All's quiet at Florida under its new coach

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Florida Gators have experienced their least eventful off-season in recent years.

No bar brawls. No assault charges. Not even a frat fight.

It has a lot to do with new coach Urban Meyer.

Hired last December to replace fired coach Ron Zook, Meyer has restored discipline to a program that endured numerous off-the-field issues the previous two years.

"Football is all about discipline. If you don't handle your problems off the field, then you can't handle them on the field," safety Jarvis Herring said. "We were undisciplined. The coaches from last year's staff told us the same things, laid down some of the same rules, but they just didn't enforce them as much as coach Meyer and his staff does.

"That's why we went on about our way and broke the rules."

After having at least seven players deal with legal problems during the past two years under Zook, the Gators haven't had a single issue since Meyer took over.

The scene is quite different around the rest of the country, especially in the Southeastern Conference and in nearby Tallahassee, Fla.

South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia have had at least 23 football players either arrested or cited since the season ended. Florida State had similar problems, with star linebackers Ernie Sims and A.J. Nicholson getting arrested this summer.

In Gainesville, though, things have been quiet.

"You don't want to waste talent by getting in trouble on the streets and messing you're life away by doing stupid things," linebacker Brandon Siler said. "That's the message: Don't go out and do things that can hurt your team. That's what we did in the past."

Herring, linebacker Taurean Charles (twice), linebacker Channing Crowder (twice), linebacker Earl Everett, defensive end Steven Harris, quarterback Justin Midgett and running back Skyler Thornton were all arrested over the past two years.

There also was the well-publicized recruiting trip of Willie Williams in January 2004. The star linebacker was accused of setting off hotel fire extinguishers, getting into a bar fight with another man and hugging a woman without her permission during his visit to Gainesville. Through much of the visit, he was escorted by Florida players.

Even more embarrassing for the program was the infamous fraternity fight last year that played a role in Zook's dismissal.