Florida Football: Jalen Kitna accepts plea deal and avoids jail time

Jalen Kitna had a decent shot of being the quarterback for Florida football for the 2023 season. Instead, he was arrested and immediately released from the team after being charged with five felony counts of child porn back in November.

Following a plea deal, Kitna had the felony charges dropped in exchange for two second-degree misdemeanors.

Florida Football: No jail time

Kitna was arrested on November 30 on two counts of distribution of child exploitation material and three counts of possession of child pornography. Authorities were alerted when Kitna shared two photos online of young girls being sexually abused.

Further investigation found that Kitna had three additional photos on his phone of nude girls in the shower.

The plea deal not only ensures that Kitna faces no jail time, but he also does not have to register as a sex offender.

He will have probation, which has the potential to end in as little as six months.

In court, Kitna read the following statement:

"“I want to start off by apologizing to my family, my friends and those that care about me. Their support through this whole ordeal has meant a lot to me. The hardest thing about this whole process has been seeing how it’s affected them. The valuable lessons that I’ve learned through this whole deal have been very helpful. I’m looking forward to applying those things and moving forward.”"

While the charges are dropped, there does not appear to be a plan to bring Kitna back on campus and back into the fold with Florida football.

For starters, he is banned from campus through 2025.

There would also be little incentive for Billy Napier to bring Kitna back at this point.

But given that Kitna could potentially be a fully free man by 2024 in the eyes of the law, it will be interesting to see if someone takes a chance on him in the future.