Florida Gators junior cornerback Janoris Jenkins, who recently decided to return for his senior season rather than enter the 2011 NFL Draft, was cited – but was not taken to jail – over the weekend for misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Jenkins was caught by Gainesville, FL police rolling a joint in a nightclub bathroom on Saturday, according to The Gainesville Sun’s Robbie Andreu. The Associated Press reports that he was found at Status on the corner of University Avenue and SE 1st Street with less than 20 grams of marijuana in a “small, clear bag.”

Though Jenkins was technically arrested, he was not taken to jail because he signed a notice to appear in court, which he will fulfill on Feb. 17.

“We are aware of the incident with Janoris Jenkins and will handle it internally at this time,” head coach Will Muschamp said in an official statement.

His second legal incident in less than two years, Jenkins was arrested in May 2009 on misdemeanor charges of affray and resisting arrest without violence. He said at the time that he acting in self-defense and was only trying to protect himself during a group altercation in which someone he did not know attempted to steal his chain.

The State Attorney’s Office dropped the affray charge because there were not enough facts for that to have been applicable. They instead offered him a deferred prosecution agreement, which he agreed to sign. The terms of the agreement included Jenkins staying out of trouble for six months, paying $50 in court fees and either donating $150 to a charity or performing 15 hours of community service. His record has since been cleared of the charge because he fulfilled the demands of the agreement.

“It was a big learning experience,” Jenkins said of the incident. “I had a little off-the-field issue, but I bounced back from that. I gotta keep my head up, be strong and go forward.”

Then-head coach Urban Meyer did not play Jenkins in Florida’s 2009 season opener against Charleston Southern but allowed him to return to action one week later when UF faced Troy. Meyer refused to tell the media whether or not he was officially suspended.

Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Having won seven of their last eight games including a close victory at Auburn and dominating triumph against Arkansas at home this week, the Florida Gators (15-4, 4-1 SEC) earned their way back into the Top 25 polls for the first time in over a month. Whether or not they can remain ranked in the polls with a difficult Southeastern Conference slate ahead remains to be seen.

ESPN/USA TODAY
Last Week 1-25: Ohio State (28*), Kansas (2*), Syracuse (1*), Pittsburgh, Duke, San Diego State, Villanova, Connecticut, Brigham Young, Texas A&M, Texas, Kentucky, Purdue, Missouri, Louisville, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota, Washington, Saint Mary’s, Illinois, Georgetown, Kansas State, Arizona
+ Florida received eight voting points, good for 38th overall

This Week 1-25: Ohio State (31*), Pittsburgh, Duke, San Diego State, Connecticut, Kansas, Villanova, Texas, Brigham Young, Syracuse, Texas A&M, Purdue, Missouri, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Washington, Minnesota, Louisville, Georgetown, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Florida, Saint Mary’s, Utah State
+ Florida received 67 voting points

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Last Week 1-25: Ohio State (49*), Kansas (6*), Syracuse (8*), Duke (1*), Pittsburgh (1*), San Diego State, Villanova, Connecticut, Brigham Young, Texas, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Missouri, Purdue, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Louisville, Washington, West Virginia, Saint Mary’s, Georgetown, Illinois, Cincinnati
+ Florida received 42 voting points, good for 35th overall

This Week 1-25: Ohio State (63*), Pittsburgh (1*), Duke (1*), San Diego State, Connecticut, Kansas, Texas, Villanova, Brigham Young, Syracuse, Missouri, Purdue, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Washington, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Georgetown, Florida State, Louisville, Florida, Michigan State
+ Florida received 169 voting points

* Numbers represent first-place votes.
 

1 » A victory by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday over the New York Jets in the AFC Championship ensured that, for the ninth consecutive season, a former Florida Gators player will be going to the Super Bowl. Rookie center Maurkice Pouncey, who has started every game of the 2010-11 season for Pittsburgh but left Sunday’s game in the first quarter with a high-ankle sprain (left), could also become the 14th former Gators star to win a ring. “I know in my heart that I’m playing in that game,” Pouncey said according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “I had the same injury before on my other ankle and I know how to attack it. I know how to approach things.” Should the Steelers be victorious in Super Bowl XLV, it would be the third-straight year a Florida player has won a ring (Pittsburgh-Starks, New Orleans-McCray). Editor’s note: Steelers left tackle Max Starks would also receive a ring, though he has missed most of the season after injuring his neck earlier in the year.

