Janoris Jenkins makes it an even two-dozen
UPDATE: That didn’t take long. Huntley Johnson is on the scene, and you’re not going to believe this, but he says Jenkins did nothing wrong and was in fact breaking up the fight. Fowler has the deets. In reality, it’s good to hear that a vigorous defense is in the works, but as Johnson alluded to, this still smells like a deferred prosecution, which still could mean a whole lot of Markihe Anderson against Charleston Southern.
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Well crap. The Gators’ much-discussed arrest tally has climbed another notch this weekend after starting cornerback Janoris Jenkins was tased and charged with two misdemeanors.
Police received a report of a fight in the 100 block of South Main Street and arrived at the location at about 2 a.m., Saturday to find Jenkins fighting with about five other people. An officer ordered the group to stop fighting but no one listened to the commands, the report stated.
The officer then drew out a Taser and told the group stop. At that point, Jenkins hit another person in the head, police reported. The officer then used the Taser on Jenkins.
Amazingly to anyone who’s ever watched a taser video, Jenkins was allegedly able to shake off the shock, get up and run a block and a half before finally being apprehended. Jenkins said he was fighting because he believed someone, most likely a hater, may have been trying to take his chain.
There’s no way to spin this as a non-story, since it sounds like most of this happened while the cops were actually there. No combination of Bull Gators and Alachua County court officials can make that simply disappear. Assuming Jenkins has no prior record, however, the story indicates that pre-trial deferment may be likely, which would certainly be good news for Jenkins. In any event, this incident would seem to fall somewhere in “boys being boys” territory in the scale I outlined on Friday, which is, again, not meant to excuse or condone the behavior. But by itself it probably isn’t the end of the world, as long as it’s not part of a larger pattern of behavior.
For the Gators, though, this absolutely sucks. The timing and negative PR implications are bad enough, and there are on-field implications as well. Jenkins was phenomenal as a true freshman, and I felt at times that he was the best player in the Gator secondary. They need him on the field, but my guess is that this will draw a suspension for the Charleston Southern game, and possibly the game after that against Troy. If all stays quiet, however, that will probably be the end of it. The problem is, the next time someone gets caught doing something stupid, the total will be just that much higher.
(HT: EDSBS)
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