Lane Kiffin Apologizes to Urban Meyer

Lane Kiffin waltzed out onto some pretty thin ice when he called Urban Meyer out for cheating in his recruitment of Tennessee commit Nu'Keese Richardson. That ice got a heck of a lot thinner when Florida got wind of the accusations and responded,charging that Kiffin slandered both Meyer and the university.

The best route for Kiffin was likely a quick and humble apology. That's exactly what he did apparently after a little pressure from the SEC.

"I've been made aware by the Southeastern Conference that my comments this morning at a breakfast with our donors violated a conference policy. In my enthusiasm for our recruiting class, I made some statements that were meant solely to excite those at the breakfast.

"I apologize to Commissioner Mike Slive and the SEC, including Florida AD Jeremy Foley and coach Urban Meyer. My comments were not intended to offend anyone at the University of Florida."

But, hey, at least Kiffin's getting off on the right foot, huh? As Matt Hinton noted, this situation could actually have been more embarrassing for Kiffin had he stood by his stance and demanded that the SEC and NCAA investigate a violation of a non-existent rule.

Alas, he didn't. Which means now he just has to settle for trying to stop Meyer from scoring 240 points when Tennessee and Florida play Sept. 19.

Earlier: Florida Says Kiffin Slandered Meyer
Earlier Still: Kiffin Calls Out "Cheat" Meyer