Four Players Set to Rejoin Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- They became sort of a symbolic asterisk to the University of Florida football team's 2017 season.

Nine players suspended for the season, casting an ominous cloud over the team prior to the much-anticipated season opener against Michigan at Jerry World. That cloud hung around throughout the fall as the Gators stumbled to a 4-7 season that never took off the way former head coach Jim McElwain envisioned after back-to-back SEC East titles.

Five months later, a fresh aura engulfs the program.

Dan Mullen is now in charge. A recent batch of mid-year enrollees arrived this semester. Mullen and his coaching staff are out recruiting more players to add next month on National Signing Day as they try to turn around the program's fortunes.

The players who made those reckless decisions and garnered unwanted headlines in 2017, those banned from the team and who faced serious consequences through the legal system that cluttered their futures, well, clarity has slowly emerged the past few weeks.

More surfaced early Tuesday evening with reports that four of the players – running back Jordan Scarlett, linebacker James Houston IV, linebacker Ventrell Miller and receiver Rick Wells – are enrolled in classes at UF and set to rejoin team activities.

The players earned second chances via the legal system and have now been granted another opportunity with the Gators. What they do with their second acts remains up to them.

"All of our players understand the standards and expectations we have of them to be members of the Florida football program,'' Mullen said.

Scarlett is the only one who has appeared in a game for the Gators, leading the team in rushing as a sophomore in 2016. Projected as the team's starting tailback in 2017, how Scarlett fits into Mullen's plans is not known. He will be starting over like the rest of the roster under a new staff.

Meanwhile, four other players are no longer enrolled at Florida and are pursuing other paths: Jordan Smith, Kadeem Telfort, Richerd Desir-Jones and Antonio Callaway. Only Callaway made a significant contribution on the field for the Gators. The other player suspended, defensive lineman Keivonnis Davis, faces and uncertain future in the game due to a serious moped accident during the season.

The first wave of suspensions came in mid-August when McElwain announced that seven players, including Callaway, the team's star receiver in his first two seasons, were unavailable. Two more players, Scarlett and Wells, were suspended days before the Gators lost to the Wolverines in Arlington, Texas.

Since then, much has changed around the program. Same holds true for the players.

Some have moved on. Other are staying. Let's hope they all learned from their ill-advised choices that foreshadowed a grim fall for the Gators.

Gators Calendar

Four Players Set to Rejoin Gators

Players Mentioned

Antonio Callaway

Keivonnis Davis

Richerd Desir-Jones

James Houston IV

Ventrell Miller

Jordan Scarlett

Jordan Smith

Kadeem Telfort

Rick Wells

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