Freshman leaves UGA football team (UPDATED WITH RICHT REACTION)
Six months after signing with Georgia’s football program, and without participating in a single practice, freshman outside linebacker Dexter Morant left the team.
“Football’s just not for everybody,” coach Mark Richt said at his post-practice media briefing Wednesday. “I think he felt like he lost the desire to play. We tried to convince him that it would be in his best interest to stay and fight through it. . . . In the end, he felt like it wasn’t for him, at least not right now.”
Morant, a 6-foot-7, 240-pounder from Manning, S.C., signed with Georgia in February. He played defensive end in high school but was projected as an outside linebacker in new UGA defensive coordinator Todd Grantham’s 3-4 alignment.
Coming out of high school, Morant was rated the nation’s No. 15 defensive-end prospect by Rivals.com, No. 44 by Scout.com and No. 73 by ESPN.com.
Morant, who had been in Athens since June, informed Richt of his decision to leave before Tuesday’s practice.
“He told me a couple of times,” Richt said. “We were working hard to try to keep him. He was leaving; then he was staying. He was leaving; then he was staying. He finally decided he wasn’t going to stay.
“He came to me with his keys in his hand and said he wanted to go. I sat with him and tried to get him to stay. He didn’t want to do it.”
Richt isn’t sure of Morant’s plans.
“As I spoke to him, it didn’t seem like he was that interested in playing football. Period,” Richt said. “He said, ‘Coach, if I really wanted to play football, Georgia is where I want to be. It’s just that I don’t know what I want to do right now.’ It was more of a feeling like he lost the desire to play the game.”
(AJC correspondent Andy Johnston contributed to this blog from Athens.)
Other UGA coverage:
Contracts reveal UGA basketball non-conference opponents, dates, payouts.
Kansas junior college welcomes former UGA QB Mettenberger.
Coaches challenge UGA offensive line to be ‘dominant’
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374 comments Add your comment
kerryb
August 4th, 2010
10:38 pm
Matter of fact SC99, you’re 1-7 over the last 8 years. When you win some you can come back and talk smack.
kerryb
August 4th, 2010
10:40 pm
Kind of like Tech.
ryan
August 4th, 2010
10:42 pm
SC99 i don’t think the old ball coach wants someone who quits so forget about .
goatD
August 4th, 2010
10:48 pm
The “G-E-O-R-G-I-A” part helps assure that all graduates of UGa know how to spell the name of the state. Wait……that’s dumb. Most of them probably already know how to spell that…….?
Gen Neyland
August 4th, 2010
10:49 pm
Good luck to the kid…
kerryb
August 4th, 2010
10:49 pm
That post was dumb.
ryan
August 4th, 2010
10:57 pm
goatD UGA is second behind Vanderbilt in education UGA has one of the best business and law classes in the country.
Habersham Dawg
August 4th, 2010
10:59 pm
The kid’s 18, don’t blast him for being young and dumb, let him leave in peace.
bigdawg
August 4th, 2010
10:59 pm
Did we get the money back before he Quit.
North Ave Drone
August 4th, 2010
11:18 pm
Anyone up for the Varsity?
Not A Creative Bone in My Body
August 4th, 2010
11:19 pm
I’ll go…!
Gary
August 4th, 2010
11:24 pm
The Nerd Herd is only obsessed with Damon Evans red panties because they will never see or feel a pair of their own. It’s a sad life really.
Dawg Whisperer
August 4th, 2010
11:40 pm
There is really only one plausible reason for the senseless rhetoric from Gator and Tech fans on blogs that relate to UGA… they still feel inferior because both programs remain on the losing end of the historical series with the dawgs. If they didn’t care so much, us dawg fans would not get so much tender loving care and attention from them.
UGA continues to be one of the best public universities (#21) in the USA and #25 (tied with the lizards) for best business program (the Techniques are #31) per the most recent edition of the annual US News & World Report. There are other superlatives that I won’t bother to mention (#2 Insurance/Risk Management & #3 Real Estate program in the country) but when you add the rich football heritage at UGA… well, you get the point. Welcome aboard my lizard and bummer bee friends.
