not only took GUTS, it told his team the good AND the "bad" news: they were all in this together, there WOULD be fair opportunity and treatment for all, and NO ONE is above-the-team, the law, or accepted rules and behavior.
This may have weakened us in terms of talent for the short term--specifically last season, as we lost not only Janoris but shed a NUMBER of formerly "highly rated recruits", many by then whining in the locker room and/or sulking at the end of the bench. However, it is no mere coincidence that we are now finally near the end of that process at the same moment that we are poised to really begin our climb back to the top--of the SEC, and beyond. It's all part of a bigger whole; Coach M and this staff have a true "big picture" approach. They understand that real, sustained success is a matter of across-the-board planning and strength. You've got to consider ALL the details you can, for there is ALWAYS plenty of trouble from "the Unexpected" you'll have to deal with once the season starts.
Or, as von Clausiewitz put it regarding war: "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy".
Do all you can to "get it right" before hand, 'cause you'll be busy running around plugging holes and reacting once the action starts!

 

[Escambia94]

I doubt the players that Florida recruited were that much worse character wise than other university football recruits. Part of the problem is Gainesville. No matter who is leading the recruiting, Urban Meyer or Will Muschamp or Billy Donovan for that matter, that coach must contend with Gainesville Police Department and Alachua Count Sheriff Department. Throw in the tendency for high level athletes to have character issues with the coach's unwillingness to crack down on freshmen and you have the problems Florida has with athletes landing in jail more than most universities.

Solution:

1) The Florida athletics department needs to meet with Gainesville PD and Alachua SD to discuss how to keep minor problems "in the house", as they do in many other college towns. For major problems, sure, crack down on the athletes--they are no better than non athletes.

2) The coaches need to crack down on freshmen and sophomores. Deprive them of nice apartments and vehicles. Make them sign legal documents on what can and cannot be posted on Facebook and Twitter (many corporations do this). Assign under class athletes a mentor and hold both accountable. Bring in former players, even troubled ones, to be life coaches for these guys.

Those ideas there would cut down on long term problems. We would still get problems similar to Rainey's "time to die" and occasional issues with drugs beyond marijuana, but I bet our arrests would look similar to most universities and not as if we were the new Thug U.

 

[DRU2012]

I agree with your premise, E-, I am just not sure the "solutions" are applicable here:
Regarding the first, it is my HOPE (and, I suppose, my assumption, our Head Coach being a bright guy who DOES go at things PRE-emtively) that he and/or the AD has already or will soon quietly approach all three Departments (GPD, UPD, and Travis Cty. Sherrifs) exactly as you recommend...the question is, with so much hostility and inertia built up on the part of a portion of each Force already over the years, even with some kind of covert "Meeting of Understanding and Change" among the coaches and Dept.-leaders, it will likely take some time (months, at least, perhaps longer) before those who are among the "old guard" either modify their approach or move on.
As for the rest of your proposals, well, there ARE limits, legal, civil and social, to how far Coach CAN go...and then there still remains that tightrope walk he must negotiate out there among prospective recruits. No, I'm afraid that as far as "control" over the "good and evil inner voices" of a young man's soul, and the resulting paths that individual chooses, our coaches' best hopes lie with trying to recognize and bring in those young men who appear to be winning the "battle inside" already--depending upon and continuing to encourage their own growing strength-of-character.
Far from a perfect solution, for all the reasons you say, and more--there'll still be problems, as you note, E-, but success on the field, facing and overcoming adversity together, seeing and FEELING their growth and strength AS A TEAM, is a powerful reinforcement: as time goes on, they won't want to let EACH OTHER down.

(Btw--apropos of all of this, notice Mr. Diggs' fine start as a Terp: his penchant for grabbing attention has begun to bear fruit in dubious fashion before he even GETS there...not that big a deal, in and of itself, I'll grant you, but only the beginning with this one, trust me...something TO the idea of "standards of personality and behavior", right?)

 

[Escambia94]

I understand there are limits. I just want Florida athletes to be on the same playing field with regards to the law as other athletes from other schools, and I want the University to be more pro active. Right now, our athletes appear to be more thuggish than others because the Law does not turn a blind eye to minor transgressions here as much as they do elsewhere, and the last set of coaches valued winning over character.

What does that have to do with AC? What he did (allegedly) goes beyond turning a blind eye to minor issues (as they would do in Tuscaloosa). This is about an under class athlete not having mentorship and supervision.