ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia head coach Kirby Smart once again defended the culture of his football program in the wake of players’ arrests for reckless driving and a crash that killed a player and a football staff member.
Channel 2′s Alison Mastrangelo is in Athens where Smart and the Bulldogs are expected to open spring practices this week.
Smart acknowledged that Georgia student-athletes haven’t met some of the expectations that are required but they are working to educate the players. He denied a lack of control and cultural problem at UGA.
“We got complete control of our program and our kids in our program. Do kids make mistakes? Yes. Young student-athletes make mistakes. They do. It happens all across the country. It happens here. There’s no lack of control for our program,” Smart said.
Coach Smart says he’s never been apart of a program that speeding was something they had to constantly address. Mentions they had a meeting with Athens police about drag racing this summer …
— Alison Mastrangelo (@AlisonWSB) March 14, 2023
He said education is not enough - we need to educate the players to understand the risk. pic.twitter.com/iWoJRsluon
Tuesday marked the first time that Smart has met with local media since the arrests of two players for reckless driving and a crash that killed offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy.
Athens-Clarke County police arrested and charged UGA football standout Jalen Carter with misdemeanor street racing and reckless driving in connection to the crash.
They say Carter was racing LeCroy’s vehicle when she crashed in January. Police also say LeCroy was driving her vehicle at 104 MPH and had a blood alcohol level of .197, which is more than twice the legal limit, at the time of the crash.
Body camera footage from a couple of months before the January crash showed Carter being pulled over by an Athens-Clarke County officer while going 89 MPH in a 45 MPH zone. The officer can be heard pleading Carter to slow down and saying he had pulled over several UGA football players over the last few weeks.
In February, linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson was arrested and charged with reckless driving in connection to alleged street racing on Jan. 10.
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Smart said on Tuesday that his program had brought in Athens-Clarke police and UGA police over the summer to address drag racing and other issues like drugs, alcohol and domestic violence.
“We played some video of things going on in Atlanta with drag racing and things that just concern you,” Smart said.
“We try to have education programs, but education is not enough. You have to do a great job of making sure your players understand the risk and dangers that are out there with vehicles especially nowadays that go really fast. "
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