Another Georgia Bulldog SEC Champ Ring on ebay

[MrMustang1965]

ATLANTA (AP) -- Another Georgia football ring is for sale.

A Sugar Bowl ring that once belonged to current senior receiver Reggie Brown showed up on eBay, with a top bid of $2,025 as of Thursday.

Brown was not one of the nine players initially implicated in the ``Ringgate'' scandal, which cast an embarrassing pall over the Bulldogs' championship season in 2002. The school discovered later that Brown also had sold a ring, but his actions were never made public.

Brown, a leading offensive weapon for No. 3 Georgia, was cleared by the NCAA about a year ago, school spokesman Claude Felton said.

``He will play this weekend against Tennessee,'' Felton said. ``The NCAA ruled he was part of the original group. He's not in violation of NCAA rules.''

Some of the players sold 10-karat gold rings commemorating Georgia's first Southeastern Conference championship in 20 years. Brown was among those who sold rings they were awarded by the school for their victory over Florida State in the season-ending Sugar Bowl.

The situation came to light when the rings showed up on eBay, where Internet users can purchase anything from sports memorabilia to computers to cars.

At first, the NCAA declared the players ineligible for selling the rings, then ruled they could play because there was a lack of precedent in such cases. The NCAA did say that any future cases would be considered a violation, resulting in penalties for the offending players.

Among those originally named in the ring-selling scandal are three other starters: receiver Fred Gibson, defensive lineman Kedric Golston and cornerback Tim Jennings. The group also included backup defensive tackle Darrius Swain and linebacker Tony Taylor, who is out for the year with a knee injury.

The others -- receiver Michael Johnson, cornerbacks Bruce Thornton and Kenny Bailey and walk-on Trey Young -- are no longer with the team.

In the description of Brown's ring on eBay, he is called ``the team leader at his position.''

``If you saw the LSU game, you know what kind of player he is,'' the unidentified seller writes. ``High bids are encouraged. The ring is size 10 1/2 and is made of white gold.''

Brown had two spectacular touchdown catches last week in Georgia's 45-16 rout of defending SEC champion LSU, giving him four TDs for the season. He is tied with Gibson for the team lead with 17 catches and ranks second in the conference with an average of 77 yards receiving per game.

The school attempted to repurchase all the rings sold by the players, but ``there are still three or four floating around out there. This is one of them,'' Felton said.

``If we had the opportunity, we would still try to buy the others back.''