After making headlines all season en route to a national championship, UF was back in the news this off-season.
After cornerback Janoris Jenkins was arrested by Gainesville police in June and charged with misdemeanor affray and resisting arrest without violence after an alleged fight outside of a nightclub - the 24th arrest of a UF football player in coach Urban Meyer's four years - public outcry against Meyer and the Gators reached a new level.
That leads Gators fans to a series of related questions: Will the football team's off-the-field issues continue? Will they still be a big deal in the media?
In reality, UF's troubles were not disproportionately greater than those of any other college football program over the last four years. Among its rivals, the number of arrests during that time span fell somewhere near the average. Georgia players were arrested 30 times, Tennessee has totaled 21 arrests and FSU has tallied 13 arrests.
Every major college football program struggles with off-the-field issues brought to light by the media and criticized by the public.
But success breeds contempt, and after a national title, a few off-season arrests made the Gators easy targets for the media, and Meyer's control of his team was brought into question.
Six of the arrested players were not recruited by Meyer, and the number of charges by recruiting class over the last four years has decreased: eight (2005), eight (2006), two (2007), one (2008) and zero (2009).
Few of the arrests have been of a serious nature, and three of the arrests were from players who were already dismissed from the team at the time.
After the outcry against the 24 arrests in four years, the eighth charge against a member of the 2006 class went by with little notoriety. Rising senior linebacker Dustin Doe was cited for knowingly driving with a suspended license last week.
The slow news cycle surrounding Jenkins' arrest brought the story more coverage than that of Doe's charge.
Just as the Gators' arrests by recruiting class has decreased year over year, the decrease in publicity will likely continue as the college football season ramps up.
