Over the weekend, Florida wide receiver Andre DeBose was involved in an incident that began as a physical confrontation between multiple individuals and eventually escalated into gunfire. While the initial Gainesville Police Department description painted DeBose as an aggressor, the GPD subsequently amended the public portrait by releasing a pair of statements that hailed the player as a hero and even offered a public apology for the initial misinformation it had been responsible for spreading.
DeBose was not arrested, and no one was hurt in the altercation even as the receiver was pushed through a window. It did, though, serve as a teachable moment for a player who earlier this month received a sixth season of eligibility.
“He told me it was an eye-opening experience and what have you,” Gators head coach Will Muschamp explained following UF’s Pro Day Monday. “He admittedly said '‘Coach, I was in a bad place and shouldn’t have been there and I didn’t know all of the people that were involved.’ And I just told him, I said, ‘That’s where you’ve got to be careful.’”
“He’s got to be mentally careful about who he’s hanging around in that situation,” the coach added.
DeBose, coming off an ACL tear he suffered last August, will not participate in non-contact drills during spring practice until late this month as he continues to rehab the injury.