Napier Talks Juluke's Suspension, Gators' Plans for Interim on SEC Teleconference

Juluke on Tuesday apologized for the incident and accepted the three-game suspension imposed by both the SEC and UF. He will miss Saturday's game at Miami, a home game against No. 8 Texas (Oct. 4) and a road game at No. 10 Texas A&M (Oct. 11).

He will be eligible to return for the team's homecoming game against Mississippi State on Oct. 18.

"There’s no excuse for my behavior and I take full responsibility for my actions," Juluke said in a statement. "In this game, emotional situations occur and bad reactions happen. I regret my reaction and commit to using this moment to strengthen my emotional intelligence. I know more is expected of us as coaches, and I commit to living up to that expectation."

During Wednesday's teleconference, Napier explained that he was not on the field for warm-ups and that the incident was "misrepresentative of the league, of the university of our organization as a whole."

"As you would expect from Jabbar, he's been first class in terms of how he's handled it," Napier said. "We worked with the SEC office and the university administration to resolve it. He'll serve his time here and the discipline that comes with making a tough decision. Jabbar's got a body of work in his career. He made a mistake, and I think the big thing here is that got to continue to grow and learn from things like this and be a good example to others, and he's done that so far."

As far as splitting the roles on gameday, the rest of Florida's current offensive staff is made up of offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Russ Callaway, quarterbacks coach Ryan O'Hara, offensive line coach Rob Sale, assistant offensive line coach Jonathan Decoster and receivers coach Billy Gonzales.

The Gators could also turn to an analyst in an elevated interim role to help the other assistants in the gameday duties. Florida currently employs former tight ends coach William Peagler, who coached the running backs at Michigan State from 2020-21, as an offensive analyst.

Saturday's kickoff against Miami is at 7:30 p.m. with television coverage on ABC.