GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida offensive lineman Ronnie Matthew Wilson was arrested Thursday, accused of firing a semiautomatic rifle in the air during a dispute with another man that started in a nightclub. Wilson, 19, has been suspended from team activities, coach Urban Meyer said. Wilson was charged with aggravated assault, simple battery and the use or display of a concealed weapon during the commission of a felony, according to jail records. "Obviously, this is a major concern," Meyer said. The victim, whose name was not released, said Wilson spit on him and slapped him on the right side of his face inside the XS nightclub. Wilson told police he had spit on the victim but denied hitting him. When Wilson left the club, the victim followed him in his car and called police to give them vehicle information. According to a police report, Wilson pulled into a parking lot, where he took the rifle out of his trunk and fired one shot in the air because he wanted the other man "to know how it felt to be scared." Fearing he would be shot, the victim ducked down and put his car into reverse. As he was going backward, he heard a gunshot, the report said. Police said the victim left the parking lot and was followed by Wilson, who broke off the chase when he saw police cars. According to the report, Wilson then went to an apartment complex and hid the rifle and magazine in his cousin's apartment, where they were recovered by police. Wilson was being held in the Alachua County Jail awaiting his first court appearance. It was not known if he had a lawyer. The university's sports information office said it had no comment on the arrest. Wilson, 6-foot-3 and 300 pounds, enrolled as a redshirt freshman in the spring of 2005.
It's spring time and most of the southern teams have finished with football now till August. So you can expect to see this all across the south, players getting in trouble. It'll happen up north as well just a couple of weeks later. We'll all shake our heads at some of the situations these kids get themselves into, esp when they have so much on the line for their future. Also the NFL is wanting to crackdown on this type of thing and unless they learn some lessons fast they will be hurt on draft day and they will be hurt in the pocket book. Terry
I'm not happy about this and I'm certain Urban Meyer is not happy about this as he prides himself in have a together team that doesn't do this kind of stuff. This is two incidents in about a week, this one being the most serious. I expect this young man could well be throug at Florida. He was one of our starting linemen. Really stupid.
A Rice basketball player was stabbed to death night before last in a bar fight in College Station. As I said the bar fight (hopefully not the homicide) incident is going to be repeated a number of times by college athletes all over the country now that football is over and they have time on their hands. I don't know what it is about athletes, but things that other people walk away from they seem to pursue. Maybe it's the macho that they have to have inorder to survive on the football/basketball field. Of course there are certainly incidents where they are targeted by locals because they are athletes. I read recently that in his younger days JoePa used to regularily cruise State College bars looking for his players and throw them out if he found them. Maybe that's what coaches have to do.
""Obviously, this is a major concern," Meyer said." Obviously.... Last off-season Meyer had these guys under his control. So far this year Dustin Doe is fighting in public and now this. I expect Meyer will soon exact some harsh penalties to remind all who is in charge and how much they must toe the line. Curfews and leisure time activity watching will most likely step up as well. Doe will remain on the team I'm sure but weapons charges are a different kind of animal.