Earlier today, reports surfaced that four Georgia football players, included projected starter at safety Tray Matthews, were arrested in connection to a scam involving stipend checks.
As the Bulldogs kicked off spring practice Tuesday, head coach Mark Richt met with the media following the first of 15 sessions and was forced to address the latest off-field issue involving some of his players.
“Guys aren’t going to be perfect and when they do something that needs discipline, we are going to follow through on it,” said Richt in quotes provided by the university. “We always try to educate our players and discipline them appropriately. Similar to when you are dealing with your kids, some of them learn things by watching and some of them learn lessons by doing. We stick with the goal of punishing, educating and loving all that come through here.”
Richt did not go into detail as to what if any punitive measures the four players could be facing. The coach did, though, intimate that game suspensions or even dismissals were not off the table.
All four of the players were on the field and participated in the practice session.
In addition to Matthews, wide receiver Uriah LeMay and defensive lineman John Taylor (no relation) and defensive end James DeLoach were each charged with more than one count of theft by deception.
The four players allegedly took their stipend checks and cashed them via a mobile app before cashing the paper check at a store. One of the players, LeMay, allegedly took a stipend check that had been discarded by a roommate, an UGA athlete, and cashed it.
It was the university that reported the alleged thefts to campus police.