Georgia’s issues with the off-field behavior of football players reached a new level of seriousness Tuesday.
Jon Taylor, a sophomore defensive lineman from Millen, was arrested for aggravated assault/family violence Tuesday morning. The charges stemmed from a third-party complaint that Taylor physically assaulted his girlfriend during a domestic dispute that sent police and emergency medical technicians to the McWhorter Hall dormitory at 2:47 a.m. Tuesday.
Taylor, 20, was placed under arrest at 4:45 a.m. and booked into the Athens-Clarke County Jail at 6:08 a.m., according to police. Taylor remained incarcerated Tuesday night awaiting a bond hearing. Taylor was one of four football players jailed on theft-by deception charges in March after they were caught double-cashing athletic department-issued, meal reimbursement checks. He and the three other offenders — James DeLoach, Uriah LeMay and Tray Matthews — agreed to pretrial intervention in state court in June and were ordered to do community service.
Matthews eventually was dismissed from the program by coach Mark Richt after being thrown out of a classroom by an instructor for misbehaving. He has since transferred to Auburn. LeMay also transferred. Before that, sophomore safety Josh Harvey-Clemons was dismissed for multiple violations of UGA’s marijuana-use policy.
A UGA spokesman said no one from the athletic association would comment Tuesday.
According to the UGA Police incident report, Taylor and the victim had been “living together for several weeks.” At the time of the interview, officers observed “visible scratched and red marks to her neck and bruises on her arm and leg.”
“I determined that her boyfriend, Jonathan Maurice Taylor, had offensively used his hands to choke her and had also struck her several times with a closed fist,” Officer R. Edwards reported.
The 20-year-old victim, whose name was redacted, was listed on the report as 5-foot-11, 170 pounds. She was treated at the scene and released. Taylor is 6-5, 340, according to the identification he submitted to police.
Taylor, who played at Jenkins County High, was listed as a third-team nose guard on the Bulldogs’ preseason depth chart. That position also is manned by senior Mike Thornton and junior Chris Mayes. He had nine tackles and a sack as a redshirt freshman last season.
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