Florida Football: Players and Fans Are All Watching to See How Tough Muschamp Is

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer) By now it's old news that Florida's senior cornerback, Janoris Jenkins—someone who would have been a shoe in for a first round NFL draft pick—was arrested again for the same offense, smoking pot.

What's different this time is that now it's Muschamp's moment. This is his moment to show what he's made of. Is he going to placate the members of the team who continuously break the rules? Or is he going to run a tight ship and tell rule breakers that they cannot play for the Florida Gators?

When Muschamp was hired, he knew he was getting some premier talent from the Urban Meyer days, but he was also inheriting a team that has a horrendous record of off the field problems. This was something his new bosses told him they wanted cleaned up and to end.

It's a difficult decision not just for Muschamp, but for any coach to make in this instance.

Does he use Jenkins as the sacrificial scapegoat to make a point that there's a new sheriff in town? Or does he point to fact that it was a simple misdemeanor and simply suspend him for a few meaningless games?

It's not just the fans or media that are going to be watching his decision closely, but the players.

Should he send the wrong message to the team, he could lose any chance to solidify them against such transactions later. Here is kid who gave up being a sure NFL draft pick to stay for his senior year and help the team come back to the greatness it had when he first became a Gator himself.

It's a terrible spot for Muschamp to be in.

But in the end, it was Jenkins who put him in that spot, so Jenkins is the one to be blamed for any decision that is made by Muschamp.

It would of course be different if this was his first offense, but of course, it's not. Some people have no learning curve and this decision has cost Jenkins millions of dollars.

Speaking of first time offenders, today we learned that Muschamp knew of two other players involved with pot that he managed to keep hidden from the media that occurred in January. Was Muschamp trying to protect the players by keeping it secret or his own reputation?

Redshirt freshman Chris Martin and redshirt sophomore Kedric Johnson were also hit with misdemeanor marijuana possession charges, according to The Palm Beach Post. Both were busted when stopped for routine traffic violations and the officers smelled marijuana.

Now that these have become public, what punishment will these two endure? Again, people are watching.

Let's hope that Muschamp learns as a new coach that you can't save everybody, just the ones that are trying to save themselves. He can't afford to keep saving people who continuously jump off the ship into the dark deep water.

This decision will say as much about Muschamp as it does the future of the Gator program. For the sake of the team, let's hope it's a good one.

Late Update: Muschamp announced this afternoon that he has dismissed Jenkins from the team.