2 » Getting off to a slow start this year after returning from a serious thumb injury he suffered during preseason training camp, Miami Heat guard Mike Miller went nuts on Saturday with two of his team’s best players on the sideline. Playing a season-high 33 minutes, Miller went 12-of-20 (and 6-of-11 from downtown) for 32 points, seven rebounds and three assists and set a franchise record with 22 points in the second quarter alone. He was 5-for-18 before Saturday’s game and had only scored 15 points on the season. “It’s not like I forgot how [to shoot],” Miller said. “It’s just a matter of getting out there and doing it. It was a matter of time.”

3 » UF received official visits from four-star cornerback Marcus Roberson (Fort Lauderdale, FL) and three-star offensive tackle Jacob Fisher (Traverse City, MI) over the weekend, both of whom were hosted by players and took in Florida’s big basketball win over Arkansas with offensive coordinator Charlie Weis. Roberson, currently committed to Texas Tech (where his uncle Otis Mounds is the CB coach), may be up for grabs depending how he feels his visit went. Fisher, on the other hand, has his recruitment completely open and is strongly looking around. A former Michigan commit, he decided to weigh his options after head coach Rich Rodriguez was fired.

4 » When Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler left the NFC Championship game on Sunday with a knee injury, many current and former NFL players took to Twitter in order to bash him. An interesting – and to Gators fans “offensive” – tweet came through from the account of Jacksonville Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew, who likened Cutler’s sitting on the sidelines to Florida head coach Urban Meyer resigning. “Hey I think the Urban Meyer rule is effect right now. When the going gets tough… QUIT,” Jones-Drew wrote. “All I’m saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee. I played the whole season on one…” Editor’s note: Jones-Drew missed the final two games of the 2010 season (while Jacksonville was still in playoff contention) with a knee injury.

Extra BIT » Though the new coaching staff, including head coach Will Muschamp made a strong case to get him to switch, four-star defensive end Anthony Chickillo decided to reaffirm his commitment to the Miami Hurricanes over the weekend.

The Florida Gators (15-4, 4-1 SEC) put together arguably their most complete game of the season Saturday in a dominating 75-43 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks (12-6, 2-3 SEC) just two days after escaping a potentially resume-killing loss in a close 45-40 win on the road against Auburn. Head coach Billy Donovan and a few players spoke to the media after Saturday night’s game.

STRONG PERFORMANCE FROM START-TO-FINISH

For every disappointing showing that Florida has put forth this season, they have seemed to match it with an impressive performance. The juxtaposition between Thursday’s nail-biting win and Saturday’s rout could not have been greater.

“From start-to-finish, it was a real complete game for us. We’ve had some games where we’ve had some double-digit leads going into the half and we haven’t come out and handled it always the best. Our guys really did [that] in the second half,” Donovan recounted. “There was a limited amount of physical work we did, but there was a lot of mental work. Larry Shyatt, he scouted the game, I thought he really did a terrific job. There’s a fine line, when you have a one-day prep day, you can overload your guys mentally. […] He just tried to simplify it.”

He also spoke about what it took for the Gators to rebound from what was no doubt a depressing performance on the road. “Tonight was a display of their resiliency. I love that about those guys,” Donovan said. “But there’s times where I want to see more fire, more passion, more energy, more excitement, enthusiasm when the game is not going their way. I’d like to see a little bit more of that.”

VICTORY HAS A GREATER LONG-TERM SIGNIFICANCE

Aside from proving that Florida is resilient at times, Saturday’s game also showed that the Gators are able to forget about negatives and move forward as a team. Donovan, still shell-shocked by his team’s performance Thursday, explained it thoroughly.

“It was important because I thought our guys, mentally coming out of the Auburn game, had never ever been through anything like that before. I had never been through anything like that before,” he said. “I mean we shot 27 percent from the field and 19 percent from the three-point line and we scored 45 points in a game against a team that’s 0-4 [in the SEC] at the time and 7-10 in the league. And that’s not any disrespect to Auburn. When you have a game like that, I think it was important how we responded on a one-day turnaround. That’s what I was more concerned about.”

