Georgia coach Mark Richt on Thursday made his first comments about dismissing starting safety Josh Harvey-Clemons from the team earlier this week. And he still didn’t have a lot to say about it.
“The only thing I’ll say about that is I want to wish him well,” Richt said. “I hope he finds a good home and finishes his career in a real positive way.”
Harvey-Clemons, a sophomore from Valdosta, missed two games last season — the first and the last — because of disciplinary suspensions and was going to miss the first three games next season for failing a drug test for marijuana, multiple sources confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last month. UGA did not specify the reason for Harvey-Clemons’ dismissal in its two-sentence announcement Tuesday.
Richt said he has not discussed the matter with the team.
“Guys understand that there are certain rules everybody needs to abide by, and if they don’t, they could possibly lose their privilege to play at Georgia,” he said. “You know, there’s a consequence for any action. … So whether it’s getting up early and pulling the sleds or whether it’s missing some playing time or whether it’s being dismissed from the team, it’s a consequence for anything that’s contrary to anything we think will help us win.”
Park overwhelmed: There are a lot of adjustments that must be made when one enters college as an early enrollee. Getting used to the Bulldogs' infamous mat drills was a big one for Jacob Park.
“Nobody told me about them till I got here,” said the 6-foot-3, 202-pound quarterback from Goose Creek, S.C. “(Quarterback) Bryce (Ramsey) told me I was going regret coming here early. … I never really had that many coaches yelling at me at the same time. We had something similar in high school we had to go through, but we didn’t do it at 5 in the morning, so it’s a little bit of a shock.”
After having 13 midyear enrollees a year ago, Park was the only one of Georgia’s 22 signees to take that route this year. But Park felt like it was important to get a handle on the Bulldogs’ complicated pro-style offense.
Ekeler getting settled: Having been hired by Georgia as inside linebackers coach Feb. 6, Mike Ekeler has had four jobs in three years since leaving Nebraska. If it's up to him, he plans to hang around Athens a good long while.
After renting in Los Angeles when he coached at USC for the past year, Ekeler and his wife bought a house in the same Oconee County neighborhood as fellow UGA assistants Mike Bobo, Will Friend and Jeremy Pruitt.
“They’re going to have to take me out of here at gunpoint,” said Ekeler, who has a boy and three girls under the age of 14. “This is where I want to be and the people I want to be working with. … Coach Richt, if there’s a finer human being coaching this game, I haven’t met him. Working with Jeremy Pruitt, that guy reminds me of someone I played for and coached with starting out, Bob Stoops. I mean he’s got amazing qualities and is a tremendous leader, very focused and knows what he wants and he has no ego. … So we’re all buying houses here. This is where I want to be.”
Etc.: UGA could not confirm reports that freshman defensive tackle De'Andre Johnson is seeking medical disqualification because of a back issue. … Georgia hired Gus Felder as an assistant strength-and-conditioning coach Thursday. Felder previously directed the strength program at Clark Atlanta.
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