SEC Football

Meyer Says Recruiting Restrictions Hinder Schools From Evaluating Players' Character

Florida head football coach Urban Meyer suggested Wednesday that recruiting restrictions have made it harder for college coaches to judge the character of their recruits.

Speaking at a Gators booster event in Miami, Meyer said restrictions on contact with recruits hinder his ability to measure their character.

"The NCAA is pulling us off the recruiting process," he said, in comments reported by South Florida media outlets. "I'm not allowed to go out [to visit players] anymore. I'm not allowed to text message. I'm trying to find out as best I can. You just keep re-evaluating.

"If you just look around and see some of the things that are going on, it's amazing. It's concerning. It's alarming," Meyer said. "So we take a great deal of time and... More after the break

effort in trying to educate guys, work with them and recruit character. Are we perfect? Absolutely not."

Meyer's remarks come almost a week after he kicked Florida safety Jamar Hornsby off the team. Hornsby had turned himself in to face charges of credit card theft and fraudulent use of a credit card. He allegedly used the credit card of Florida student Ashley Slonina, who was killed in an October motorcycle accident along with Gators walk-on Michael Guilford.

Meyer said the charges were his team's first brush with the law in this off-season.

"I can assure you one incident is not going to offset five great months as we get ready for the 2008 season," Meyer said.

"It's a shame that one person had to steal away from what the other 104 guys are doing,'' he added. "We had the highest GPA in University of Florida football history. We had 58 [players] that had over a 3.0."

For more on Meyer's remarks, click here.