Another Gators football player is in trouble with the law, as Florida cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy was cited early Sunday morning on a charge of possession of marijuana, according to Alachua County Court records.
Purifoy is the 13th player arrested since Will Muschamp took over the Florida program. Eight of those players have been charged with a marijuana-related crime.
As first reported by Thomas Goldkamp of 247Sports, Purifoy was a passenger in the back seat of a car that was pulled over for a routine traffic stop around midnight on Saturday night. After stopping the car, the officer noticed "a baggie containing 2.5 grams of cannabis" between the front driver's and passenger seats, according to the police report.
Purifoy played in all 13 of Florida's games last season, finishing fourth on the team with 51 tackles. He also recorded five pass breakups, forced three fumbles and blocked two kicks.
Due to depth concerns, Muschamp said Wednesday that Purifoy could play wide receiver in the spring after working out at the position and playing several snaps there last season. A team spokesman was not immediately available for comment and it is unclear what if any punishment Purifoy will face.
Gators lose key defensive piece for season
Florida forward Will Yeguete will miss the rest of the college basketball regular season, coach Billy Donovan announced Thursday.
Yeguete had been dealing with pain in his right knee throughout much of the season, but he aggravated the injury in the Gators' blowout loss to Arkansas on Tuesday and must now have arthroscopic surgery to repair damage.
"He’s had some significant swelling over the last several weeks and he’s got some floating chips and cartilage in there, which we knew beforehand that was there, but it’s not anything that’s putting him necessarily in jeopardy playing," Donovan said. "It was more how could he play with the chips floating around? And a lot of it was based on pain, and he wasn’t in a lot of pain. But I think because those chips were floating around, they’ve probably gotten into different parts of his knee that have just put him in a situation where I think that the treatment going forward is not what we need to do."
Donovan said Yeguete will be about four to six weeks, putting hope that the Gators' defensive specialist could return in time for the NCAA Tournament. The latest injury is a crippling blow for Florida, as Yeguete was instrumental in the Gators' press defense.
Last year, Yeguete suffered a broken bone in his foot on February 21, and Florida went on to lose four of its next five games.
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