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Georgia wide receiver Rara Thomas was arrested Friday morning on charges related to family violence, according to Athens-Clarke County records.
Thomas was arrested on 2 counts of battery and 1 count of cruelty to children. The battery charges are both misdemeanors, while the cruelty to children charge is a felony. Athens-Clarke County records also show that all charges also carry a “family violence” distinction.
Thomas was booked just after 3:20 a.m. early Friday morning. No other details regarding his arrest are currently available.
Later Friday afternoon, Georgia reportedly suspended Thomas indefinitely in part because this isn’t Thomas’ first incident related to family violence. In January of 2023, Thomas was charged with false imprisonment (felony) and battery (misdemeanor) shortly after he arrived in Athens as a transfer from Mississippi State. Those charges were later dismissed after Thomas entered a “pretrial diversion program,” which included requirements such as anger management classes and community service.
Thomas was suspended from the team while the legal process played out, but he was able to re-join the program in time for spring practice. In his first season with Georgia, he caught 23 passes for 383 yards and 1 touchdown.
Georgia has experienced a string of arrests in recent months, although many of them have been for driving-related offenses. Head coach Kirby Smart addressed the pattern of arrests at SEC Media Days last week.
“I think the number one thing is disappointed. Any time you have a situation like that, you want your kids — your players — to make better decisions,” Smart said, speaking specifically about repeated driving-related charges within his program. “I always say you can’t be outcome-related, and I’m very disappointed with the outcomes, but I am very pleased with our process we’ve put in in terms of education, driver safety, requiring defensive driving, education, talking about it, having leaders stand up and talking about it, suspending players, dismissing players.
“I don’t know to this point any coach in college football who has suspended a player for a driving citation. We have. We have, and we’ve also dismissed players based on driving citations. Nobody has done that. Hopefully they get the idea and the information, but we have a really good locker room. I love the players we have.”
Georgia has not issued a public comment on Thomas’ arrest, as of publication.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
