Defensive lineman Jonathan Taylor, who made headlines last year for being allowed to enroll at Alabama only to be dismissed by the school after previously being dismissed by Georgia over domestic violence charges, has plead guilty to three misdemeanors stepping from an incident in July 2014.
According to the Athens Banner-Herald, Taylor received a sentence of 36 months probation (along with a $1,000 fine, 100 hours of community service and mandatory anger management counselling) for misdemeanors of simple assault, battery and simple battery.
These reduced chargers were accepted by Taylor as the state of Georgia allowed him to plea down from a charge of felony aggravated assault.
While enrolled at Georgia in July 2014, Taylor allegedly choked and hit his girlfriend, leading him to be charged and quickly dismissed from the program. He was actually arrested while in Athens for "theft by deception" for trying to cash a grant check twice.
Taylor enrolled at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson, Mississippi, and reportedly received offers from a number of SEC programs, ultimately enrolling at Alabama in January 2015 amid controversy. He only spent three months with the Crimson Tide as he was accused of assault by a second woman on March 28 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She recanted her statement days later and was arrested for filing a false police report, but Taylor still plead guilty to criminal mischief in the incident.
Upon dismissing Taylor, Alabama coach Nick Saban said he would not apologize for bringing the player into his program.
"No, I'm not sorry for giving him an opportunity, I'm sorry for the way things worked out. I'm not apologizing for the opportunity we gave him," the coach said. "We wanted to try and help the guy make it work, it didn't work We're sorry it didn't work, we're sorry there was an incident, we're sorry for the people that were involved in the incident. But we're not apologizing for what we did and we're continue to create opportunities for people in the future and we'll very, very closely evaluate anyone's character that we allow into the program because we all have a responsibility to represent the University of Alabama in a first class way not to mention how we should represent ourselves and our family."
Due in large part to Taylor's situation, the SEC passed a rule in 2015 requiring a waiver for players with "serious misconduct" issues to transfer into a conference school. "Serious misconduct" is defined as domestic violence, sexual assault and similar violent offenses.
ESPN first reported that Taylor enrolled at Southeastern Louisiana in 2015 following his Alabama dismissal; he is listed on the team's current roster as senior Jon Taylor. The Banner-Herald notes that Taylor will graduate this season and intends on pursuing an NFL career.
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