UF AD involved in Callaway discipline
DESTIN — UF athletics director Scott Stricklin said he and football coach Jim McElwain are engaged in a dialogue about how to discipline star receiver Antonio Callaway.
What is said will remain between Stricklin and McElwain, but Callaway’s status for the Sept. 2 opener against Michigan will be among the topics.
“That’s a conversation for Coach Mac and me to have,” Stricklin said. “That’s not something I’m going to discuss publicly.”
Callaway’s off-the-field troubles have been a longstanding issue.
Asked initially if he was involved in Callaway’s “situation,” Stricklin replied, “Which one?”
This time last year Callaway was mired in a Title IX investigation into sexual battery, but eventually was found to be “not responsible.” On May 13, Callaway was cited for misdemeanor marijuana possession while he was a passenger in a car with Kendrick Williams, a 40-year-old Gainesville man with a history of brushes with the law. Callaway’s court date is scheduled for June 19, but he could enter a plea between now and then.
Stricklin said he is confident McElwain will take the appropriate disciplinary action, noting the third-year coach has suspended key players in the past. Star cornerback Jalen Tabor, for example, served one-game suspensions in 2015 and 2016.
“One thing you have to respect about Coach Mac is he has never shied away from discipline as a teachable moment,” Stricklin said. “Candidly, to this point we’ve had an issue come up and he’s said, hey this is what I’m going to do and he’s handled it well. He has not shied away from having to use discipline in the past.
“He’s sat key guys in the past.”
SEC coaches believe the college football season is long enough.
The elimination of twoa-day practices has led many coaches to push back the start of preseason camp. A 14-week schedule would make the start of preseason practices even earlier.
Too early, SEC coaches agreed this week.
“The majority was not in favor of it,” Kentucky’s Mark Stoops said. “You’re going to ask an awful lot of that student-athlete. They’re going to have to report in mid-July.”
Stoops said he already plans to begin four days earlier than in 2016 in order to manage the new calendar with 29 practice opportunities, no two-a-days that count as two practices and mandatory days off for players.
The Football Oversight Committee asked conferences for feedback on an annual 12-game regularseason schedule with two bye weeks.
The Division I Council, a governing committee featuring school officials from around the country, reportedly favors it.
A team that plays in the SEC title game then would have a 15-week season. And then there are bowl games or the College Football Playoff.
Alabama has played 15 games, including two playoff games, the past two seasons.
“I personally think that our season is way too long and making the season longer is not a good thing for the players,” Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said.