OedipusTax
August 4th, 2010
11:41 pm
There’s a lot of people that regularly write on these sports blogs that obviously don’t have a life, nor a clue, but do have way too much time on their hands.
buzzwax
August 5th, 2010
12:15 am
reddawg27 – by responding to an ‘irrelevent techie’ you make them relevent.
Here are some facts for the rest of dawgie nation
Ga Tech now has over 20,000 students in undergrad and graduate school.
Ga Tech is ranked 89th in the world among ALL universities. UGA 368 (topuniversities.com)
Highest Median Salary – Ga Tech ranks 17th @$58,900 UGA – unranked (campusgrotto.com)
Ranked 35th (7th among public colleges) US News and World, UGA 58
OK, enough with the academic argument, UGA certainly has dominated GT in football in the past decade with a record of 8-2. I’d bet, however,that under Paul Johnson GT wins no less than 50% while he is head coach. Time will tell, see you in Athens……
south eastern chumps
August 5th, 2010
12:29 am
hahahahahahahaha, and Dolphins owner thought Saban was telling the truth so did Arthur Blank when Petrino packed up in the middle of the night and hauled booty. Do not be surprised if he ends up at one of their doors, the masters of that game
inbredville
August 5th, 2010
12:35 am
like I said earlier, why recruit the 4 and 5 stars to play sisters of the Idaho St and Lafayette of the Poor, no bama and no lsu, the kid took a look at the schedule and said what in God’s name do they need me for? I’m outta here
12-2
August 5th, 2010
12:42 am
Already a poor recruiting class for UGA Signing Date 2010, we have now LOST 3 players from that signing class – 2 of which are 4-Star recruits. 2 of them are academic failures.
Offensive Recruiting in the 2010 Signing Class are particularly poor.
With the state of Georgia finding but 3 states with more from their high schools who go on to the NFL than from the state Georgia, we signed a horrible class on Offense given the all-stars in this state on Offense. The teams in the SEC East who have been beating UGA half the total games the last 4 years, came in and out-recruited us in our own state on Offense.
The fallout from the 2009 signing class here at UGA is even more profound, as now we find perennial power Butler Community College has Zach Mettenberger, fresh of his guilty plea in Remerton for his groping of a college coed. Also missing is Montez Robinson for his beating up of a UGA Coed multiple times. Mettenberger and Robinson are both Top 10 at their position in the nation recruits in 2009. Both were recruited here by Mike Bobo (who also recruited Christian LeMay – found guilty of the same offense as Michael Grant whom UGA Admissions would not allow into UGA.)
now that is funny, I don't care who you are
August 5th, 2010
12:46 am
Richter
August 4th, 2010
8:06 pm
You asked for it!
Don’t send my boy to MIT
The dying mother said,
Don’t send my boy to Emory
I’d rather see him dead,
But send my boy to Georgia Tech
‘Tis better than Cornell.
And as for the University of Georgia
I’d rather see him in hell!
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
The cesspool of the South!
Mine eyes have seen the glory
Of the stomping of the Dogs
We will teach the poor dumb farm boys
They should stick to sloppin’ hogs
When the Jackets are triumphant
There will be a mighty cheer
We’ll do the same next year!
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
The cesspool of the South!
On the Field between the hedges
There arose a mighty stench,
In the Dogs’ machine the engineers
Had thrown a monkey wrench.
When the Jackets are triumphant
We will raise a mighty yell,
Them Dogs can GO TO HELL!
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
The cesspool of the South!
Mine eyes have seen the glory
Of the N.C. Double-A
They’re investigating G.A. players
To see how much they’re paid
After counting all the cars
And the loans Alumni made,
They out pay the NBA.
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
To hell, hell to hell with Georgia,
To hell, to hell to hell with Georgia,
The cesspool of the South!
The Exterminator
August 5th, 2010
12:47 am
Bugs are not welcome on this board.
8 out of 9.
12-2
August 5th, 2010
12:56 am
We are # 35 and UGA # 58 in ranking of National Universities by U S News and World Report.
We are # 35
We are # 35
We are # 35
No one brags about being # 35 at a damn thing
30-24 & our football players and men’s & women’s basketball players have a higher Academic Progress Rate NCAA APR than at Georgia tek.
Also, where did Georgia tek rank on Princeton University Ranking of Party Schools ? (Michael F. Adam$ still has not commented on UGA being # 1 in the nation – no doubt somewhat aided by Red Panties – Georgia tek nerds can only go buy for themselves or fan·ta·size about.)
