Four more Florida Gators – Purifoy, Cummings, Pittman, Williams – suspended for opener

By Adam Silverstein
August 30, 2013

Updated on Aug. 31 at 10 a.m.

Sophomore linebacker Antonio Morrison will not be the only Florida Gators player suspended for the season opener against the Toledo Rockets as the school officially announced on Saturday morning that four more players – including junior cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy, senior defensive tackle Darious Cummings, sophomore wide receiver Latroy Pittman and redshirt freshman offensive lineman Quinteze Williams – will also be held out of action for violations of team rules.

Reports of these suspensions began leaking Friday evening, when OnlyGators.com reached out to Florida for comment, but the Gators did not officially confirm the suspensions until sending a tweet Saturday morning.

Asked Wednesday during the weekly Southeastern Conference football coaches teleconference if any other players besides Morrison would miss the game due to disciplinary reasons, Muschamp answered, “No, not at this time.”

Based on the depth chart released by Florida on Monday, Purifoy is the only one of the five that would have otherwise started against the Rockets. Senior CB Jaylen Watkins, one of three first-string cornerbacks, will start in his place.

Cummings is second on the depth chart behind senior Dominique Easley, while Pittman is listed as a second-stringer at the F position behind junior Trey Burton.

Williams is not on the two-deep depth chart.

The Gators lost 13 starters from the 2012 season and will be without six total would-be starters for the 2013 season opener including Morrison (suspension), Purifoy (suspension), sophomore running back Matt Jones (illness), redshirt senior right guard Jon Halapio (torn pectoral), redshirt senior WR Andre Debose (torn ACL) and redshirt junior right tackle Chaz Green (labrum).

Jones and the five suspended players will likely be eligible to return on Sept. 7 on the road at Miami, while Halapio is set to play his first game on Sept. 21 at home against Tennessee. Debose and Green are out for the season with their respective injuries.

14 Comments

  1. Michael Jones says:

    Wow. That’s shockingly bad news. I guess no matter how talented you are, selfishness and short-sightedness will always be an issue. I thought this team had the makings of a potential SEC and national championship run. But the negatives are continuing to pile up against it.

    Wow.

  2. Chris says:

    Has to be Urban Meyer’s fault. I mean who else is to blame for SEC kids

  3. ira jones says:

    Boom ain’t taking no crap unlike the crappy scared crybaby that he succeeded. Go GATORS and go coach BOOM

  4. Rick McIntosh says:

    leadership starts with yourself. selfishness ends you by yourself.

  5. Lava Lizard says:

    It was already going to be a tight game, so expect UF to be out of the top ten come Monday.

    After this season “Boom” may find himself on the hot seat.

  6. Bfouts says:

    Players will make their own decisions… Muschamp cannot babysit all of them but congrats to him for being what a head coach should be. As a die hard gator fan, I don’t care if we lose to Toledo due to suspensions, a standard has to be set and Muschamp is willing to hurt himself to prove it. GO GATORS.

  7. Chris says:

    If we lose to them because one starter is gone, then we have more problems then we thought. Plus this will mean we have to lean more on the talented freshmen we have. We will be fine. We still win by two TD’s.

  8. Joe says:

    Lava Lizard, you sir, are an idiot. That is all.

  9. Timmy T says:

    The Gators will dominate tomorrow. This team is gonna be great. Even greater when these guys get their heads straight and return to the field. Will Muschamp is another fantastic hire by Jeremy. I have no idea what these guys did, but I trust in Muschamp and I’m sure it was the right thing to do. Hopefully, these guys grasp what is being taught here. Either way, I’m all for cleaning up all the BS that has been, and still is, associated with Florida. We’re better than that. We have to show it, and Will is trying to instill that. I’m all for it. GO GATORS!!!!

  10. MAR says:

    Props to Will Muschamp as he, depending on what these players did, is taking a stand. I have a feeling that these violations are ones that many coaches around the country would sweep under the rug and no one would hear anything. (Bobby Bowden ((although and x-coach)), Urban, Lane K., etc, etc, etc)…

  11. Gatorgrad79 says:

    It is time to cut the crap and Coach boom is apparenttly the one to do it! I have no doubt that Foley is behind him as the U of F is very tired of being on national news for Police blotter reports! These players need to learn that they may have been excused every irresponsible (illegal) act when they were a big high school fish in a little ponf, but that treatment can lead to things like , dare we mention, sitting in a jail cell on a drug/murder charge.

  12. mark says:

    If this about failed drug tests, as has been reported elsewhere, than Boom didn’t make any decisions. There are standard suspensions in place to handle it. Also, #15 just potentiality cost himself the 1st round and a couple million $’s.

  13. G2 says:

    Never a dull moment these days. Hurts when maybe the 3 best players on the team aren’t playing. If we can’t beat these guys with our second string then somethings wrong. Go Gatas!

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