Jalen Kitna Arrested (November 2022) | Plea Deal Update July 2023

[DRU2012]

OMG WHAT NEXT??!
"Sophmore Gator QB Kitna Arrested on Child Pornography Charges" (!!!).
I don't even know what to say here to this one.
Whatever potential difficulties arose with recruit Marcus Stokes' ill-advised lack of judgment and good sense in getting caught on camera blurting out the n-word in singing along to a rap song on local radio, THIS is so much WORSE.
WTF is happening on our team? Is it a generation-wide problem, a matter of isolated bad luck in striking here and now, or somehow endemic to the recent general character and make-up of our program? I don't see how this last could be the case, but it will be contemplated, at large at the very least.
I am shocked, sad and simply flabbergasted.
Let us simply hope and pray that whatever else may further come of these charges, this does NOT have further repercussions for or connection to others on our team.
I don't know what else to say.
I am dumbfounded. I mean, kids make mistakes, get themselves involved in weird stuff and find bad trouble sometimes, but THIS?
Shockingly heartwrenching.

 

[Escambia94]

Hard to explain this one. Kids do dumb things.

 

[DRU2012]

Hard to explain this one. Kids do dumb things.

Agreed. This one is especially sounding relatively "stupid/innocent", and perhaps the additional element of an overzealous pursuit and arrest all around coming out as well.
But Jalen sadly no doubt finished as a Gator regardless of HOW it in fact turns out. Maybe in college football, for the time being anyway.

 

[Leakfan12]

Really hope A-Rich stays another year with that Recruit who had his scholarship removed because of his rap and this with Jalen. Not to mention, Why Jalen? I'm sure ladies would have flocked to him being on the football team and he does this?

 

[DRU2012]

Really hope A-Rich stays another year with that Recruit who had his scholarship removed because of his rap and this with Jalen. Not to mention, Why Jalen? I'm sure ladies would have flocked to him being on the football team and he does this?

We don't know the details, to start with; if it does turn out to be more than some weird "dumb move meets over-reaching police investigation" type of situation, the vaguaries of obsessive behavior by definition will not resonate or make a whole lot of sense to the rest of us. It's an uncomfortable discussion, but worth noting that this doesn't necessarily involve the same "normal human responses" that drive you and me.
No matter what, a sad and disturbingly baffling set of events...just a weird "bolt from the blue" punctuation near the end of a weird and generally "disturbing and baffling" SEASON for Gators everywhere.
As for our QB situation, personally I am beyond trying to figure it all out, or work through the endless permutations and possibilities.
This one just encapsulates the "Wait and SEE" predicament we have been completely backed into:
Billy and Co. will have a great deal of work ahead, questions to answer and choices to make no matter WHAT AR decides to do!
There'll be more of ALL of that if he does leave for the NFL--but not necessarily an ultimately "worse outcome" regarding our future success. There are endless unknowns either way...and in one way at least, his staying only puts off many of the same problems for another year--with no guarantees these are actually solved in the meantime for NEXT season.
(It's worth noting that there ARE some interesting opportunities presenting themselves it seems in the transfer portal right now that COULD at the very least leave us not necessarily in any deeper uncertainty we face now if he stays...)

 

[Escambia94]

This thread is about Jalen Kitna, so I will only talk about Jalen Kitna.

The decision to suspend Kitna has nothing to do with football. The University of Florida Athletic Association and the UF Board of Governors are highly protective of the Florida brand across all sports and all academics. The decision to suspend Kitna did not start and end with Billy Napier, nor would he have the ability to keep Kitna just in case he is declared innocent. Napier had no ability to weigh Kitna's suspension against Anthony Richardson, Jack Miller, or Jalen Rashada.

The known facts around Kitna's situation are not good. He has been released on $80k bail and will wait for his court date back home in Texas. Since he is suspended and the semester is almost over, he cannot afford to stay in his dorm in Gainesville.

There are no excuses for what he did and I do not condone "minor attracted persons", but there certainly is a disturbing trend among today's culture where these kind of situations are more prevalent. Kitna happens to be a public face and will bear the brunt of public humiliation and ignominy even though these situations are likely somewhat common with this demographic.

