It hasn’t been the best of days for Florida Gator fans, to put it mildly.
If you somehow missed it (and the only legitimate excuse at this point is to have to been on a transatlantic jet all day), our QB- Treon Harris, Tennessee game hero- has been suspended indefinitely after being accused of sexual assault.
But before we jump to conclusions, let me remind you of something: he has not been arrested, or charged or with a crime. All the accusations are at this time are just that: accusations. I don’t use bold much on my articles, but I felt that this particular instance warranted it.
Harris’s attorney, Huntley Johnson, echoed these statements and then made a potentially telling one of his own. Johnson said that he would be surprised if any charges were ever filed. Now, of course, this is Harris’s lawyer speaking, and not Will Muschamp, Bernie Machen or a chief of police. But still, when you hear a defendant’s attorney speaking with such certainty (though “surprised” does leave the door open for arrest as a possibility), it makes you feel somewhat better about Harris’s chances of being innocent.
Even more so, though, is the source that spoke with David Jones of the Florida Today. The source told Jones that the “evidence is shaky at best,” and that the case would turn into a “he said, she said situation”. That’s the good (or, less bad news). The bad news is that the same source also said that completion of the investigation “could take several weeks”. Unfortunately, Will Muschamp has no real choice but to suspend Harris anyway- and barring a confession from the alleged victim that she made the whole thing up (a la Brian Banks), Harris will (likely) not be allowed to play until the investigation is complete, even if it does take several weeks.
I hope Treon Harris didn’t do this. I really want to believe that he’s innocent. But if he did sexually assault a student, he has no business setting foot on the UF campus ever again.
Unfortunately, we may not know the answer to this for a few weeks.
