Defensive lineman Jonathan Taylor, who was dismissed from Georgia and Alabama after arrests on allegations of domestic violence, is now on the football team at Southeastern Louisiana, Outside the Lines has confirmed.
An athletic department spokesman for SLU, a Football Championship Subdivision school, verified that Taylor began classes on Aug. 19 and is a member of the football team. However, Taylor is not eligible to play until 2016, his final season of eligibility, spokesman Kemmler Chapple said.
Taylor was arrested in a July 2014 incident in which he allegedly assaulted his then-girlfriend in a dorm at the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs dismissed him immediately, and he enrolled and played the 2014 season at Copiah-Lincoln Community College in Wesson, Mississippi, where, according to his attorney, Kim Stephens, numerous SEC schools began recruiting him.
He enrolled at Alabama on Jan. 7 amid much controversy and was on the team less than three months before being arrested on March 28, when another girlfriend accused him of assaulting her in Tuscaloosa. He was dismissed from Alabama, but three days after his arrest, the girlfriend, Gina Nawab, recanted her story and told police her wounds were self-inflicted. Nawab was then arrested for filing a false police report.
On July 7, Taylor pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief in the Alabama incident. According to court documents obtained by Outside the Lines, Nawab's criminal case for filing a false report was dismissed the same day.
Taylor's aggravated assault criminal case stemming from his arrest in July 2014 is still pending in Athens, Georgia. District attorney Ken Mauldin told Outside the Lines on Wednesday that there is a status conference regarding Taylor's case scheduled for Oct. 8.
"While we are aware of past controversies, Jonathan has not been found guilty for the incidents he was accused of that led to his dismissal from his prior institutions," Southeastern Louisiana said in a statement Wednesday. "The Director of Athletics and Head Football Coach have met with Jonathan to outline the expectations of a Southeastern student-athlete. Southeastern Louisiana holds its student-athletes to high standards both on and off the field and we expect Jonathan, as well as all of our student-athletes, to adhere to those standards."
Outside the Lines asked Chapple what SLU's admission process is for students with criminal records and/or a pending felony charge, to which he responded, "Southeastern Louisiana has no specific admission policy regarding an individual's police or court records."
Taylor is not eligible to transfer to an SEC school because of a new rule he in part inspired. Two months after he was dismissed from Alabama, Georgia introduced, and school presidents passed, an athlete transfer rule at the SEC spring meetings. The rule prohibits any player from transferring to an SEC school if he or she has been officially disciplined by another school for serious misconduct, which is defined as sexual assault, domestic violence or other forms of sexual violence.
Nicole Noren is a producer for Outside the Lines. ESPN.com's Alex Scarborough contributed to this report.