ATHENS — Courtney Coard, in his first year as a defensive graduate assistant for the Georgia football team, was arrested early Saturday morning on a DUI charge.

Coard was subsequently suspended by the team, a spokesman confirmed. So presumably he was barred from attending Georgia’s second scrimmage, which was set to begin at 10:50 a.m. at Sanford Stadium.

Coard was booked into jail at 4:31 a.m. on charges of DUI alcohol and improper driving. He was released on bond, which had been set at a total of $2,000.

Georgia has four graduate assistants, as allowed by NCAA rules. Those four G.A.s are the only staffers besides the nine assistant coaches who are allowed to coach on the field during practices and games.

Prior to coming to Georgia, Coard spent four seasons as the defensive line coach at North Carolina A&T, and also coached defensive ends at Grambling. He was a four-year starter at defensive tackle for North Carolina-Central from 2004-07.