Georgia Football Weekly round up: First Scrimmage and more
Florida Gator’s suspend 7 players for season opener.
Lets end this weeks update on a happy note. Well a happy note for us Dawg fans that is. While I never like to gloat at another programs discipline problems, I have to say, I might bend that rule a bit for Florida. The Gators have suspended 7 players including star receiver Antonio Callaway for their season opener against Michigan. The reason? Well it seems that those players were using their school issued debit cards to buy products they were not supposed to buy. They then went on and sold those products for cash. What they did with the cash? Well Florida officials didn’t go into that, but it’s unlikely they gave it to charity.
Now not wanting to get into a big thing about whether college players should be paid or not, this is a bad look for the Gators. What’s particularly bad is that Callaway was involved in another incident when he was supposed to be on probation. While I’m glad Florida coach Jim McElwain did something, I can’t help but think that he went easy on Callaway. Riley Ridley and Elijah Holyfield will be suspended for 1 game for a marijuana infraction this offseason. Callaway will get the same suspension for a similar infraction AND trying to defraud the university.
I get that it’s a balancing act and even by doing this, Florida has hurt itself in a huge game for them. However, sometimes, the long term discipline of the team comes first. While this likely doesn’t have much of an impact of the UGA – Florida game, I do think it’s worth noting as Georgia tries to take the SEC East out of Florida’s hands.