Wilson's Return Explained
Just as requested, the reversal of course for Wilson has been rationally explained in a joint statement released by the University and Wilson:
"In his attempt to rejoin the team, Ron has passed 20 hours since January of 2008 while not on scholarship," Meyer said in the statement. "He is on track to graduate in May of 2009 and if he follows university and team guidelines, he will have the opportunity to achieve this goal."
Wilson was put on probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of battery and discharging a firearm in public in August 2007. Wilson fired an AK-47 assault rifle into the air in a parking lot after an altercation with another man in April and was suspended from UF for a year, but returned in January. He will pay his own way this fall and could return as a walk-on.
"I'm sorry that I caused so much embarrassment for my family, the school and the football program," Wilson said in his statement. "I'm thankful for the opportunity to be out here. It was very difficult being away from the school and the football team that I care so much about. I'm blessed to have this chance."
Difficult to fault a last chance under these circumstances.
Mentioned in Austin Murphy's book 
3 comments:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking-news/story/629259.html
Looks like he had a pot bust in January that conveniently got overlooked by local prosecutors and thus by Meyer.
The pot bust was what got him thrown off the team as it occurred during his suspension.
Also, the prosecutors didn't overlook it, that is a violation of probation. As a 2nd degree misdemeanor, a prosecutor won't typically revoke probation, just add some more community service to the probation terms and drop the pot possession.
What got the grudging reinstatement is that he completed over 100 hrs. of community service in 6 months, earned 20 hrs of credit during the same time frame and is on schedule to graduate in 4 yrs., something DI athletes rarely do.
Ronnie Wilson can choose to sink like Marcus Thomas did or swim, and I hope he chooses the latter. Meyer didn't have to give him a second chance but decided to; possibly based on what you said above, KGB. Being a Gator football player is a privilege that shouldn't come easy to anyone.
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