John Huggins' status remains unclear, fall incident previously 'handled'

GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- John Huggins has yet to practice with the team this fall camp. According to Florida and Gators head coach Dan Mullen, Huggins has not participated due to a "family situation."

Mullen did not want to share a specific timeline with reporters on Tuesday on when the defensive back is set to return.

"Like I said, he’s not the only one," Mullen said about Huggins. "There are about 3-4 guys that are in that position, but I know all of them.”

Several players missed the scrimmage on Monday night for a variety of reasons, however, Huggins is one of the few that has yet to feature at any point this fall.

According to University of Florida Police records, Huggins was referred to Florida's Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution after one incident alleged that he put his hands around a tutor's neck. The report says the complainant did not press charges.

On Tuesday, Mullen told the media that the reason for Huggins' absence from the team is not related to that incident.

"No (it's not related)," he said. "No, that's all been handled."

The alleged incident occurred back in Oct. when Huggins was in the middle of a tutoring session when he told the tutor that he was going to retrieve his jacket and would return after. The complainant told UFPD that Huggins would often leave tutoring sessions early, so she decided to keep his phone to make sure he came back.

However, according to the report, Huggins allegedly placed both of his hands around her neck when she told him she was going to keep the phone until he returned; she then tells UFPD that she told Huggins he can have the phone and he then left. He reportedly did return after picking up his jacket but the report states that he left five minutes later. The complainant told officers she had red marks on her neck but by the time the officers arrived they were gone.

Huggins missed five games after the incident.

"That was part of it. I don’t know if it was all of it," said Mullen about the reason why Huggins missed those games. "I mean, he was a true freshman, so he only was going to be play in some games anyway for us and with depth. But his punishment was handled when all that happened.”

This is one of five incidents of violence against women in about a year for Florida.

- Justin Watkins was dismissed from the team after he was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend

-Jalon Jones and Brian Edwards both transferred away after Jones was investigated for sexual battery, and Edwards was arrested for allegedly grabbing his girlfriend around the neck. Both of them were not charged.

-Off the field staffer Otis Yelverton is no longer part of the program after he was arrested for threatening his ex-girlfriend - charges were dropped in the case.

According to Mullen, his staff and the program continue to try to educate those around them about treating women well.

"We do a lot. How many of them were actually charged?" Mullen stated. "Now we do a lot of education on our team with that stuff. Obviously I’m a big anti-violence against women person. I’m also a person that I really want to have all of the information as I make decisions and what happens in different situations That's one of the toughest deals, because it's a jump to conclusion on every detail that happens sometimes.

“One is gathering information," he adds. " I mean the hardest situation, when you get into … for the hardest situation a coach is going to get into in dealing with anything in a lot of today’s world that could get into a sexual assault is when you get into a he said, she said situation. There’s two different stories, I guess, that are being reported.

"My job as a head coach is not to go in and investigate all that, I hear, here’s one report, here’s the other report. They don’t match up. And it’s not my job to really make that decision on campus with how that works. It’s my job to try to, I have to manage the situation, manage my players on those types of things and let the university process play or the legal process play its course.

"Everybody wants to see ‘what are we doing’ instantly. And we try to gather the facts. We spend a lot of time in educating our guys," he adds. "Everything gets back to decision making, how can I make good decision in life. If they are learning how to make good decision and how to put yourself in good situations, that’s how we spend all our time educating our guys on those things - and trying to educate the team as a whole."

As we approach a year since the Huggins' incident, is Mullen ha[[y with the defensive back and how he has handled himself.

“Some things, yes, some things, no."