Florida Gators arrests: Do you have a problem with this or not?

I think your question is a bit misleading. Do I have a problem with the sheer amount of arrests during Meyer’s tenure? Sure. But I’m most concerned about the amount of serious crimes committed by Florida players. If a player gets caught for underage drinking, or smoking pot, that’s pretty minor, and would be expected from a lot of college students. But when the DUI, theft, violence, etc., charges pile up, that’s where I think the University has to start thinking about its reputation. “Boys will be boys” when it comes to the minor offenses. But the major stuff is something that needs to be met with serious punishment by Meyer (which, generally, I think he’s done a decent job of, except for the DUI cases).

Let’s not pretend like the arrest of a collegiate athlete doesn’t receive publicity for a numbers of reasons, that have nothing to do with the crime itself. What matters is how good the player is, or what team he plays for, or how much of an impact it will have on the rest of the season. My point simply being, that if much more attention is paid to a starting DE for Florida getting a DUI, than is paid to a backup DE form Missouri committing the same infraction, there is a reason…and that reason is football. As sad a statement as that is about our society, it’s the truth. People only make a big deal out of this because it happens to a prominent player, or a prominent school, or to a rival. Then all of a sudden I’m supposed to believe that all of these people are actually just concerned with how much control the head coach does or doesn’t have, and how this can reflect poorly on the University…it’s all bullshit, and at least I can admit it.

I’m concerned for how this affect the Florida passing game. Does that mean I condone sending death threat texts to women? Of course not, but it does mean that I’m at least self aware enough to know, that if this were just another student at Florida, I wouldn’t care all that much. I would assume that the police, and the University would handle it, and that would be the end of it. I wouldn’t worry about how it would make the school look, because it’s a random occurrence, of which I have no control…just like this issue with Chris Rainey. I find it so amazingly hypocritical of all fans, both Florida and it’s rivals, that a 20 year old kid making a mistake turns into “trash talk”, while also touting the importance of discipline, and character. At this point, the number of arrests is rattled off, in order to do what? To show that Florida is an outlaw program, and that Meyer has lost all control? Does anyone actually believe that, or does it just sound good? Rainey made what looks to be a big mistake, and for that I sympathize I wish him well, but I’m not gonna take an isolated incident, and turn it into an indictment of an entire program, or culture….

I think that everyone has come down a little too hard on Chris Rainey. I never meant to make light of what he did, but come on. This is a young guy, who’s used to getting whatever he wants, who snapped when he got pissed off, and had his phone sitting RIGHT THERE. I’ve never evaluated Chris Rainey psychologically, but judging by some of his comments to the media and his actions on the field (i.e. the fake knee against Georgia a few years back) I’d say that the probably doesn’t have the best impulse control either. It’s very easy to do something stupid in today’s age of social media- ask Vanessa Hudgens, Haley Williams (nude pics of the teen stars are all over the interwebs) or ask Markeith Ambles (go Trogans!) These kids, especially ones with poor impulse control, are prone to making bad decisions in the heat of the moment- it was far too easy for Chris to grab his phone, and out of anger, say something to her which he assuredly DID NOT mean.

not that Urban hasn’t “done enough” to curb it. What is he supposed to do? Hire a nanny to keep track of all of his players. Players will do dumb things all the time because they are after all, just college kids. Unlike mlm, i have known more than a few college kids get picked up on MIP or DUI. DUI isn’t this big bad thing everyone makes it out to be, a majority of them are younger kids or older men that had 3 beers before driving instead of 2. (Of course when you pass out behind the wheel, that may be a problem.) Bottom line is, the arrests shouldn’t “bother” anyone, its the response to the arrests that should be scrutinized. Has Meyer handled his players responsibly after learning of their transgressions? I think for the most part, yes.

Doesn’t really bother me all that much. It happens, and I know that bringing in great players leads to some bad stuff as y’all have mentioned. It also depends on the “crime”…stealing a dead girls credit card, that stuff doesn’t fly. But trying to get your car out of an impound lot…I can live with those.

Some actually said the Gators should be getting more flak then USC is getting right now cuz getting arrested is worse then breaking NCAA rules. Of course you have to understand these people are writers from the west coast with an agenda but this hyperbole is starting to become a house hold theory.

We ARE NOT MIAMI of the 2000’s. The Gators do not have a bunch of thugs… More like immature young kids who do stupid shit like mlm was saying. (Pot, punching car windows… U kno) Out of the 30 arrests, a handful were thugs but our team did not need a bunch of thugs to win. Most of the serious arrests, “thugs” did not contribute much to this team. The Gators won with some stupid players, sure… But not thugs and this does not make UF a dirty team.

More like a undisciplined team. Meyer can not stop these players from doing dumb shit. But he can make an example out of them. He needs to be a little more strict on his punishments to get these guys on a shorter leash to stop the stupid mistakes. From what I have read the more serious arrests did receive very harsh punishments like dismissal but the DUI’s, fights, exc need to be handled better. If not, well be hearing a lot more of this. You can’t stop what they do off the field but if he drops the hammer on them, there’s nothing anyone can say.