The AJC sure has decided to go all in on Georgia Football off field stuff this summer

quote:

---

In a single weekend, a 16-year-old University of Georgia football recruit broke curfew, drank with potential teammates in an Athens bar and ended up in a police station, under investigation for sexual assault.

Georgia signed him, anyway.

The school’s response to Jamaal Jarrett’s misadventures during a campus visit last year illustrates how its national-champion football program rallies to support athletes accused of abusing women, an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows. In case after case, the newspaper found, strong on-field performance appears to excuse bad off-field behavior.

When a top defensive player was jailed on a rape charge, head coach Kirby Smart let eight players go to court to seek their teammate’s release, the player’s lawyer said. This show of solidarity occurred even though the alleged victim worked part time for the football program.

A player charged with recording a sex act with an unconscious woman remained on the roster for a full season until he transferred. Others have stayed with the team while accused of transgressions that ranged from threatening or attacking their girlfriends to sexual assault.

In Jarrett’s case, previously unreported, a team official appeared at the hotel where the incident occurred and spoke with police officers minutes after the accuser called 911 to report a sexual assault. The official later sat with Jarrett during a remarkably friendly interrogation at the Athens police headquarters, where the detective investigating the sexual assault allegation spoke of “my beloved Bulldogs.”

The detective eventually decided not to charge Jarrett. By then, a month had passed since the defensive lineman had accepted Georgia’s offer of a football scholarship.

The football program’s handling of sexual and domestic violence allegations emerged in a review of dozens of court cases and police investigations. The Journal-Constitution identified 11 players during Smart’s tenure who remained with the team after women reported violent encounters to the police, to the university, or to both. In some instances, particularly those involving domestic violence, the police either filed no charges or prosecutors allowed players to plead guilty to lesser charges.


The exact number of accusations involving Georgia players is unknown. Many cases result in no police investigation, but rather are handled through a confidential campus disciplinary system.

---