I would argue that playing sports and getting an education at UF has saved far more troubled kids than has been lost. I'm not saying our coaches should take in anyone regardless of character, but we also cannot hold them to an impossible standard -- to guess which kids are going to become productive members of society and which ones are going to be criminals. They do their best to recruit kids who not only have the physical skills desired, but also have the character and intelligence worthy of an institution like UF.

That Hernandez was brought to UF may or may not be a reflection on Coach Meyer, depending on what he knew about the kid, but I'm not going to fault him for believing UF would give Hernandez a chance to overcome the hand he was dealt in life. It was not Meyer or UF that made Hernandez a thug, any more than it was Meyer or UF that made Tim Tebow a high-character role model. Thank God (and Jeremy Foley) that we did not hold Billy Donovan accountable for the fact his very first recruit for UF was Teddy Dupay.

So we take the good with the bad. We are very proud of the guys like Tim and Danny and Emmitt who  represent UF well after their playing days are over.  We are embarrassed when guys like Hernandez and Dupay do things that reflect poorly on our university.  We certainly hope there are more of the former and fewer of the latter going foward.

I don't know which current players on our roster are going to be criminals, and I'm pretty sure our coaches don't either. But I'm confident that they are doing everything possible for all our student-athletes to keep them out of trouble and give them the support to succeed at UF and beyond. 

By the way, I just found a recent news report that says  Dupay and Donovan are still close and that Dupay is doing well. Maybe that's one more we can take off the "lost" list....

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/sports/sports_blogs_local/dupay-continues-with-a-life-in-basketball-a-dozen-years-after-his-career-came-crashing-down