Gators QB Harris charged with misdemeanor

Florida Gators freshman quarterback Treon Harris received a second-degree misdemeanor charge on Tuesday for driving without a license.

The University Police Department stopped Harris in a motor vehicle on Saturday, Dec. 13 and cited him for neither possessing a license nor having one issued to him by the state.

According to The Gainesville Sun‘s Robbie Andreu, who is citing the UPD’s report, Harris was speeding on campus (10 mph over the limit) at 11:29 p.m., when an officer pulled his car over after smelling (unburnt) marijuana.

In the vehicle along with Harris were two fellow freshmen football players in defensive backs Jalen Tabor and J.C. Jackson.

Per the Orlando Sentinel‘s Edgar Thompson:

Officers smelled marijuana and found two small bags of the drug in a storage pocket of the vehicle, [UFPD public information officer Maj. Brad] Barber said. No charges were filed because none of the players was in possession of marijuana and the car did not belong to them.

“They did not determine nor did anyone admit to the possession of the marijuana itself,” Barber said.

Harris’s arraignment is set for Jan. 15 at 1:30 p.m.

“I think as soon as he gets his license, the charge probably will be dismissed,” attorney Huntley Johnson told Andreu, who first reported the charge. “That’s the way it’s usually handled in a case like this for a citizen, and he’s a citizen.”

Indeed, Florida law gives the clerk of the court ability to throw out this charge for a $5 fee as long as a citizen possesses a license prior to his arraignment.

Harris is expected to start for the Gators against the East Carolina Pirates in the 2015 Birmingham Bowl on Saturday, Jan. 3 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.

Tabor was a bright spot for the Gators on the field this season. He was previously arrested on a marijuana possession charge on May 27, marking the first arrest of a Florida football player in more than a year.

Interim head coach D.J. Durkin is expected to release a statement Friday afternoon regarding whether the team plans to discipline the players.

Update: A Gators spokesman has released a statement in response to the incident. “We are aware of the incident and are dealing with it internally and their bowl status hasn’t changed.”