Florida’s depth in the secondary took another hit last week with the dismissal of sophomore John Huggins, a player that had yet to participate in training camp with the Gators following a strong spring showing in Gainesville.

Huggins was in the headlines last week after it was revealed he had been accused of choking a Florida tutor during an academic lesson last October, something that Dan Mullen indicated the team was aware of and decided to punish the defensive back by sitting him out of five games last fall.

“That’s all been handled,” Mullen said last week.

Days later, Huggins was off the team, as he was dismissed by the program on Saturday. During his first media availability since Huggins’ dismissal, Mullen was asked if the decision to dismiss the defensive back came from the school or the football team.

“No, it was ours,” Mullen said.

As for what went into the decision to dismiss Huggins, Mullen noted, “not living up to what we expect of the Gator standard from (Huggins),” as the reason.

“It was evolving, there were things we were looking for him to have to do,” Mullen added.

When asked if this loss causes concern about the team’s depth at defensive back, Mullen said he was always concerned about the depth all over the roster.

“Next guy has to step up – I’m concerned about the depth on our entire roster,” he said.