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Gainesville-  The Florida State Attorney’s Office has decided that there is not enough evidence to charge either former Gators QB Treon Harris or current WR Antonio Callaway for their involvement in an alleged sexual assault that occurred in December 2015.

State Attorney William Cevone consulted with university police to see if the case warranted criminal charges.

“I had a conversation with officers at the university to see whether it was going to come this way,” said Cervone, who said his office never fully investigated the allegations. “Based on what I knew then, I didn’t think there was even a remote possibility of criminal charges. It would have been totally un-prosecutable based on the facts given to me. It would have never risen to sexual assault or sexual battery.” (Per ESPN report)

Callaway had a Title IX hearing on Friday, which the alleged victim boycotted due to the fact that a Gators football and basketball booster was to adjudicate. Details from that hearing will be released at a later date.

The University and Callaway’s attorney have both released a statement about the report that ESPN released on Thursday.

Harris has since transferred from UF, while Callaway has been reinstated on campus and is allowed to practice with his teammates at the UF facilities.

There is still no update on Callaway’s status for the Gators first game on September 3 vs UMASS.

Gainesville-  Zech Byrd, a 6-6 235 LB and three star tight end from Millbrook, Alabama announced his commitment to Florida via Twitter on Saturday. 

24/7 Sports has Byrd ranked as the nations number 31 tight end. 

Byrd is the second tight end in the Gators 2017 recruiting cycle joining Kemore Gamble. 

Gainesville-  The Florida Gators football team opened their fall practice schedule on Thursday. We are supposed to be talking about how good the freshmen wide receivers look and about the quarterback competition taking place between Luke Del Rio and Austin Appleby. 

But earlier today ESPN dropped a story about the allegations that sophomore wide receiver Antonio Callaway and former quarterback Treon Harris face. According to the report the two players are suspended for an early December 2015 sexual assault. 

Callaway’s attorney Huntley Johnson has responded to the victim’s attorney’s claims in the ESPN report. 

“We have read what the complaintant’s attorney has released to the press. 

We consider his actions inappropriate and an attempt at intimidation. 

Since the complaintant’s attorney has chosen to go to the press in this matter, we assume that he will be releasing the hundreds of pages that made up the University of Florida’s investigation. We assume that he will be releasing the sworn affidavits in this case. We assume that he will be releasing the complaintant’s text messages in the investigation. We assume that he will be releasing the complaintant’s multitude of varying and conflicting stories. 

We are not going to besmirch his client in the press. The totality of the investigation which is over one thousand pages will do that for us. 

Our client has asked us not to release anything at this point. Because of the conduct of the complaintant’s attorney, that may change in the future. 

Johnson appears to be very confident that the resolution of this case will be in favor of the football player. In a March 11 press release Johnson stated, “There is no good reason why this investigation has not been closed. This allegation has no merit.”  

The University of Florida also responded today. Janine Sikes, the vice president of UF media relations and public affairs wrote an email to SECCountry.com:

“The University of Florida is prohibited to comment on the existence or substance of student disciplinary matters under state and federal law. However, I can tell you that our student conduct process may be handled by a hearing officer, who could be a university employee or an outside professional, or by a committee of faculty and students. 

Any hearing officer and all committee members are trained and vetted for their impartiality. A hearing officer or committee member would not be disqualified simply because he or she had been a student athlete decades earlier or purchase atheltic tickets as more than 90,000 people do each year.”

Sikes is responding directly to the argument made by the victim’s attorney that a prominent Gators football booster is presiding the Title IX hearing, which the victim is protesting. 

Callaway has been suspended since January and only recently has been permitted back on campus and is eligible to work out with his teammates at the football facilities, however he has not been cleared to play in the opener.