FOUR BITS: Debose, Nicki, Meyer, UT arrests

By Adam Silverstein
January 3, 2010

1 » Redshirt freshman wide receiver Andre Debose was supposed to play a big role in the Florida Gators offense this past season. However, after injuring his hamstring while running the track and undergoing season-ending surgery, Debose received his medical redshirt and has been rehabbing ever since. According to Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel, Debose is running in the pool and his rehab is coming along quite well. “I’m happy with my results so far,” he said. “They’ve been positive.”

2 » Fowler also spoke with Nicki Meyer, head coach Urban Meyer’s 19-year-old daughter, about her father’s health and future. Nicki spoke in-depth about the Christmas conversation her father had about stepping down as well as what the family hopes to accomplish with his time off. “I just want my dad to be healthy,” Nicki said. “I want his heart to be OK. I want his anxiety level to go low. I want him to enjoy [coaching] again like he used to. The fact that he’s going to pull himself together again, that means so much to me. He needs to learn not to put everything on himself all the time. It’s a loss, he would take it as himself. He’d say, ‘That’s my fault.’ If a player gets in trouble, he thinks, ‘That’s my fault.’ We don’t want him to completely close the door on coaching, because that’s what he loves. We know he’s good at it, obviously. He’s so young. If he can come back and get healthy and start coaching again, we want him to do it. We want him to stay healthy. He needs to be around football, and we know that.”

3 » Now that the 2009 season is over, Meyer will be meeting with his coaching staff to work on a few issues before taking his official leave of absence for (at least) the summer. Among the issues will be replacing defensive coordinator Charlie Strong (probably cornerbacks coach Vance Bedford, too) and finishing up recruiting before National Signing Day in a month’s time. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep this train going in the right direction,” Meyer said. “That will all be discussed in the next few days.”

4 » Catching up on a story that OGGOA purposely skipped over during the week, Tennessee Volunteers senior forward Tyler Smith, junior center Brian Williams, junior point guard Melvin Goins and sophomore guard Cameron Tatum are all facing misdemeanor drug, gun and alcohol charges after being stopped on Friday by Knoxville, TN, police for speeding. Head coach Bruce Pearl has suspended all four players indefinitely and has said that dismissal is an option depending on what information is revealed about the incident. “This is tough,” Pearl said. “This is so hard because we’ve worked so hard to try to do the right things.”

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