UGA Player Arrested, Charged With Aggravated Assault

University of Georgia defensive lineman Jonathan Taylor, who was arrested earlier this offseason for theft by deception, is now facing a felony aggravated assault charge.

Taylor, of Millen, Ga., was arrested by UGA Police Tuesday morning and charged with assaulting his girlfriend, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson told the AJC that police were called at 2:47 a.m. by a third party about a domestic dispute at a McWhorter Hall residence, where Taylor allegedly choked his girlfriend.

There were “physical signs of injury about the victim’s neck of strangulation,” the newspaper reported.

Clarke County jail records say Jonathan Maurice Taylor was booked into the jail at 6:08 a.m. Tuesday, July 22. Bond had not been set.

The felony charge results in an immediate suspension from the team, according to UGA Athletics policy.

It’s the second time Taylor has been arrested this year.

In March, he was one of four UGA football players charged with theft by deception for allegedly cashing or depositing regular student stipend checks twice — called “double-dipping” by Williamson. Taylor was charged with two counts of the misdemeanor.

The Athens Banner-Herald reported Taylor was accepted into a pre-trial intervention program, which included 40 hours of community service, for the theft charges.

Taylor is a third-string nose tackle, the AJC said. His future with the team is uncertain.