It's been an oddly quiet spell without bad news for UGA fans, but here's a story that could hurt the school's two most prominent programs. According to the Ledger-Enquirer's Andy Bitter, incoming USC Trojans transfer LB Jarvis Jones and Greenville High five-star shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope received unauthorized benefits from two men in charge of the AAU Georgia Blazers basketball team.
(Precedent for an AAU scandal affecting a collegiate athlete's playing status? As Bitter points out, there's Baylor Bears big Perry Jones III, who was declared ineligible after his mother received three loans from his AAU coach -- that she paid back and of which Jones himself had no knowledge. He ended up missing the team's Big 12 Tournament appearance and will have to sit for its first five games of next season.)
Columbus native Jones, who transferred to UGA after suffering a neck injury at Southern Cal and redshirted for the 2010 season, is said to have received airfare to and from Los Angeles on two separate occasions thanks to the Blazers' credit card. Losing him for even a game or two would sting, as he's projected to start against Boise State.
If Caldwell-Pope, rated one of the three best shooting guards in the nation, is docked playing time, it would reportedly be due to the Blazers paying for his mother's cell phone bill.
Columbus Parks and Recreation director Tony Adams and lieutenant Herman Porter are the two accused of all this aiding and abetting, as the Blazers are run by the city.
Stay tuned for more on this story. For more Georgia sports, visit Dawg Sports.