UPDATE 7/20: JC Jackson has been formally charged with four felony counts. The state attorney’s office has levied three counts of home invasion with a deadly weapon, plus an additional count of burglary of an occupied dwelling.
Each of the four charges carries a minimum sentence of ten years in prison, and a maximum of life in prison. So needless to say, it looks like Jim McElwain did the right thing by booting him.
Regardless of whether or not the legal charges against him are dropped, JC Jackson will not be returning to Florida, according to the Gainesville Sun’s Robbie Andreu.
Even if the charges against Jackson are dropped, he will not be returning to UF, where he hasn't been enrolled since the spring semester.
— Robbie Andreu (@RobbieAndreu) July 6, 2015
Jackson becomes the third Gator who figured to get playing time in 2015 to leave the team this offseason. Defensive lineman Gerald Willis transferred to Miami, and offensive lineman Rod Johnson’s career ended due to a chronic spinal injury.
But while the first two of those were somewhat surprising, Jackson’s dismissal comes as no surprise to me, nor should it to anyone else. Jackson was arrested back on April 18th on three felony charges, stemming from a home invasion and armed robbery, which pretty much constitutes the boot in any program in the country. He was then suspended indefinitely by Coach McElwain.
Andreu also said that the State Attorney expects to render a decision on Jackson this week.
Jackson came to UF with extremely high expectations, but his departure doesn’t really hurt Florida too much. Look at the rest of the Gators’ secondary: Vernon Hargreaves. Keanu Neal. Brian Poole. Jalen Tabor. Quincy Wilson. Duke Dawson. DBU and such. Despite his immense physical talent, this ultimately does nothing to hurt the Gators at all.
