Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

It’s been a tumultuous ride for once highly-touted safety Josh Harvey-Clemons since arriving in Athens two years ago. From mental gaffes on the field to poor decisions off the field, Harvey-Clemons has been in the news far too often.

It would seem that far too often has become too much for Georgia head coach Mark Richt, who has now dismissed Harvey-Clemons from the Georgia football program for undisclosed violations of team rules. The team announced the news in a two-sentence press release by the school, with no other details.

This was not unexpected in the eyes of many, as Harvey-Clemons’ numerous run-ins with authorities and multi-game suspensions have put the Georgia defense in the lurch on more than one occasion. Much like former running back Isaiah Crowell, the baggage just became too much for the team to bear regardless of the ability brought to the field.

After not getting much playing time as a freshman in 2012, Harvey-Clemons seemed to turn the corner, turning in an exceptional spring last season, earning him Spring MVP honors as well as a spot on the starting defense. But once again his off-field problems began to surface, as he was suspended for the season opener against Clemson, as he and then-teammate Ty Flournoy-Smith (now a Georgia Military College) were suspected of smoking marijuana.

Harvey-Clemons was slated to be suspended for the first three games of the 2014 season, a continuation of the suspension he received just before Georgia’s Gator Bowl game against Nebraska – this for for his second violation of UGA’s student-athlete drug policy.

With a new defensive coordinator and several new coaches, distractions were the last thing this team needed, so cutting the troubled Valdosta, Ga. native loose was probably the best choice for the program.

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Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2014/02/18/2944922/josh-harvey-clemons-dismissed.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2014/02/18/2944922/josh-harvey-clemons-dismissed.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2014/02/18/2944922/josh-harvey-clemons-dismissed.html#storylink=cpy