Georgia player failed field sobriety test upon arrest

Athens — UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said the arrests of two football players Saturday night and early Sunday were by the book.

Backup defensive tackle Brandon Wood and sidelined starting offensive tackle Vince Vance were each jailed for driving offenses in the hours after Georgia’s homecoming win over Vanderbilt.

Wood, a 6-foot-1, 280-pound sophomore, was pulled over by UGA police at 2:11 a.m. on East Campus Road for driving his black Ford Explorer without headlights. Police detected an odor of alcohol on Wood, who, according to police, was placed into custody after failing field sobriety tests. A Breathalyzer later indicated Wood’s blood-alcohol level to be .11. In the state of Georgia, .08 is considered too intoxicated to drive.

“Just standard,” Williamson said of the DUI arrest. “No headlights at 2 or 3 in the morning. That’s a big indicator to us.”

Wood is 21 years old. Coach Mark Richt said Wood will be suspended at least for Saturday’s game against LSU.

Richt said Sunday that Vance was jailed for having an expired license, but Williamson said, “there was more to it than that.”

“[Vance] basically had a learner’s permit,” Williamson said. “Those are good for only two years. It had expired on 12-21 of ‘07. So he never had a true license … If his license had just been expired he would have received a citation.”

Vance also was found to have an expired tag when he was pulled over just before 8 p.m. Saturday for not obeying a traffic device.

The Bulldogs have had 10 football players arrested in 2008. Three of those players had the charges against them dropped or dismissed and one had charges reduced. Wood was the fifth player booked for an alcohol-related offense.