Roster attrition occurring at alarming rate for Georgia football
ATHENS – Georgia has agreed on a new five-year contract for football coach Mark Richt, so clearly the UGA administration is happy with the job he’s doing. But one thing the Bulldogs’ 12-year coach appears to struggle with is simply keeping his players around.
If reports are true that defensive stars Alec Ogletree and Bacarri Rambo are suspended for multiple games to start this season — UGA has yet to confirm or deny them — then it continues a trend of roster attrition that has occurred at an alarming rate the past few years.
Reviewing AJC archives over the past four years, these latest suspensions would bring to 28 the number of players who will not be playing for the Bulldogs at the beginning of the 2012 season who otherwise would be eligible.
Since January, the Bulldogs have lost 13 players to transfer, disciplinary punishment or inability to achieve academic eligibility. That number balloons to 19 including losses off of last year’s roster.
Here’s what I’ve been able to gather so far. Please feel free to advise me in the comments section if you think I’ve overlooked anyone.
DEPARTED DOGS
Player, would-be year: Comment
- LB Alec Ogletree, Jr.: Reportedly faces multi-game suspension for team rules violations.
- FS Bacarri Rambo, Sr.: Reportedly faces multi-game suspension for team rules violations.
- TB Carlton Thomas, Sr.: Three separate one-game suspensions in 2011. Quit team before spring practice
- WR Sanford Seay, RFr.: Dismissed from team in January for rules violation.
- DB Chris Sanders, So.: Dismissed from team in January for rules violation.
- DB Nick Marshall, So.: Dismissed from team in January for rules violation.
- CB Sanders Commings, Sr.: Gets 2-game suspension for simple battery, disorderly conduct conviction
- CB Branden Smith, Sr.: Faces suspension of at least one game for arrest on marijuana possession.
- CB Jordan Love, Jr.: Transferred after this past season for lack of playing time
- DE Jalen Fields, Jr.: 2010 signee failed to qualify after high school, then junior college
- DL Chris Mayes, So.: 2011 signee failed to qualify out of high school. Enrolled at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
- WR Lonnie Outlaw, Jr.: 2010 signee failed to qualify after high school, then junior college
- LB Kent Turene, Fr.: 2011 signee failed to qualify out of high school. Last thought to be headed to Marshall.
- DB Jakar Hamilton, Sr.: Transferred due to lack of playing time
- DB Derek Owens, Jr.: Transferred due to lack of playing time
- OL Brent Benedict, So.: Transferred to Virginia Tech due to philosophical differences with UGA’s strength staff.
- OL A.J. Harmon, Sr.: Academic difficulties forced transfer to Alabama State. No longer with that program either.
- TB Washaun Ealey, Sr.: Transferred to Jacksonville State after multiple disciplinary run-ins at UGA
- QB Zach Mettenberger, Jr.: Dismissed after arrest (and eventual conviction) for sexual battery. Slated to start at LSU.
- TB Dontavius Jackson, Sr.: Transferred out after suspension for DUI. Senior at UAB.
- LB Demetre Baker, Jr.: Dismissed from team following arrest for DUI. Now star RB at South Alabama.
- TE Bryce Ros, Jr.: Medically disqualified
- OL Johnathan Owens, Sr.: Medically disqualified
- DE Jeremy Longo, Sr.: Medically disqualified
- DE Toby Jackson, Sr.: Failed to qualify, signed with UCF after junior college and now a senior there.
- DB Makiri Pugh, Sr.: Transferred to Colorado due to lack of playing time at UGA.
- DE Montez Robinson, Sr.: Dismissed after arrest on domestic violence charges
- OL Chris Little, Sr.: Transferred to junior college, played one year at Southern University, ruled ineligible.
NOTE: Tailback Caleb King (academically ineligible), linebacker Marcus Dowtin (transfer) and safety Nick Williams (transfer) also left with eligibility remaining, but that eligibility would have been exhausted by this season.
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473 comments Add your comment
BamaGuy
March 29th, 2012
12:25 pm
Jess Jackson
March 29th, 2012
12:22 pm
Yes, stuff like this gets swept under the rug in Tuscaloosa. Fact! Look at the suspension rules for every team in the SEC on a positive drug test. UGA is by far the harshest. It was in an article earlier in the year.
You must smoking the same stuff that the former Dawg players are?…Saban is not going to risk his entire dominant program by sweeping drug tests under the rug…come up for air
Cdpridg
March 29th, 2012
12:26 pm
Mark Richt is NOT these guys father. He cannot nor is it his responsibility to raise 100 so called men. That was their father and mothers responsibility. His job is to coach football…not raise children.
Real Problem
March 29th, 2012
12:27 pm
BamaGuy…..good post…..it is Saban’s way or the highway.