76-Dawg
August 5th, 2010
1:03 am
My vote as to why Morant is leaving is he has a girl friend back home and he misses her. I will not belittle or chastise an 18 year old for being home sick or one that misses his girl friend.A lot of people see that he is 6′7″ and weighs nearly 250 and think he should be a man but most all guys don’t really mature to being a man until sometimes in their mid to late 20’s. I will not exspect any difference from him. I am from a middle size town and loved my years at Georgia but being honest a lot af the classes you take are from professors who are very “cold” and only care about publishing their next book. The camaraderie and friendships that you get at UGA last a lifetime and is what makes UGA a great place to go to school. I still talk about the 8 tornado’s that hit Athens in the spring of 73 and the nearly year long streaking of 1974 or all the great concerts at the student center.I could go on forever with the great memories and as many things as I have done since, none will match the years I had at UGA except when my kids were born. UGA isn’t for everyone and Morant would love it in time but most 18 year old kids live in the now world and for now he is unhappy . So I wish the kid good luck and be happy.
12-2
August 5th, 2010
1:04 am
http://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show/video/monologue-83/1242370/?__source=tnt|home|featured|recent
Jay Leno last night :
“We want to congratulate the University of Georgia. They have been named … the nation’s No. 1 party school. To give you an idea of how big a party school they are … their mascot is Lindsay Lohan.”
REal Tech
August 5th, 2010
1:12 am
I heard he quit because the happy hours in athens weren’t that good–only 2 for 1–he was expecting more.
12-2
August 5th, 2010
1:13 am
76-Dawg,
Morant is not leaving UGA, he is just not going to play football at UGA. If he were to play football, it would be here at UGA he stated upon leaving the football team prior to today’s class.
I suspect he wants to devote full-time to his academics, as did I.
But…
then again, he might also want to goad Michael F. Adam$ and join in in locating our new mascot – Lindsay Lohan.
Now, that’s funny
The Exterminator
August 5th, 2010
1:23 am
This should make all Tech fans happy:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38560562/ns/us_news-life?GT1=43001
12-2
August 5th, 2010
1:27 am
Yes, there are more Male Asians at Georgia tek than there are women 30 % to 29 %
12-2
August 5th, 2010
1:30 am
Bobby Dodd is a college DROP-0UT of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville
12-2
August 5th, 2010
1:30 am
Bobby Jones NEVER hit 1 golf ball for Georgia tek, not 1
12-2
August 5th, 2010
1:40 am
Yes, Nerds know a lot about manhunts :
Where’s little Joey Hamilton now ?
Last we heard, Paul Johnson had hired little Joey Hamilton to be his Director of Player Personnel for the Georgia tek Nerd football program. Little Joey Hamilton then took his 1st paycheck, bought some drugs and got drunk, committed a hit and run, and was found on Georgia tek “campus” fleeing the scene, who when they pulled him over was found to have drugs in his ashtray.
Really smart football players there at Georgia tek, eh ?
Where is Rueben Houston ? Felony fleeing justice as well. Last we heard the FBI man-hunt is on. You might recall that he was interviewed by the AJ-C admitting that with his son on his lap, he got in a van of over 93 lbs of drugs on Georgia tek’s “campus” for the purpose of showing them where they could sell the 93 lbs of drugs. A few games later, Georgia tek played UGA in football. Rueben Houston was not only on the field but played the entire game against UGA – and, there was NO JUDGE who ruled that that should have happened.
Then, this Summer, we have had 2 Georgia tek football players both DE for Paul Johnson BOTH beat up little girls within a week of each other.
Oh, Nerds please post your pathetic posts here about Red Panties you can only go buy for yourself or fan·ta·size about
bitter old ball coach
August 5th, 2010
1:55 am
ya baby, he will be here next fall, haha mutts, he is a south carilonaa boy, come home young feller
bitter young punk ball playa
August 5th, 2010
1:56 am
i miss my girl and her pink panties, i tried them red panties dont fill the same
Clarification
August 5th, 2010
5:41 am
12-2,
Don’t forget about Daniel Drummond, who was suspended this spring for STEROID USE!!!
GTU has no room to talk when it comes to the conduct of its football players!!
