Meyer suspends Dunlap for SEC Championship

Florida Gators head coach Urban Meyer has decided to suspend junior defensive end Carlos Dunlap for the 2009 SEC Championship game after he was arrested Tuesday morning by Gainesville Police on charges of driving under the influence. Dunlap was found slumped over sleeping behind the wheel of his red Chrystler at a traffic light. Dunlap faces one second degree misdemeanor DUI charge and was released on his own recognizance without bond by Judge Mary Day Coker.

“Carlos obviously made a very poor decision,” Meyer said. “He’s not going to play, and I want to visit with him and his family first, and then go from there. Stunning is probably a good word [to describe how I felt when I found out]. Young guys make decisions all the time. This one’s a serious one.”

One of the Gators’ top defensive players, Dunlap was named the 2009 BCS National Championship game MVP and has been a powerful, athletic force on the defensive line in 2009. He is expected to leave school after this season and be the top Florida player taken in the 2010 NFL Draft.

“You think you’re in control and the next thing you know you’re in trouble,” Carlos Dunlap, Sr. said about his son’s arrest. “I am dumbfounded right now. He’s always been so anti-drug, anti-drinking. But it’s not what you do, it’s how you respond to what you do.”

Meyer said junior DE Justin Trattou will start in place of Dunlap while senior DE Jermaine Cunningham will stay on the field for more snaps than usual. Redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Jaye Howard will get playing time at end while redshirt junior DTs Lawrence Marsh and Terron Sanders hold down the inside of the line. “The good thing is we have a little bit of depth,” Meyer said.