I want that at Georgia.
J
March 29th, 2012
12:28 pm
GA fans are something else. U givin props to Richt for being strict, and forgetting the fact he’s the one recruiting these kids. He’s rolling the dice on some of these kids based on their talent and has to take action once they do something stupid.
reebok
March 29th, 2012
12:28 pm
This is why Georgia seems to sign 22-28 players every season. That’s more than a full recruiting class of players gone.
GTBob
March 29th, 2012
12:29 pm
For journalistic integrity it should be a reminder in every UGA athlete discipline story that UGA voluntarily tests players randomly and often and has the written punishments in their handbook.
To me, this makes it even worse that UGA players have such a problem with it. They know they will be tested and do it anyways? They obviously don’t care much about the consequences.
alex
March 29th, 2012
12:29 pm
Seriously folks, what do YOU expect with the athletes all sec coaches recruit! Do you expect the school to give them 24 hour babysitters,because that is really what they need Completely intellectually immature.NCAA div. 1 football or basketball has NO SCHOLARship athletes.( or very few-sorry vandy or northwestern). It’s a sham , so all you bubba’s go buy your season tickets!!!
Jess Jackson
March 29th, 2012
12:29 pm
Bamaguy
Ever wonder whay dre’ kirkpatrick just got busted when he was leaving Bama?? Saban won;t have you back when youl eave, I don’t blame him. It’s true my brotha.
Bystander
March 29th, 2012
12:31 pm
When you have no regard for the character of the young men you are recruiting should you really expect anything else ? When you put winning above all else this is what you get. Dawgs are getting exactly what they deserve.
Rueban Houston
March 29th, 2012
12:31 pm
I sells it to them
BamaGuy
March 29th, 2012
12:31 pm
Listen, I do not hate the Georgia Bulldogs…I reserve that place for Auburn and LSU….I believe todays athletes have to have a healthy fear of their coach…I do not believe that Richt is a guy who scares anyone…He is too much of a feel good forgiving soul that young privilidged athletes tend to take advantage of…I know Georgia is taking action but I have to believe that if Richt had a different demeanor then a lot of these athletes would think twice before testing him….
nomobama
March 29th, 2012
12:32 pm
So much for the dream team this season…
reebok
March 29th, 2012
12:32 pm
…but this Georgia Tech fan still thinks Georgia will win the East and play in the SEC champiosnhips game…unless Murray goes down with an injury. Looks to me like he is UGA’s only indispensible player.
I talk with my hands
March 29th, 2012
12:33 pm
didn;t bama lose to Utah because they had an OL sign with an agent?
Jeffro Bodeen
March 29th, 2012
12:33 pm
Did you ever see the movie FULL METAL JACKET?? I think they need to hand out towels and bars of soap to the players that give a crap…..might not need but one dumb a** to get a soap whuppin in order to prevent anybody alse from being so thoughtless!!!
The Big Chill
March 29th, 2012
12:33 pm
All elite College Football programs have the exact same problems. The only difference is UGA don’t handle them like Alabama, LSU, South Carolina and Florida. Unless they do something very majorly wrong these programs will not kick them off the team and thus they WIN. UGA will never WIN kicking players off the the team for the same offenses that happen in every championship program. You can’t win without a few knuckleheads.
DekalbFan
March 29th, 2012
12:33 pm
The Clarke County Police need to find who is selling all of the weed that is getting onto Campus. There has to be a way to find out where and how they are getting the Marajuana. The fact that Richt does not descriminate on who gets tested is a sign of a man that has values . I’m a UGA fan that would love to see a championship, but championships only make you happy for a few days.
Spike 80DF
March 29th, 2012
12:34 pm
the depth chart has gone from deep to very thin since the bowl game…..what a joke.
Dawglasville
March 29th, 2012
12:34 pm
Isn’t there a place where you Bama guys can go to slap each other on the back and tell each other how great you are other than the UGA blog?
BamaGuy
March 29th, 2012
12:34 pm
Jess Jackson
March 29th, 2012
12:29 pm
Bamaguy
Ever wonder whay dre’ kirkpatrick just got busted when he was leaving Bama?? Saban won;t have you back when youl eave, I don’t blame him. It’s true my brotha.
Dre didn’t test positive….He was arrested because someone had pot in a vehicle that he was riding in….Charges were dropped…No positive test and the charges were dropped…Not sure you can hold against Dre or Alabama?
Jess Jackson
March 29th, 2012
12:35 pm
BamaGuy,
Whay are you on here anyway? Either you do hate Georgia, you’re a Georgia fan, or you fear them for some reason. We all know Bama fans don’t far nothing. They got too much Bama in em.
