Antonio Morrison spoke publicly for the first time Wednesday following two offseason arrests.
In an 8-minute impromptu session with the media — one Morrison said he, not the Florida coaching staff, orchestrated — the sophomore linebacker acknowledged his mistakes that led to the pair of arrests and stated he would not answer any off-the-field questions the rest of the season.
"I want to apologize for getting in trouble the past few weeks," Morrison said.
"It’s sincere for me. I apologize to my coaches, my teammates and everybody for everything that went wrong. It’s behind me. I’m moving forward from it. I learned from it. I just want to play football."
However, when asked if the arrests and suspension would curtail his late nights, Morrison sounded defiant in simply saying he would take full responsibility for his actions.
"I take responsibility for being out," Morrison said. "I said that. I’m really sorry for that. I take responsibility for the whole situation."
Morrison was arrested on June 16 for allegedly punching a bouncer at a nightclub in Gainesville. He agreed to a deferred prosecution on a simple battery charge. Morrison grabbed headlines again when he was arrested a second time on July 21 for allegedly harassing an on-duty police dog.
The pair of arrests earned Morrison a two-game suspension from Will Muschamp that was announced following Morrison’s second arrest. Charges stemming from the second arrest were eventually dropped upon further review by the state of Florida.
Muschamp followed suit on Monday, reducing Morrison’s suspension to a single game.
"After a thorough review of Antonio Morrison’s situation and how he has handled his punishment, I’m going to suspend him for this game only," Muschamp said.
"I just don’t feel like his actions warranted a two-game suspension. That’s where we are with that."
Morrison will still be out for Florida’s season opener against Toledo on Saturday at 12:21 p.m. in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. He is expected to return Sept. 7 against Miami.
When asked about specific conversations that were had with Muschamp, Morrison declined comment several times. He also refused to talk about the events leading up to or directly following either arrest.
"I ain’t going to get into detail about what I did," Morrison said.
"But the whole situation, overall, that sent a message to me, and I learned from the whole situations overall, and I apologize again. I’m very sorry to all the Gator fans, my coaches, my teammates. That’s me. That’s not me being forced to do this. I wanted to come do this.
"I can’t run from it, you know what I’m saying?"
Several Gators have spoken out in support of Morrison, who missed the first week of fall camp as part of his suspension.
"He’s a guy that’s really passionate about this game. He loves the game," linebacker Ronald Powell said Monday. "That’s probably why he’s suspended, because coach knows he loves the game so much."
Morrison, who finished the 2012 season with 34 tackles and a forced fumble, said the most difficult part of being arrested and suspended was not being around the program.
"Worst part was being away from my teammates and not being around football," Morrison said. "I mean, what else am I supposed to do?"
Follow Phil Heilman on Twitter @phillip_heilman.
Antonio Morrison chases down a Florida State player during Florida’s 37-26 win on Nov. 24, 2012 in Doak Campbell Stadium.