UF handled that turnaround quite well it seems, but Donovan remains concerned whether or not Florida can keep up the momentum once again on such short rest. “The goal is – we play this well tonight – can we come back on Tuesday and play better than we did today? That’s the challenge you try to get across to them,” he said. “[You try] to get them to say, ‘OK, we need to try to get better.’”

QUOTES (After the break…)
Continue Reading » 1/22: Donovan disucsses bounce back victory

With the 2010-11 NFL regular season having come to a close, a number of Florida Gators participated in Conference Championship action during the NFL Playoffs. OGGOA has checked and re-checked the box scores to bring you a summary of what these Gators accomplished during the third week of the playoffs.

S MAJOR WRIGHT, Chicago Bears: Six solo tackles

C MAURKICE POUNCEY, Pittsburgh Steelers: Started but suffered an injury in the first quarter and did not return; diagnosed after the game as a high-ankle sprain, which is usually a multiple-week ailment. Pouncey’s status for Super Bowl XLV is unknown.

REGULAR SEASON: Week 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17

PLAYOFFS: Wild Card | Divisional

Two days after scoring a total of 45 points in a close win against Auburn on the road, the Florida Gators (15-4, 4-1 SEC) put up 39 in the first half alone and went on to demolish the Arkansas Razorbacks (12-6, 2-3 SEC) 75-43 on Saturday night at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, FL.

Florida rebounded from the worst offensive performance in head coach Billy Donovan‘s tenure in the Orange and Blue with what can only be considered an offensive explosion by comparison.

The Gators made it a point to force the ball inside the paint to the bigs at the beginning of the game. After the Razorbacks’ first basket, redshirt senior center Vernon Macklin scored eight-straight points and senior F Alex Tyus added a layup to complete a 10-0 run. Florida would follow that up with an impressive 12-0 run to jump ahead 29-11 with 7:03 left in the first.

Looking to make a statement heading into the locker rooms, the Gators ended the opening half on an 8-0 run, which included sophomore guard Kenny Boynton’s second three-pointer of the game, to go up 23 points at the break.

Florida shot 57.1 percent from the field, 50 percent from downtown and 66.7 percent from the line in the first half. They also made 16 shots – one more than they did throughout the entire game on Thursday.

Going back-and-forth much of the second half, the Gators led by 31 a number of times before ending the contest up a game-high 32 points when freshman G/F Casey Prather completed an alley-oop dunk with the clock winding down.

Boynton, breaking out of a slump he has suffered through most of the season, scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-13 shooting while connecting on 4-of-7 attempts from downtown. Macklin and Tyus each posted 13 points and went a combined 11-for-17 from the floor. Held scoreless in the first half, Parsons ended up with five points, a career-high 15 rebounds and a game-high five assists.

Florida’s reserves were just as efficient as the starters with Prather, sophomore F Erik Murphy and freshman C Patric Young each scoring six points on a combined 14 shots. Tyus added seven boards while Macklin, Young and Prather contributed four apiece.

UF also excelled on defense Saturday, holding Arkansas’ leading scorer G Rotnei Clarke scoreless on two attempts. Forwards Delvon Johnson and Marshawn Powell led the Razorbacks with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

The Gators dominated every aspect of the game; they not only shot better but also out-rebounded their opponent 41-26, dished 13 more assists (18-5), grabbed two more steals (6-4), blocked four more shots (5-1) and committed six fewer turnovers (7-13). Florida held Arkansas to 30 percent shooting from the field and 15.4 percent from downtown while keeping their second-straight opponent from scoring 45 points. In fact, the Gators’ two-game opponent point total of 83 points is the lowest ever in Southeastern Conference play under Donovan.

Florida hopes to keep the momentum going as they travel to face Georgia on the road on Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. The game will air live on ESPN.

