ATHENS, Ga. -- At this point it's looking likely that junior inside linebacker Natrez Patrick will travel with Georgia to the Northwestern Mutual Rose Bowl and take the field when the Bulldogs take on No. 2 Oklahoma. If he does so, it won't be in small part to a change in Georgia's drug and substance abuse policy.

The policy in UGA's student-athlete handbook, obtained by Dawgs247 on Monday, rearranges the language from a previous stipulation which said that a legal citation would basically equate to a positive drug test. Now the language says such run ins with law enforcement will result in 'corrective action." It seemingly takes Patrick off the hook since charges against him were later dropped.

J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Greg McGarity says it's a revision that has been in motion since 2015. According to director of sports medicine Ron Courson, the new policy was put into place to mesh better with the university's overall drug and alcohol policy and to allow more room to individualize treatment for each student athlete affected.

There's no change in the how much time would be served for a failed drug test. It's still 10 percent of a student-athlete's games for the first offense, 40 percent for a second offense and dismissal before the third.

Patrick, however, reportedly passed a UGA drug test immediately following his arrest on December 2 but failed a drug test given due to his probation for two previous arrests on possession of marijuana given a couple of days later. Athens-Clarke County Solicitor C.R. Chisolm confirmed that to both the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Athens Banner-Herald.

Patrick's legal counsel, Billy Healan, said in a statement sent to reporters on Monday that Patrick's probation violation does not carry over to UGA as an offense to the drug policy. In teleconference with reporters McGarity confirmed that Healan is indeed correct.

"Yes, that is correct," McGarity said.

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