Former Florida Gators defensive back Janoris Jenkins told the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday that his departure from the Gators was a dismissal, not the mutual parting UF officials have described.
Jenkins gave the newspaper a short description of his meeting earlier this week with first-year Florida coach Will Muschamp.
?The only thing he said was I was dismissed as soon as I walked in the room,? Jenkins said, according to the Sentinel. ?He washed his hands of me.?
A message on Muschamp?s Twitter account Tuesday suggested that the departure was mutual. UF athletic department spokesman Steve McClain told the Sentinel that UF officials stand behind the message.
?After meeting with Janoris Jenkins today, we both felt it was in his best interest to move ahead to the next stage of his career,? the tweet read.
Gatorzone.com, UF?s official athletic website, included the word ?dismissed? in its initial story about Jenkins? departure from the team, according to the Sentinel. That language was later removed.
Jenkins leaving the Gators is connected to legal problems. His arrest on charges of misdemeanor marijuana possession was his second drug-related run-in in 2011 and his third brush with local police since he joined the team.
Jenkins, an All-SEC cornerback, said he hasn?t made up his mind yet about what his future holds. He has one year of eligibility remaining, which he could use in 2011 at a lower division school or in 2012 at a Division I-A school. He would be eligible for an NFL Supplemental Draft, though the league?s labor unrest makes the event uncertain.
?I?m still open,? Jenkins told the newspaper.
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