Photo Credit: Matt Stamey/The Gainesville Sun-Associated Press

Location: Stephen C. O’Connell Center – Gainesville, FL [Capacity: 12,000]
Time: 8:00 p.m. (ET)

TV: FSN/FSNHD
Online Video: ESPN3.com
Sirius/XM: -/199
Online Audio: Yahoo!
Live Updates: @OnlyGators

Odds: Florida -9

HISTORY and STREAKS

» Florida leads the all-time series against Arkansas 13-10, is 9-2 in the last 11 meetings and 3-0 the last three times the teams have met including a 71-66 victory on the road in 2010. Donavan is 13-5 against the Razorbacks, which includes a 7-0 record at home.
» The Gators finished 6-0 against the SEC West last season, are 52-16 since 2000 (30-4 at home) and are 2-0 this season including wins over Ole Miss and Auburn.
» Struggling offensively most of the season, Florida scored 77.3 points per game in three games from Jan. 8-15 while shooting 46.9 percent (23-for-49) from three-point range. However, all of that changed Thursday as the Gators scored only 45 points while shooting 28.3 percent (15-of-53) from the field and 19.2 percent from downtown (5-of-26) against Auburn in the worst offensive performance in Donovan’s UF career.
» Florida has won 9 of its last 11 games with six victories against RPI top 100 teams.
» The Gators are 10-1 when holding an opponent under 60 points this season.
» Florida has out-rebounded 14 of 18 opponents this season but only one of their four opponents in SEC competition, doing so by a +6.8 rebounds per game advantage.
» Arkansas is a defensive machine this season, leading the Southeastern Conference in blocked shots (6.8 per game), steals (9.4 per game) and turnover margin (+2.9).
» The Gators best the Razorbacks in three of four major statistical categories nationally. Florida holds advantages in rebounding 64th-180th (37.9-35.2), assists 85th-173rd (14.4-13.1) and field goal percentage 82nd-158th (.459-.441), while Arkansas scores more points 112th-165th (72.2-69.8) on average. The Gators rank 17th in RPI (.6316) and 11th in strength of schedule nationally compared to the Razorbacks being 102nd (.5397) and 180th, respectively.
» Donovan will face Pelphrey, a former assistant of his for eight years at Marshall and UF, and assistant coach Brett Nelson, a former player under Donovan at Florida.

KEEP AN EYE ON…

» Junior point guard Erving Walker…who is leading his team in scoring with 14.4 points per game and leading the backcourt in both field goal percentage (44.9%) and three-point percentage (42.7%). He has single-handedly accounted for 41 of Florida’s 104 treys this season. Walker became the 47th player in school history to score 1,000 points, accomplishing the feat one week ago.
» Senior forward Chandler Parsons…who is back to averaging double-digit points (10.3) while leading the Gators with 6.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
» Redshirt senior center Vernon Macklin…who is shooting a team-high 56.4 percent as a starter this season with most of his buckets coming inside the paint. He averages 10.7 points and 6.3 rebounds a game while being a major presence for Florida.
» Sophomore guard Kenny Boynton…who is arguably UF’s most talented player but has been marred in a slump this year. Boynton is only shooting 36.2 percent from the field and 28.9 percent from beyond the arc. He is second on the team in scoring with 12.4 points per game and hits a team-high 77.1 percent of his free throws.
» Freshmen PG Scottie Wilbekin and C Patric Young…who are the Gators primary reserves averaging 17.6 and 16.0 minutes per game, respectively. Wilbekin, in relief of Walker, leads Florida in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.4:1), while Young is the team’s most efficient scorer at 57.5 percent.
» Arkansas G Rotnei Clarke…who leads his team in scoring at 13.0 points per game and is second in free throw shooting, hitting at a 80.5 percent clip.
» Razorbacks F Delvon Johnson…who leads his squad as a shooter and rebounder. Johnson hits 56.1 percent of his shots and grabs 8.0 boards per game.

DONOVAN’s FRIDAY MEDIA AVAILABILITY

After Thursday’s close win against Auburn, Donovan spoke to the media and had some interesting thoughts about his team’s performance.

On his team’s poor shooting Thursday: “I felt watching the film that our guys had pretty decent looks. Were there some ill-advised threes? Absolutely. Were there some ill-advised post moves that guys tried to make in traffic? Yes. Overall I thought we had pretty decent looks. Our guys got pretty good looks from the perimeter. The more shots don’t go down, the more they can back up into your post.”

On how he feels in general looking back on the game: “Happy it’s over. I’ve never been a part of a game like that. […] Hopefully it drives home a message to our guys. This was a game in which our offense was not there, we didn’t shoot the ball very well, it was a difficult grind for us offensively, but our guys managed to play relatively good defense.”

