Florida Wideout Gets Arrested for DUI, Early Jump on “Lawless Gators 2010” Meme

Frankie Hammond, Jr. might have been a contributor to the Florida receiving corps this fall. But blowing a .18 and getting caught ridin’ dirty with a fifth of Crown Royal probably won’t help him in that respect.

⇥GAINESVILLE – University police arrested Frankie Hammond early Sunday morning on DUI and liquor possession charges after the Florida wide receiver was allegedly speeding, swerving and driving with open bottles of Crown Royal whiskey in his car.⇥⇥Hammond, 20, who could be released from jail after today’s appearance in front of a judge, has been suspended from all team activities, according to team spokesman Steve McClain.⇥

⇥⇥UPD officer Samuel Delucca detected Hammond driving faster than 45 miles per hour in a 20-mph zone while swerving on Gale Lemerand Drive on the UF campus at 2:09 a.m., according to a police report provided by Alachua County Sheriff’s Office.⇥

⇥⇥The “uncoordinated” Hammond – with slurred speech, bloodshot and “glassy” eyes -- failed his sobriety field tests and registered breath samples of 0.188 and 0.191, according to the report. The legal limit for blood alcohol content is 0.08.⇥

For the uninitiated: Gale Lemerand Drive bisects the UF campus, and even at 2 a.m., that speed limit is strictly observed. Except, apparently, if your BAC is over twice the legal limit and you have open bottles of whiskey in the car.I suspect that Hammond will receive punishment similar to Carlos Dunlap—a one-game suspension, perhaps—for what seems like a remarkably similar crime. (He’ll probably be in the doghouse, too, and playing time for the redshirt sophomore this fall just got a bit more elusive.) But while two DUIs in seven months is troubling, and Hammond should be punished if convicted, this isn’t an indictment of the Gators or their culture, nor anything that should derail a season. Much like last summer, this will likely spark snark about the number of arrests of UF players under Urban Meyer, but we won’t see wholesale changes to the Gators’ approach to their players or a drop-off on the field.

It does make me wonder about one thing, though: Why doesn’t UF’s football program have its players trained to find designated drivers or taxis?

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