Shaquille Fluker never played a down for Georgia. As a promising JUCO safety who chose Georgia over Texas, Nebraska, and others, Fluker was expected to contribute in Georgia’s thin and inexperienced defensive backfield early in the 2013 season.

Fluker never saw the field, ultimately sidelined for the year with what was only listed as an undisclosed “illness.” He hasn’t practiced since early October. Seeing Georgia’s reluctance even to allow him to practice, Fluker has decided to leave the program and will try to play elsewhere.

It sounds as if Fluker is going the Jarvis Jones route – Georgia wouldn’t clear him to play, and now he’ll try to find a program that will. We shouldn’t go much further with the comparison to Jones just yet – we don’t (and likely won’t) know the true extent of Fluker’s health, and he’ll still have to be evaluated by the medical staff of his transfer destination.

Unfortunately Fluker made his departure about opportunity and playing time. He maintains that his issues had to do with dehydration and not a more serious underlying condition. HIPAA regulations restrict what Georgia can say about a student-athlete’s medical condition, so Fluker’s side of the story is likely all we’re going to hear. If Fluker’s goal is to play at another school, it’s in his best interests to paint his condition in the best possible light, even if that means making the Georgia program look unnecessarily cautious and restrictive.

We know that player safety is and should be a top concern, and Georgia has one of the best heading up its sports medicine program. Fluker might disagree with their assessment, but we should be fairly confident that no stone was unturned in treating Fluker and determining his fitness for participation. We wish Fluker the best as he chases his dream of playing Division 1 football.