UF looking into possible recruiting violation

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published January 23, 2008

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GAINESVILLE - The University of Florida compliance office is looking into whether coach Urban Meyer may have committed a secondary NCAA violation in the recruitment of junior college transfer Carl Moore.

At issue is whether Meyer committed a violation by telephoning Maranda Smith, Moore's girlfriend, during his recruitment, and whether the Gator coaching staff contacted Moore more than the allotted times during a one-week span.

Smith said in a newspaper interview earlier this month that Meyer called her daily in November to convince Moore to sign with Florida, and encouraged her to enroll at UF. Smith is a UF gymnast. She and Moore both enrolled in January.

Moore also said he was visited at different times during one week by Meyer, offensive coordinator Dan Mullen and receivers coach Billy Gonzales, a potential violation. NCAA rules limit the amount of time coaches can visit.

"We are looking into this," said Jamie McCloskey, Florida's senior associate athletics director for compliance. "We have to figure out who we need to talk to and see where that leads us. At any given time there are five to six of these type issues, some article in the paper or something on talk radio. And it's not just in football, not just at Florida.

"We have an obligation and responsibility to look into everything, but I don't want to give this any more credibility than it deserves."

UF has notified the NCAA and the SEC about the issue, as is its protocol with all NCAA issues.

Moore caught 134 passes for 2,028 yards and 23 touchdowns at Sierra Community College in Roseville, Calif.