It looks as if Georgia will play without one of its more prolific scorers when the Bulldogs open the season at Clemson on Aug. 31.
Marshall Morgan, Georgia’s starting placekicker, was arrested Saturday for boating under the influence (BUI) on Lake Sinclair. UGA athletic department policy calls for an automatic suspension from competition for all alcohol-related arrests. A DUI arrest mandates a suspension from 20 percent of competition dates, according to UGA’s student-athlete handbook, but it’s unclear if a BUI will be meted out the same way.
If so, that would mean at least two games out of a 12-game schedule. The Bulldogs play Clemson and South Carolina the first two weeks of the season.
Georgia coach Mark Richt could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but UGA spokesman Claude Felton said Richt “is aware of the situation.”
UGA athletic director Greg McGarity said “BUI” is not addressed in the student-athlete handbook, and he is not sure what guidelines might apply. He said the case would be reviewed by the “comprehensive action committee,” a panel of senior administrators, which would make a recommendation to him and Richt.
“It’s under review and, at some point in time, it will be dealt with appropriately,” McGarity said.
Georgia already knows it will play its opener without starting strong safety Josh Harvey-Clemons and backup tight end Ty Flournoy-Smith. Harvey-Clemons was assessed a one-game suspension, and Flournoy-Smith was dismissed from the team for a marijuana-related incident that occurred in a dormitory in the spring. Neither player was arrested at that time.
Morgan was processed at the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office at 8:30 p.m. Saturday and charged with operating a watercraft under the influence of alcohol and towing a skier without an observer on board, Putnam County Chief Deputy Russell Blenk said. Morgan, who was pulling two individuals on inner tubes with a personal watercraft, reportedly was observed by Department of Natural Resources officers monitoring lake activity from a helicopter. He was released on property bonds of $1,556 and $168, police said.
Morgan, a rising sophomore from Coral Springs, Fla., was 8-of-14 on field-goal attempts and 63-of-67 on extra-point attempts while starting all 14 games for the Bulldogs as a freshman.
According to a depth chart released by Georgia this summer, Morgan’s backups are Patrick Beless and Thomas Pritchard.
Beless, a 5-foot-9, 162-pound sophomore attended the Marist School, where he played soccer and was the football team’s kicker as a senior in 2011 (Austin Hardin, now on scholarship at Florida, was the kicker before that). Beless also was on the 2009 Class AAAA GHSA state champion soccer team.
Pritchard, a redshirt freshman, attended Jefferson County High School, where he booted both the longest punt and field goal in school history, according to his UGA bio. He earned All-State honors as a punter his senior season and received all-region and all-area mention during his career.
There are other options. Sophomore punter Collin Barber reportedly can kick, as well as backup punters Adam Erickson and Ethan Jackson. And there’s another intriguing possibility.
Freshman quarterback Bryce Ramsey was an exceptional placekicker in high school. He made a 57-yard field goal as a junior. But it remains to be seen whether the Bulldogs would burn a redshirt season for their quarterback of the future to have him kick in one or, possibly, two games.
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