(From AJC correspondent Andy Johnston in Athens:)
Dexter Morant, the freshman linebacker who quit the Georgia football team on Tuesday, rejoined the Bulldogs today.
Coach Mark Richt said Morant called him on Friday and asked if he could return to the team.
Richt said he conferred with defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and the senior players before agreeing to let Morant return.
Morant participated on a limited basis in today’s practice.
Morant, a 6-foot-7, 240-pounder from Manning, S.C., signed with Georgia in February. He did not practice Monday, the Bulldogs’ first day of preseason camp, and told Richt the next day that he was leaving the team.
But since then, Richt said today, Morant had sent text messages to several players indicating he made a mistake by leaving.
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. He projects as an outside linebacker in Georgia’s 3-4 defensive scheme.
In other news today, wide receiver Rantavious Wooten has a sprained left knee. Richt said he expects Wooten to be sidelined for a couple of weeks.
For more on Morant’s return and other notes from Saturday’s practice, click here.
186 comments Add your comment
dagnabit
August 8th, 2010
10:50 pm
The thing is after embarrassing himself ,this young man may overachieve the next four years.
Jeff
August 9th, 2010
12:38 am
I love how Tide Roll and all these other Aler-bammer fans have come out of the woodwork over the last 10 months or so… but 5, 6, 8, 10 years ago, they were NOWHERE to be found when their team was 7-5, 3-8, 6-6, going to the Independence Bowl, getting hit with NCAA sanctions, having their coaches resign in humiliation after nights with strippers, etc. etc. etc. etc.
But NOW, Saban leads the team to a national title, and suddenly they talk like they’ve had an SEC dynasty for the last decade? Hardly… in the last 10 years, Georgia has won more SEC championships (2) than Alabama (1).
Be thankful for last year, Tide fans… appreciate how well your team played and that you won a championship. Be gracious and humble in your winning because you never know when things might turn around and you go through hard times… if and when that happens, all this crap will come back at you ten-fold.
Go Dawgs… and go everybody in the SEC West EXCEPT Alabama!
DawginLex
August 9th, 2010
8:15 am
Turns out he had a combo of too much heat, too much screaming from the coaches, not being at home and being 18 years old.
Run your sprints son, pay your price and welcome back.
DawginLex
August 9th, 2010
8:16 am
Lee Anne,
I have told you time and time again to stay in the kitchen. I like my eggs over medium.
Stick to the kitchen.
Long Gator
August 9th, 2010
8:45 am
Quitters never win and Winners never quit.
What a p—-
Gators rule the Peach State.
RAMBLE ON!!!
August 9th, 2010
9:12 am
LOL, must of you fleabags were saying “good riddance” now it’s “welcome back”.
I can say he is at the right school for being a quitter.
Don’t worry son, the fans will quit on you too, just like the Ky. game last year.
So sad, I pity you fools.
Paul Johnson
August 9th, 2010
9:22 am
I just punched myself in the face….
CDAWG
August 9th, 2010
9:24 am
Can someone help me out here? Didn’t the Dawgs have their first practice in pads Saturday? If so, how did it go?
Oh and welcome back Morant, glad to have you back.
DawginLex
August 9th, 2010
9:30 am
Rambler,
LOL at delusional nerds like yourself who believe you will ever consistently beat UGA in football. You could not beat us when we had Goff, much less now. Just thank God you play in a basketball league where you can win a bunch of games and fool yourselves into believing you are somehitng special.
RAMBLE ON!!!
August 9th, 2010
9:35 am
“Just thank God you play in a basketball league where you can win a bunch of games and fool yourselves into believing you are somehitng special.”
DawginLex, did you really say that?!?
I’m looking forward to watching your quitter fans exiting the stadium late 3rd Q. after our 2nd string QB has scored GT 6th TD. I’ll be there.
sonny
August 9th, 2010
9:36 am
Hope this guy never joins the military!! Kinda doubt a committee of soilders will let him back in!! Ya think??
RAMBLE ON!!!
August 9th, 2010
9:36 am
As long as Paul Phewitt is our BB coach, we can’t even be you guys.
DawginLex
August 9th, 2010
9:43 am
Yeah right rambler. what was it last 56-18?
This year 51-17?
Nostradamus there bud.
We have a real DC now. You lucked up against free Willie. Even with losses on the DL, we have better athletes than the bugs and now have a coach who can use the talent.
ACC is a joke.
Stack up wins and brag and come get your annual beatdown.
Fred in Columbus
August 9th, 2010
10:09 am
Hang in there kid, it get better…
RAMBLE ON!!!
August 9th, 2010
10:15 am
Yup, you’ve got a “real” DC now. Just like the USA has got a “real” President now.
I’m going to wait till Al Groh coaches a football game for GT before I claim we’ve got a “real” DC…but I’m not a fleabag and it’s all about preseason with Mutt Nation so I can pity where you’re coming from.
