Richt to 'wait and see'

A former Sewanee linebacker and his wife reported harassment from four Georgia players.

Richt calls incident report 'speculation'

Georgia football coach Mark Richt said Thursday that it's too early to pass judgment on a police report in which four black players allegedly harassed a married white couple early Sunday morning in Athens.

Hutson and Meghan Vann filed an incident report with the Athens-Clarke County Police that contained charges of simple battery and terroristic threats or acts. No Georgia players were named in the report, and no arrests have been made.

"Right now, it's speculation," Richt said. "We don't know anything for sure, but I'm aware of the report. I'm just going to wait and see what's going to happen from here, really. I don't want to over or under react at this point."

Vann, 25, is a former Sewanee linebacker from Fannin County High School.

According to the report, the Vanns called for an A&A Taxi van to get a ride home. The van later picked up four black males who sat behind the Vanns, and Vann identified all of them as Bulldogs players.

The four males were carrying bratwursts, the report continued, and after Vann commented on how good the bratwursts smelled and asked how much they cost, one of the males said, "Shut up, you stupid white racist (expletive)." Vann replied that he had not made a racist remark, but one of the males slapped or punched him in the back of the head, causing his head to move forward.

When Vann complained and said there was no reason to act in that manner, the males began cursing at him, according to the report, with one telling him to turn around "if he wanted to live." Vann stated that he put his arm around his wife and was slapped or punched again, and when his wife told the males to stop, she was slapped or punched in the back of the head as well.

The report then stated that the males made inappropriate comments of a sexual nature to Vann's wife. The couple expressed being terrified and hunkered down in their seats until the four were dropped off at East Campus Village.

Athens-Clarke County Police continue to look into the report, which Richt said he learned of right before Thursday's practice.

"I have not had a chance to talk to anybody really about it," Richt said.

The Bulldogs practiced Thursday for two hours with temperatures in the mid 80s, making it the hottest workout of the spring. Thursday was the 10th of Georgia's 15 spring practices, and the second scrimmage at Sanford Stadium will be held Saturday.

"We shortened today's practice by about 20 minutes for a few reasons," Richt said. "One was the weather. The other was that I wanted to make sure we had a high-tempo practice and that we are fresh for our scrimmage in a couple of days. This really will be the last time we can do all that we want to schematically, because at G-Day we're going to reduce some of the things we want to do."

Odds and ends

Tailback Caleb King sat out Thursday's practice after feeling sick earlier in the day. ... Jakar Hamilton and Bacarri Rambo are "out front" in the race to claim starting jobs at the safety spots, Richt said. ... The G-Day game April 10 will pit the No. 1 offense against the No. 1 defense, with the three quarterback candidates rotating between the first and second units. ... Richt expressed thanks for the significant decrease in offseason injuries compared to recent years.

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