On the shooting problems: “I felt, in the game, that our guys were not shooting the ball with confidence when they were open. What you try to do is, you try to keep encouraging, trying to instill confidence that they have to take those shots and shoot the ball with confidence when they’re open.”

On the team taking so many threes: “You can want to throw the ball inside as much as you want to throw the ball inside, but if they’re going to send two and three guys inside on a post guy and you got Erving Walker or Kenny Boynton or Chandler Parsons or Scottie out there on the perimeter open… I don’t want our post guys shooting out of triple teams. I don’t want Vernon Macklin taking a turn-around jump shot with two guys on him. You always have got to take what the defense gives you.”

1 » Former Florida Gators defensive end Justin Trattou will participate in the 2011 East-West Shrine Game at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, FL on Saturday. He will wear No. 84 in the game, which will air live on NFL Network at 4 p.m.

2 » Florida head basketball coach Billy Donovan is currently participating in The Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge, a charitable contest where coaches are vying to win money for an organization they choose to represent. Donovan, who is representing the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation, could win $100,000 for the organization in the contest. Vote for him right here and remember that “inspiration is contagious.”

3 » When it comes to Dwyer High School four-star quarterback recruit Jacoby Brissett (West Palm Beach, FL), it seems no one knows exactly what he is going to do. Though he has officially eliminated South Carolina and Florida State from contention, Brissett is being pursued heavily by a number of schools in addition to the Gators. Miami and Washington are both going hard after him, according to the Palm Beach Post. Dwyer head coach Jack Daniels believes Brissett is the “No. 1 player [Miami] target[s],” and says the player is intrigued by Washington because of their success in getting players ready for the NFL. Daniels disputed that Brissett “holds a grudge” against Florida. “He doesn’t hold a grudge because it’s a new coaching staff. He’s just proud, and he wants to show everyone who didn’t offer him early,” he said. “It wasn’t against UF; it was against the staff that was there before.” That statement aligns with the original story on the subject, the point being that the negative feelings may be too much to overcome – even with a new coaching staff in place.

Daniels also told the Post that four-star linebacker Curt Maggitt (West Palm Beach, FL) was pleased with an in-home visit from Tennessee head coach Derek Dooley. He is planning to visit the Gators next weekend and, though he may take an unofficial trip to Miami, is likely between UF, UT and Wisconsin with the first two schools out in front.

4 » No. 1 Florida gymnastics (3-0, 2-0 SEC) continued their winning ways on Friday, defeating the No. 24 LSU Tigers (0-3, 0-2 SEC) 196.425-194.00 on the road at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, LA. Sophomore Ashanée Dickerson won her 10th all-around title while claiming at least a share of each of Friday’s five event titles. She is the first Gators gymnast since 2000 to sweep all of the event titles in a single meet, winning the floor exercise (9.95), vault (9.90) and balance beam (9.825) while sharing the uneven bars title (9.80).

5 » Though they put together a solid performance, No. 5/6 Gators men’s and women’s swimming fell to the No. 6/12 Auburn Tigers on Friday at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center in Auburn, AL. The men (4-3, 2-1 SEC) lost 167-133, while the women (4-4, 0-2 SEC) were upended 165-135. Florida’s men had not fallen in SEC competition in almost two full years…their prior defeat also came at Auburn on Jan. 24, 2009.

In more upbeat news, three Gators swimmers were selected to the United States’ 2011 FINA World Championship Team on Friday. Senior Conor Dwyer, junior Teresa Crippen and freshman Elizabeth Beisel will all participate for USA Swimming in Shanghai, China from July 24-31. Gregg Troy, Florida’s head swimming coach who agreed to coach the United States’ men’s team at the 2012 London Olympics, will be an assistant coach on the FINA squad, which also features another former Gators swimmer, Ryan Lochte. Florida’s three selections to the team led any NCAA school.

6 » No. 9 Gators men’s tennis (1-0) took home an impressive 7-0 victory against the Furman Paladins in their season-opener on Friday at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, FL. The No. 11 duo of senior Alexandre Lacroix and junior Nassim Slilam won their doubles match 8-3; No. 4 Lacroix also won his singles match 6-0, 5-7 (10-4). Other ranked victories came from sophomores No. 28 Sekou Bangoura, Jr. (6-1, 6-1) and No. 52 Bob van Overbeek (6-0, 6-1) in singles action.