Our O-line will Mow you down like Grass
August 9th, 2010
10:17 am
He has emotion and I think he will take his frustration out on the field. Everyone gets homesick. This kid will be fine. Welcome back Dexter!
Wherr ma panties is?
August 9th, 2010
10:18 am
Crybaby and a sissy.
DawginLex
August 9th, 2010
10:30 am
Al Groh coached virginia down to lowest levels ever seen since before George Welsh. Grantham coached up players at Dallas and made them all pro.
RAMBLE ON!!!
August 9th, 2010
10:36 am
hmmm, we’ll see. Nice to know I can still get under your skin DawginLex. I hope you had a good off season…< 30 days before toe-meets leather.
DawginLex
August 9th, 2010
10:41 am
Not under my skin. I’m not the one hanging out on the blog of the in state rival that you can’t beat.
how2fish
August 9th, 2010
10:46 am
Welcome back young man glad you had the change of heart. And remember never pass up the chance to smash a Bug!
Hattie
August 9th, 2010
10:54 am
Why would anyone wise up and get the hell out of Athens, then turn around and go back. What a moron.
Damon E
August 9th, 2010
10:56 am
You took back morant—will you take me back too? I need that $400,000 salary–my woman’s asking for big money in the divorce and my girlfriends buy expensive clothes. Also, anyone know the phone number for that chick I met at the bar? I’ve got to get her panties back to her—they don’t fit my wife.
VATYDFAN
August 9th, 2010
10:56 am
You know, I was thinking about being that stand-up Tide fan and telling Roll Tide to shut up abd go away because he gives the rest of us a bad name. But when I read all of the comments here, the rude, ignorant , name-calling GA fans seem to outnumber him. If he is a jerk for expressing an opinion about the actions of your coach or players, how much bigger jerks are those who throw out all that trash about Alabama being the armpit, RT’s friends not being able to read, his mother having no teeth or working at Waffle House. So, while I agree that he is an a$$, and that his opinions don’t represent the Tide fan base as a whole, dawg fans (at least not htose posting here) don’t seem to be any classier.
AltamahaDawg
August 9th, 2010
11:00 am
See what happens was, reading where BuLLdawg claimed Dexter was just being like him to sit alone in his Russell Hall dorm room every day of his college life, scared him straight.
Headlinin’: Hall snub doesn’t mean Emmitt Smith doesn’t still love you, Gator babies |
August 9th, 2010
11:04 am
[...] respectively, though both will remain in school. … Georgia freshman Dexter Morant rejoined the team over the weekend, days after quitting just ahead of his first practice. … And don’t get [...]
AltamahaDawg
August 9th, 2010
11:13 am
VATYDFAN, I would agree with you about the less than classy Georgia fans comment somewhat cancelling out EXCEPT for the fact that they are at least doing so in thier own blog and not intentionally cloggin up the converstaion about a rival team with no other agenda, except for the pure sake of being an A$$.
RAMBLE ON!!!
August 9th, 2010
11:19 am
My bad dawginlex, I forget you’ve never been on our blog.
SummerTimeBlues
August 9th, 2010
11:26 am
It happens…
Larry Bird received a basketball scholarship to Indiana University in 1974. However, he was overwhelmed by the size of the campus and number of students and was not mentally ready for this stage of life; according to Bird, “it didn’t take long to realize that I was out of my cocoon.” He dropped out of Indiana after 24 days, disappointing his mother. After that year, he decided to enroll at Indiana State University.
Wherr ma panties is?
August 9th, 2010
11:37 am
Blaaaah bla blaaaah bah balaaaaaahhhhh!
meh
August 9th, 2010
11:39 am
this is just gonna make that much better. He’s got his head straightened out and he’ll work extra to show his teammates that he really wants to be there.
DawginLex
August 9th, 2010
11:52 am
Here goes the idiots stealing my blog handle again.
Is that you Yellow fuzz?
Yep
August 9th, 2010
12:19 pm
Richt should have said no. It would sicken me as a player to see a kid quit and then just be let back in. What would keep someone from quitting for the two weeks of spring practice, and then rejoining in the summer?
DawginLex
August 9th, 2010
12:39 pm
thanks for removing the 11:40 impostor post.
DarkCloud
August 9th, 2010
1:01 pm
Why the heck would richt let this derelict back on our team????????????????? This kid should never be allowed to play college football after displaying such cowardice!! I’m ashamed to have him disgracing the Bulldog Nation! KICK HIM OUTTA THERE RICHT!
AltamahaDawg
August 9th, 2010
2:21 pm
Rrrrright Yep, because this puts into place an irrevocable policy that any player, for any reason can quit the team and must be allowed to return no matter the situation or length of absence. Great call there.
or
What keeps that from happening now is the exact same thing that keeps it from happening before this event.