 

[DRU2012]

But we don't KNOW "what he did", exactly--I don't, anyway: except for the reported facts and the specific charges, all I have been able to find out is the few vague details already shared here and elsewhere.
But of course you're right: He's GONE, gone for GOOD. For all the reasons you note and more.
My LAST post above was in direct response to Lf's comment where HE raised the additional implications to our pending, now growing (potentially about to be gaping, if/when AR jumps) additional needs at QB...In that respect, we naturally find ourselves speculating--for exactly the same reasons that (even as it seems crass to mention such concerns against the backdrop of such a sad, even tragic and certainly hugely serious issue that these charges have raised) we gotta ASSUME that, more than EVER, Billy MUST be considering his program's options, who's likely to be available out there...
Don't you think he must have gone to Anthony and TALKED to him, gotten a frank assessment by now of where HE is at in his decision-making process? With the transfer-portal about to open, its Day-of-Reckoning upon us as to exactly what we do that will be best for this team and program in the 2023 season and beyond, once the regular season was over, with everything else this HAD to be discussed, considered and a decision process embarked upon before now.
WE may not know anything, the media "experts" out there little more--but the Coach has GOT to get ahead and a handle on this.

 

[Escambia94]

@DRU2012 Billy Napier, Ryan O’Hara, and Denny Thompson have been talking all year about Anthony Richardson. There was no extra discussion in the past week—not because of the loss to Vandy or FSU, not because of Kitna, and not because fans say so. Their normal communication has not changed and AR likely made his decision weeks ago. This is public knowledge. Listen to 1010XL Jacksonville, not fake insiders or crazy fans.

 

[DRU2012]

I don't see where anything above changes anything I propose about our Coach's overall situation. I don't even see anything particularly controversial or wildly "out of left field" in the simple point I proposed, at this point:
I believe our Coach has at SOME point (perhaps even only lately confirmed) had a solid heart-to-heart with AR, KNOWS pretty well by now what he will do, and is planning/arranging/contacting accordingly. That's all I am saying there.
I am NOT a "crazy fan" (I think you know that), and my thoughts here are necessarily INDEPENDENT of whatever the various "insiders' sites" may be saying about it all.
This season has been frustrating enough already for me to find myself apparently having to defend even the smallest effort at "independent thought and analysis" here, of all places--the one "safe place" (I thought) to weigh such things.
Fine. I have endeavored to be honest, frank, friendly, fair and balanced. I will remain so now.
Should it come to it, I will go out that way.

 

[Escambia94]

Ex-Florida QB Jalen Kitna reaches plea deal in child pornography case, will be charged with two misdemeanors​

Ex-Florida QB Jalen Kitna reaches plea deal in child pornography case, will be charged with two misdemeanors

The two counts of disorderly conduct each carry a maximum sentence of 60 days in jail and a $500 fine

www.cbssports.com

 

[Escambia94]

Ex-Florida QB Jalen Kitna breaks silence after he’s cleared of child porn charges

Ex-Florida QB Jalen Kitna breaks silence after fighting child porn charges

“Out of respect to the legal process I have chosen to remain silent the last 8 months,” the former Florida Gators quarterback said in a statement.

nypost.com

One month after reaching a plea deal. former Gator QB Jalen Kitna breaks his silence on the matter and explains what he did wrong versus what he was accused of. He is allowed to return to campus to complete his degree, and possibly rejoin the football team.

 

[DRU2012]

Ex-Florida QB Jalen Kitna breaks silence after he’s cleared of child porn charges

Ex-Florida QB Jalen Kitna breaks silence after fighting child porn charges

“Out of respect to the legal process I have chosen to remain silent the last 8 months,” the former Florida Gators quarterback said in a statement.

nypost.com

One month after reaching a plea deal. former Gator QB Jalen Kitna breaks his silence on the matter and explains what he did wrong versus what he was accused of. He is allowed to return to campus to complete his degree, and possibly rejoin the football team.

I pretty well suspected things would turn out this way--indeed, as it turns out I agree with the kid that he shouldn't have been harged in the FIRST place. But once they had, the way things work (especially with the GPD and Gator players) is that on e they "went to town" with the most extreme (and exagerated) charges, they pretty well HAD to hang something on him, at least these minor misdemeanors.
It's a shame it all went as far as it did--doubly so that he won't be a Gator because of it, but at least he DOES now have an opportunity to put it behind him. Personally, I wish him well.