Allen Dawg
March 29th, 2012
12:35 pm
“Dream teams” and great signing classes mean nothing if the players aren’t staying to make a difference on the field!
bham dawg
March 29th, 2012
12:35 pm
@BamaGuy… you are correct. Saban has the fear of god and Richt thinks he can change these kids if he caudles them. Big difference. But when people say richt needs to recruit the “right guy” is incorrect because half these guys on this list had offers from bama and a lot of other teams. The big question is once the kid makes it to campus what is being done different at alabama than georgia. I know the players fear saban but it has to be more to it than that.
Jess Jackson
March 29th, 2012
12:36 pm
Dre didn’t test positive….He was arrested because someone had pot in a vehicle that he was riding in….Charges were dropped…No positive test and the charges were dropped…Not sure you can hold against Dre or Alabama?
Now, that’s ome funny chit. Homeboy took the rap for a payday in the future. Why’s the idiot in the car with weed?
BamaGuy
March 29th, 2012
12:38 pm
I talk with my hands
March 29th, 2012
12:33 pm
didn;t bama lose to Utah because they had an OL sign with an agent?
Actually, Saban held him out once he learned of this info…He was a first team All American and he sat and we lost…Saban will “Step Over You”
GTBob
March 29th, 2012
12:38 pm
Now perhaps more players on UGA smoke weed than other schools, but I highly doubt that.
You can doubt it as much as you want but you have no proof whatsoever that other players at other schools get in trouble just as much as UGA. You are making assumptions because it makes you feel better about the problems UGA players have.
Rubber Neck
March 29th, 2012
12:38 pm
Richt is the strictest disciplinarian in the SEC. Fact. Just be glad your coach likes to turn his head the other way when these things happen at your school.
jerry
March 29th, 2012
12:39 pm
Gene pool problem. hasta la vista
IT IS WHAT IT IS
March 29th, 2012
12:39 pm
This is the peanuts on the turd!!!!! Aint nobody to blame except Coach Mark Richt and the entire coaching staff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Georgia Bulldogs are having a great year in recruiting and expectations are higher than ever!!! To have all of the top dog players and so called leaders of the team to put their fast times at Athens Party Time School ahead of Sec Championships and Possible National Title Contender is a disgrace!!!! It really makes me sick to my stomach, im ashamed and clueless!!! I do know that Mark Richt has given these guys way to much off free time, and to be a great father figure term players and recruits use is a joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UGA could easily be 2-2 after the first 4 games and thats the truth!!! Its bad enough that we have to remove our best offensive player and move him to defense because those idiots are all getting into trouble!! Just remember Mike BoBo is our offensive coordinator and now dumb dumb is missing his best weapon on offense. Oh yeah, BoBo is the worst offensive coordinator in football!!!!!!!!!! This is a team sport and when 1 player screws up the whole team should pay!!!!!!!!!!! Baccarri Rambo is a joke, Sander Commings is stupid, Branden Smith is a little child and Alec Olgeltree is a ticking time bomb!!! Yall made a wise and great choice to come back to UGA and Win a title!!! I really feel bad for all the other players who are doing to right thing and the spoiled eggs keep stinking the joint up!! 1 more thing, what a joke, BACARRI FUDGE RAMBO SPORTING THAT LAME A$$ SEC EAST CHAMPS RING!! Give me a dam break!!!!! You guys are playing rec ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
K.Conway
March 29th, 2012
12:39 pm
Alabama keeps their dirt under the carpets!
BamaGuy
March 29th, 2012
12:40 pm
Jess Jackson
March 29th, 2012
12:36 pm
Dre didn’t test positive….He was arrested because someone had pot in a vehicle that he was riding in….Charges were dropped…No positive test and the charges were dropped…Not sure you can hold against Dre or Alabama?
Now, that’s ome funny chit. Homeboy took the rap for a payday in the future. Why’s the idiot in the car with weed?
why did your mother have children? We do not know the answer to that but you can’t convict Dre if the Florida police choose not to? Unless, you believe the Florida police are actually undercover Bama fans?…
Real Problem
March 29th, 2012
12:40 pm
The Big Chill….do you really believe Saban is letting people run wild…..
BamaGuy is dead on……fear of Saban is real.
BamaGuy
March 29th, 2012
12:41 pm
Jess Jackson
March 29th, 2012
12:36 pm
Dre didn’t test positive….He was arrested because someone had pot in a vehicle that he was riding in….Charges were dropped…No positive test and the charges were dropped…Not sure you can hold against Dre or Alabama?
Now, that’s ome funny chit. Homeboy took the rap for a payday in the future. Why’s the idiot in the car with weed?
Smoking WEED seems to really make a person paranoid?
Numberwang
March 29th, 2012
12:41 pm
There at least a half dozen guys on your list that have no business being there. Guys that don’t qualify never officially became Georgia Bulldogs. Why don’t you add guys to the list who thought about going to Georgia, but decided to pursue under water basket weaving instead.