Stinger
August 5th, 2010
5:59 am
The boy quit because he didn’t want to have to go drinking with the coaches every Friday night.
Meatlake
August 5th, 2010
6:11 am
Hilarious. Techies trying to convince us that they(GT) are referenced in our fight song as we are in theirs. Go have rings made up and inscribe it on them dorks.(Sorry to all the non-dork family and friends who are techies. I wasn’t talking about you.) Best of luck to you Dexter. And for all the GT fans on here, you will be taken to the woodshed once again this year. OK, bye.
Meatlake
August 5th, 2010
6:14 am
Exterminator…effing LOL.
Stinger
August 5th, 2010
6:41 am
GT and UF do not have an inferiority complex. It’s not a complex. They are inferior.
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
August 5th, 2010
7:21 am
Tim- do we get his scholarship back since he quit and left the team and never started school??
War Eagle Man
August 5th, 2010
7:23 am
To Nationally known as the Classic City …I think you have been blinded by your love for UGA. There are plenty of fans that would disagree with your idea that UGA is the epicenter of college ball. As a matter of fact every fan of every other team would say the same of their schools city. It’s all about perspective son. When you grow up you’ll see the error of your ways.
Reshad Jones
August 5th, 2010
7:28 am
They made him watch the freshman orientation video:
http://m.deadspin.com/5604273/last-nights-winner-party-in-the-uga
One look at this and he was gone!
dawgno91
August 5th, 2010
8:01 am
That’s what happens when you sign these Rivals “star” athletes from out of the state. Recruit in South Ga from winning programs and get kids that know how to win!!
joe taxpayer
August 5th, 2010
8:01 am
Recruiting guru 3:22 You are exactly right. CMR IS A VERY GOOD COACH BUT WILL NEVER BE A GREAT COACH. He is not a complete coach.
How2fish
August 5th, 2010
8:05 am
Lets see its Thursday and most of the SEC teams will have started fall practice..just wonder if the fans of UF,Bama etc will actually hang out on their blogs to learn about and discuss what their teams are doing or will they continue to troll the UGA blogs because tearing down a team is a lot easier than actually learning about your team…I know the Bugs will stay..without UGA what do they really have..well besides the Varsity well before the sun goes down..Lord knows going to get a frosted orange after dark can cost them their lives these days.
Mrs. Reality
August 5th, 2010
8:20 am
Y’all have to overlook my husband. He’s aware of my nightly adventures with many of you and it hurts his teeny weeny feelings.
virginia dog
August 5th, 2010
8:25 am
WOW… all this because a pampered 18 year old cracked when he realized he was no longer the baddest man in the jungle. this happens all the time in sports at all levels.
as far as you Tech guys… get a life and go to bed. after all what time is it in India?
Long Gator
August 5th, 2010
8:51 am
Leave the young man alone.
He was a good christian boy that went to a place of total sin
and debauchery. His upbringing made it unbearable to consume
the large amounts of alcohol required to be a UGA player.
So, …. he left. Go Gators !!!!
AltamahaDawg
August 5th, 2010
8:54 am
Oh good, we solved that mystery. It’s because he wanted to spend every day of his college career alone in his Russell Hall dorm room studying. Maybe he too will be able to fulfill that 1975 dream of pumping out binary codes from his cubical at a big Atlanta sweatshop.
Scott W.
August 5th, 2010
9:46 am
Boring
BEEN THERE
August 5th, 2010
9:59 am
I graduated from UGA and later attended GT. It’s true that GT’s classes are more challenging, but not due to harder academics. The instructors are some of the most boring people I’ve ever encountered. When they talk dust puffs come from their mouths. It is no wonder that techies suffer maladjusted personalities. Also,lay off the kid. At least he was man enough to drop the scholarship that he didn’t see himself earning. He could have coasted for four years. It’s happened before.
Not Disappointed
August 5th, 2010
10:07 am
Has anyone consider the young men may be going thru a hard time? Maybe this isn’t his time. It doesn’t make him a quitter. “You love ‘em if they play, but bash ‘em if they leave?” Is that really a fan?
I have a lot of UGA fans that are more objective than this forum. Ga Tech is my team, but I do like UGA. Something has to be wrong for him to want to quit so close to the start of the season.
Ramblin Wreck out!