In Mark Richt's 15 seasons as football coach at Georgia, players who wished to transfer were given an unconditional release.
That's no longer the case.
New Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart granted a release to redshirt junior running back A.J. Turman this past week, but it stipulated that the 6-foot, 204-pounder from Orlando, Fla., could not transfer to the University of Florida or the University of Miami unless he paid his own way. Florida is a longtime rival of the Bulldogs and has been their chief nemesis since the Southeastern Conference went to divisional play in 1992, while Miami is where Richt is now head coach.
"We will not release kids to SEC schools unless it's a special situation," Smart said in a news conference Saturday, adding that he is merely adhering to league transfer rules already in place. "We will handle those situations on a case-by-case basis. There are very few situations where you want a kid going to somebody on your schedule or somebody in your league. That's pretty much standard operating procedure.
"The reasons for that are two-fold. You don't want a kid being negative in recruiting when he is at another place and you're trying to protect the interest of your team. You also don't want to have to play against them, for obvious reasons, so we'll handle those going forward."
Georgia held its third spring workout Saturday and its first in pads and shorts. Among the visitors were former offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who is now the head coach at Colorado State, and former center Ben Jones, who began his NFL career with the Houston Texans but recently signed with the Tennessee Titans.
In December 2014, Richt granted a release to tailback-turned-safety J.J. Green, whose biggest claim to fame for the Bulldogs was rushing 17 times for 129 yards as a freshman in the 34-31 overtime win at Tennessee in 2013. Several days after being released, Green transferred to Georgia Tech and sat out this past season.
Richt allowed cornerback Shaq Wiggins to transfer in spring 2014 to Louisville, where he followed former Bulldogs defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, but Smart is not allowing current Georgia players to follow Richt.
"I wanted to set the precedent for the future that kids would not be able to go to Miami right away," Smart said. "It's very important that we understand that, and it's pretty much standard operating procedure when a coach leaves one place that a kid can't go there with the coach. It's important to me that people understand that."
Turman rushed 26 times for 126 yards last spring in the G-Day spring game but never played in an autumn contest. His departure leaves the Bulldogs with just two healthy running backs this spring - junior Sony Michel and redshirt freshman Tae Crowder - and Smart said Saturday that the new staff tried to convince Turman to stay.
Smart stated multiple times that Turman expressed to him that he was not interested in Florida or Miami but a smaller school closer to Orlando.
Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity supported Richt's policy of granting unconditional releases, but now he is supportive of Smart implementing restrictions if the need arises. Bruce Feldman of Fox Sports wrote Saturday that McGarity's flip-flop provided a "bad look" for Georgia.
Smart spoke Saturday for the first time since Tuesday's news conference, which preceded the opening workout later that day. He was asked how five-star quarterback Jacob Eason had fared through his first three collegiate practices.
"I like his arm talent, and we knew he was blessed with arm talent," Smart said. "Jacob is a kid who can make a lot of throws out there. He can make some big-time throws, but he is still going through a learning curve.
"It's a step-by-step process for this kid, and we're not trying to take three steps before we take one step."
The Bulldogs have their fourth practice set for Tuesday.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.