Good grief man!!!
TossSweep
March 29th, 2012
12:42 pm
WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
bke
March 29th, 2012
12:42 pm
Bama Guy, you do not hate UGA because you never play them. Move Bama over to the SEC East to make room for the new teams and UGA would go nuts to have to play you every year. That would be too funny,
reality check
March 29th, 2012
12:43 pm
Ouch…. that’s quite a list. Only one or two used the difficulty to learn from mistakes. That is other than the medical situations. An entire recruiting class. We need classes with class. We’re headed that direction with a much clearer focus now I hope.
Go DAWGS!
Bryan G.
March 29th, 2012
12:43 pm
Don’t forget Logan Gray also transferred last year due to lack of playing time.
Straight Jacket
March 29th, 2012
12:43 pm
Wish we had sommething to talk about at Tech!
BamaGuy
March 29th, 2012
12:46 pm
bke
March 29th, 2012
12:42 pm
Bama Guy, you do not hate UGA because you never play them. Move Bama over to the SEC East to make room for the new teams and UGA would go nuts to have to play you every year. That would be too funny,
I just wanted it out there that I wasn’t a Georgia hater…I was born in the ATL and lived most of my life in Georgia before moving to Tuscaloosa…I just believe the head coach’s demeanor has a lot to do with the choices these athletes make…Again, Saban “Will Step Over You”
Keith
March 29th, 2012
12:46 pm
Maybe this is more a reflection of a hard line that UGA draws on tolerating bad behavior vs. a problem distinct to UGA. Maybe that’s why we don’t see this at some other schools.
Big Crimson 75
March 29th, 2012
12:47 pm
Come on UGA — this is getting embarrassing. Down right embarrassing!!
Save us the “Richt is the only Coach holding his Players accountable” blah blah blah…..
There is a serious problem @ UGA with Player Conduct // There is a serious problem @ UGA with Administrative Conduct!! — Damon Evans & Suzanne “the Mormon” Yoculan!!
Get y’all s act together man!!
Can 1 Program embarrass the SEC anymore than UGA???
-Losing to a Team that plays on a Blue Field, in y’all s OWN backyard!!!!
-Blowing a lead in the Cereal Bowl to a Big 10 school!! — No Body in the SEC loses to the Big 10.
C’mon UGA — get your act together! Tighten Up!
Represent the SEC better, if nothing else!!
Roll Tide
59bulldawg
March 29th, 2012
12:48 pm
If true, this only adds to the most frustrating thing about following the Dawgs. Under CMR we consistently recruit kids who either don’t have the character, self-discipline, toughness, or ability to succeed in college and play big-time college football at the same time. These kids let themselves, their team, their coaches, and fans of Georgia football down. Say what you want about other teams sweeping stuff under the rug (and yes I know some other teams have problems too) but what’s going on in Athens IS NOT the norm on every other campus. All I can think of is that commercial with Vince Lombardi screaming “What the Hell is going on out there?” It’s death by a thousand cuts! Before we can ever win another championship, Richt has to find a way to make his players listen to and fear him because whatever he’s doing now just isn’t working. The possibility that this might be true makes me sick at my stomach.
Big Crimson 75
March 29th, 2012
12:49 pm
BTW……We’re Praying for y’all – UGA !!!
BamaGuy
March 29th, 2012
12:50 pm
K.Conway
March 29th, 2012
12:39 pm
Alabama keeps their dirt under the carpets!
We haven’t been real successful at doing that? The fact is schools like Bama that have see major penalties tend to self report a lot quicker than a program that hasn’t been through the penalties that we have suffered through…I do not believe that many major programs risk as much as they use to as a result of what has happened to those that did…IMO
Bleeping Bleep
March 29th, 2012
12:51 pm
Did Rolando McClain fear Saban as he was repeatedly running over kids on campus before getting out of his car and finishing the job with his fists?
sheepdawg
March 29th, 2012
12:51 pm
saben is king of the sec, cmr ain’t even in the top 6
Iliketacos
March 29th, 2012
12:52 pm
I wonder how many uga football players LOVE tacos!!!! hahahaha!!! bad case of the munchies in athens!
SEC Football
March 29th, 2012
12:53 pm
GREAT SENIOR LEADERSHIP BY RAMBO!!!!.THIS WILL COST HIM SOME BUCKS FOR SURE NEXT YEAR!!!! HE BETTER NOT BE A CAPTAIN ON THE TEAM THIS YEAR!!!!!!!
sheepdawg
March 29th, 2012
12:54 pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA……..KEEP SIGNING THOSE STELLAR CITIZENS CMR, STUDENT ATHLETES MY a$$…..hahahahahahahahahaah