Awaiting trial on domestic violence charges, Jonathan Taylor is on his third college football team in little more than a year.
ESPN's Outside the Lines recently learned that a little more than a year ago, the University of Georgia (UGA) first became aware of the domestic violence complaint against Taylor, a defensive lineman on the football team at the time. Dr. Carla Williams, UGA's deputy athletic director, and Greg McGarity, the athletic director, both read the police report, and agreed that Taylor should be removed from the team.
Though Williams has so far been the only non-law-enforcement official to see photos of Taylor's alleged victim's injuries, the police report was enough for McGarity not only to kick Taylor off the football team, but to issue a warning as well.,
The University of Alabama (UA) accepted Taylor's transfer to Tuscaloosa after the dismissal from UGA's football team. OTL learned McGarity spoke on the phone with Bill Battle, UA's athletic director to outline why he dismissed Taylor.
"The police report was very descriptive, there probably wasn't much of a question that what happened, did happen," McGarity told OTL.
Battle and Nick Saban, UA's head football coach, respectively, were adamant that they were trying to give Taylor a second chance, but set out a strict program for the defensive end. Taylor was then named in another domestic violence complaint and was subsequently kicked off the UA football team.
Taylor is now a student at Southern Louisiana University and is a member of the football team, a Football Championship Subdivision program. He still has one year of eligibility left, which will have to come next year. A university spokesman confirmed Taylor's transfer to OTL.
But before transferring to Alabama, Taylor played football at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson, Miss. Kim Stephens, an attorney representing Taylor, told OTL her client chose Alabama over schools like LSU, Ole Miss, Louisville, Mississippi State, and Auburn.
UA personnel never denied being made aware of the domestic violence complaint against Taylor, but insist they did everything right in handling his transfer there.
"UAPD followed protocol, and made an assessment of confidential information that was part of an ongoing investigation by Georgia law enforcement authorities," Deborah Lane, a university spokeswoman, told OTL. "Relevant information was then provided to the Admissions Committee."
(Head over to ESPN.com to read the full report from Outside the Lines)
