Wide receiver Rodarius “Rara” Thomas, an Alabama native, has been dismissed from the team at Georgia following his arrest last month on multiple charges.

Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart made the announcement Thursday during his opening press conference of preseason camp. The 21-year-old Thomas had been indefinitely suspended since his arrest July 26 on charges of second-degree cruelty to children (a felony) and two counts of misdemeanor battery-family violence.

“He can no longer be part of the football team,” Smart said Thursday. “He understands that. We wish him the best moving forward.”

Thomas, a former star at Eufaula High School who began his college career at Mississippi State, was expected to be a major focal point of Georgia’s passing game this season. He caught 23 passes for 383 yards and a touchdown in 2023, his first season with the Bulldogs.

Thomas was also arrested in January 2023 after being accused of false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery-family violence, though those charges were eventually dropped after he entered a pre-trial diversion program. He is the second Georgia player to be dismissed from the team this summer, after reserve safety David Daniel-Sisavanh — who played in 10 games and started one for the Bulldogs in 2023 — was dismissed in mid-July after being charged with reckless driving for a Feb. 24 incident in which he led Atlanta police on a high-speed pursuit.

Georgia has had numerous players arrested since the end of the 2023 season, though most have been related to unsafe driving. Smart said at SEC Media Days last week that the Bulldogs had begun fining players through their Classic City NIL Collective for off-field transgressions.

Georgia, among the favorites to be ranked No. 1 nationally heading into 2024, opens its season Aug. 31 vs. Clemson in Atlanta.