Junior forward Brandon Morris was dismissed from the Georgia basketball team, head coach Mark Fox announced Monday.
Morris was booked into Athens-Clarke County Jail at 3:21 a.m. Sunday on felony charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. He was suspended for the first three games of last season, which was also for a violation of UGA’s marijuana-use policies, sources said.
“This program has a strong expectation of citizenship and every one of our players understands this,” Fox said in a news release distributed by UGA on Monday. “This expectation does not mean that mistakes will not happen. When they do I always deal with them appropriately. Brandon had a very clear understanding of our expectation. Unfortunately, I’ve had to dismiss him from our team.
“We’ve offered Brandon as much help as we can as he leaves, in hope that he can continue his career somewhere else.”
Morris was one of four starters set to return from last year’s 20-win team. A Lithonia resident and graduate of Miller Grove High, he averaged 8.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game as a sophomore while playing 25.4 minutes per contest.
Cameron Forte, a 6-7 junior, and Kenny Paul Geno, a 6-6 sophomore, will likely see their playing time increase as a result of Morris’ departure.
According to the Athens-Clarke County incident report on Morris’ arrest, Officer N. McFaddin encountered the UGA player when he noticed his black 2014 Dodge Challenger parked in the motorcycle spaces at the corner of East Broad Street and North Jackson Street in downtown Athens. McFaddin reported that he stopped and approached the vehicle to investigate. The officer said he immediately smelled “green marijuana” from partially opened driver’s side window.
Morris was asked to step out of the vehicle and was handcuffed. At that time the officer reported that he noticed a book bag on the passenger side seat. Inside he found 18 grams of “high grade” marijuana and a digital scale with marijuana residue.
McFaddin reported that Morris was quickly detained and taken to police headquarters for processing because a “boisterous crowd” was gathering and “aggressively questioning the reason Morris was being contacted.”
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