The Georgia football program has been a premiere program ever since coach Kirby Smart took the job in late 2015. Kirby Smart is a relentless recruiter and he has recruited at an incredibly high level at Georgia. Because of this, the Georgia football program has reached levels of success that they have never seen before. Georgia is coming off back-to-back national championships, however, all the news about the Georgia football program has been negative as of late.
Every school has had its fair share of allegations throughout the years, but the allegations that have emerged about the Georgia football program under Kirby Smart are very disturbing.
Under Coach Smart, there has been a plethora of players that have been reported doing activities such as driving under the influence, excessive speeding, bar fights, having illegal weapons on campus, domestic violence, sexual assault, and most notably street racing. This is nasty stuff coming out of Athens and it seems like the more allegations that are reported, the worse it gets.
Georgia Football is Out of Control
Recent Run-Ins With The Law
Since Kirby Smart took over as head coach, there have been 300 plus driving-related incidents. It is silly that in just seven seasons, there have been that many incidents, but driving incidents alone.
In January, Georgia staff member Chandler LeCroy and offensive lineman Devin Willock were killed in a car accident while racing Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter. Carter was issued an arrest warrant but was still drafted ninth overall in the 2023 NFL Draft. This incident was the first of many to be reported involving Georgia Football in 2023 and this began a long list of allegations that began to come out.
Kirby Smart had this to say after the warrants were taken out, “The charges announced today are deeply concerning, especially as we are still struggling to cope with the devastating loss of two beloved members of our community,” he said. “We will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities while supporting these families and assessing what we can learn from this horrible tragedy.”
Running back James Cook was arrested and charged with driving without a valid license and possessing an open alcoholic-beverage container in his passenger area and was driving recklessly when he crashed into a nearby parking lot hitting multiple cars. Cook remained on the Georgia football roster and never faced any suspension by the NCAA or Coach Smart.
In 2022, running back Kenny McIntosh hit an Uber driver’s SUV while speeding, sending the Uber driver to the hospital. McIntosh was never suspended and played in all 15 games in 2022 and got drafted by the Seahawks in the 2023 NFL Draft.
According to Athens Banner-Herald, Star defensive tackle Jalen Carter became at least the third member of Georgia football’s 2022 National Championship team to be charged with reckless driving, a fourth was charged with DUI, and a fifth was alleged to have gone 34 miles over the speed limit when he was arrested.
In total, nine Georgia players have been arrested in the last 13-and-a-half months.
From Bad to Worse
The most recent allegation involving a Georgia football player is very concerning for the program as a whole. Georgia defensive lineman Jamaal Jarrett faced sexual assault and underage drinking allegations as a recruit. While on The University of Georgia campus during a recruiting visit, Jarrett allegedly broke curfew, drank alcohol with prospective teammates at an Athens bar, and was taken to a police station under investigation for sexual assault while he was 16 years old. Some gruesome details have been released about the incident, including Jarrett forcing a female into oral sex.
The more news that comes out about this story the worse it looks on Kirby Smart. Even after all of that, Smart still pursued and signed Jarrett in 2023. Kirby Smart is the only one to blame in this situation. The University released many statements regarding the arrest of Jamaal Jarrett, however as of now, Jamaal Jarrett is still on the 2023 Georgia Football roster.
MORE: The most important games of the 2023 season
Is Kirby Smart’s Program in Trouble?
Kirby Smart has lost control of his program and it is only getting worse.
Coach Smart is losing his program and it is all because of his lack of punishment. With all the allegations and arrests that are involving Georgia football players, none of those players are missing games and learning from their mistakes.
Coach Smarts addressed this by saying, “Everybody wants to know what the punishment is. Well, the players know what the punishment is,” Smart said while attending SEC spring meetings. “And that’s important for our guys to acknowledge that and understand it. But I want to educate further, I want to make sure they understand.” If the players are truly getting punished, then why are more and more players getting arrested?
During Smart’s tenure, 11 players have remained on the team despite women reporting violent encounters to the police or the university. This is further proof that the Georgia football program is out of control and needs to be punished or at least addressed by the NCAA.
This is very concerning for the University and the football program as a whole. It makes me wonder about how parents of recruits view the program and how they will view Coach Smart moving forward.
Will this hurt the Georgia Program?
Will this hurt recruiting?
Does this hurt the team’s success?
If the Georgia culture does not change, we will continue to see more allegations pop up and more people will get hurt.
Main Image: Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK
