McGarity says UGA 'exhausted all avenues' on Fairley hits

Georgia athletics director Greg McGarity confirmed that his school spoke to the SEC office about the hits made by Auburn’s Nick Fairley in Saturday’s game.

“We exhausted all avenues of communicating to the conference office,” McGarity said. “And then it’s up to the SEC to make the decision. There’s really nothing more that we could’ve done. We just followed SEC protocol in how you communicate and how you deal with questions.”

The SEC announced late Tuesday that Fairley would not be suspended any time, and any discipline would be dealt with “internally.”

McGarity was asked if that surprised him.

“I probably better not comment on that,” he said. “I need to stay away from that. I don’t want to get into any type of trouble or conflict with the conference office.”

Fairley’s helmet-to-back hit on Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray drew a 15-yard penalty. Fairley also delivered a late hit to Murray’s knee, which was not called a penalty, that caused the quarterback to leave the game. Murray did not practice Tuesday and his status is day-to-day.

Last month Georgia center Ben Jones was suspended for one half for a chop block he made at Mississippi State.

McGarity said that suspension was decided after the SEC notified Georgia, which then reviewed the play and agreed that discipline was warranted.

“Coach (Mark) Richt was bothered by it,” McGarity said. “He was disappointed in our student-athlete and took appropriate action, and felt like it was the appropriate consequence. And I have to give Mark a lot of credit for taking that position to do the right thing. And the young man paid the consequence and missed the first half of the Colorado game. And since that time he’s learned a lesson.”

McGarity then declined to comment on Auburn not disciplining Fairley.

“We’ve got enough issues with our program rather than worrying about someone else’s program,” McGarity said.