Florida coach Jim McElwain met with the media for the first time Monday following the weekend suspensions of seven players for the season opener against Michigan.

If you missed the news Sunday, LB James Houston, OL Kadeem Telfort, DE Keivonnis Davis, WR Antonio Callaway, DL Jordan Smith, DL Richerd Desir-Jones, and LB Ventrell Miller were all suspended by the program over the weekend.

In his opening statements, McElwain expressed his disappointment in the decisions that were made by his players.

“It’s something that obviously I’m very disappointed and at the same time, swift and quick action was taken,” McElwain said.

McElwain was then asked if the suspended players are forced to pay back for any misappropriation of funds and if that pay back would factor into the length of the suspensions.

“Obviously, anytime there’s choices made, you gotta make up for whatever happened. These guys are doing that,” McElwain said.

“You take something away that really means something to them. It doesn’t matter who you’re disciplining. In this case, their ability to not be around the team, they’re not going to be able to play in one of the greatest stadiums on national television. That’s going to hurt.”

When asked specifically about junior receiver Antonio Callaway, here’s what McElwain had to say.

“Yeah, it’s not just Antonio. It hurts,” McElwain said. ‘It’s my responsibility, and as I’ve said before, the thing you really get out of coaching and the things that really mean so much, are the phone calls you get 5, 10, 20 years down the road from guys who made mistakes.

“It’s a learning experience. I think it’s good for all your guys to know there’s a consistency.

“I’ll never turn my back on anybody. That’s not what it’s all about.”