re: More reckless driving/racing arrests

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is that high? Is it average? Is it below average?

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It's a valid question, but the problem is there's no way to know. Major universities carry a lot of weight in their local economy and thus local government. College football programs carry a lot of weight in their university and in the local economy/government. Local news media are heavily dependent on the local economy. Local law enforcement is subject to political pressures. Yet we have some in this thread claiming that "If other programs had this same issue I guarantee we’d all know about it." It's as if they live in a world where power, money, law enforcement, media and corruption are not inextricably linked.

What we do know is that if UGA is an isolated program with this issue, as has been claimed in this thread, then it is an extreme statistical outlier. Virtually impossible for that to be a random event. Could it be that UGA recruits different players than anyone else? Also virtually impossible, IMO.

That leaves one conclusion for me; the folks claiming that Georgia is an outlier are saying that we have a Kirby Smart problem. Since this is ostensibly a Georgia fan board, I'd like for these folks to be honest about that and reveal their solution. If anonymous posters are gonna join the "UGA culture" critics, parrot the AJC line and bring their histrionic anti-UGA graphics to this board, it raises questions about their reason for being here.

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So you now hope players are kicked off, eh? True colors...

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If it helps prevent this from happening in the future, why is kicking players off a bad thing?

This is clearly an issue within the program that needs to stop.

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Chuck

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An Auburn grad who was the reporter who made Richt throw a coke can after the 2012 loss to Bama with the "Why can't Murray win the Big Game?" question.

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And he very nearly lost his job over it.

I know someone on twitter was researching it, I saw Oklahoma State had 39 over that time frame. He wasn’t a UGA fan he just decided to go after Brandon Walker’s podcast for making a huge graphic without any research

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I don’t know if TikTok is causing it nor do I really care

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Tik Tok is ubiquitous. So I'll repeat my point in this whole thread. Do you think this is only an "issue" at UGA? If so, be specific about the cause. The first step to resolving a problem is identifying the cause. I'm highly confident that it's a systemic issue. If Kirby draws a drastic line in the sand, he'll kill the program because the behavior will continue to repeat. That's exactly what our rivals want; either force Kirby out or make him destroy the program. They don't give a crap about the actual "issue".

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If you think racing isn’t an issue within our program you’re not paying attention.

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I think disregard for the traffic rules is a systemic issue in this country and it's getting worse. Street takeovers, racing, motorbike gangs, 4 wheelers, reckless driving, speeding, DUI (especially marijuana). 16-29 yo males are the demographic that are the biggest offenders. And I'd wager a large sum that 17-22 yo males who can afford a muscle car are the absolute biggest offenders when it comes to excessive speeding. If you think this is a UGA "issue", you're not paying attention.

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I also dngaf if other programs have more arrests than us. We should not be holding ourselves to the standard of not being the worst program in all of FBS. We should expect our players to at the very minimum not go 30+ over the speed limit any more.

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Okay, I understand now. You want UGA to set the standard for regulating what is a system problem. Not through education, just send them somewhere else. You essentially want Kirby to recruit someone other than college aged male football players, or just kick a high percentage off the team every year. In other words, destroy the football program so you won't be embarrassed because an 18 yo drove 30 miles over the speed limit.

Is it only a UGA issue? No.

But if it is an issue here, and it absolutely is, why would we not try and do everything we can to correct that?

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I was 18 not that long ago, and I literally don’t know anyone personally with a racing-related offense that I am aware of.

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How many 18 year olds do you know who make several hundred thousand dollars a year? Did you make that kind of money at age 18? I got several speeding tickets in my late teens and I quickly figured out that I couldn't afford to continue driving that way. Many of these young athletes make way more than most adults and expect a high income stream in the future. They don't face the normal disincentives that a normal young person faces, or at least used to face, for ignoring the traffic laws.

If the country wanted to address the problem of egregious driving offenses, it could be done quickly. Suspend licenses, confiscate vehicles for offenses like DUI or racing. Mandatory jail time for driving without a license. Instead of getting tougher, the laws have been watered down so that most high risk drivers continue to get insurance and drive, sometimes even using govt programs that help them pay the costs of their bad driving.

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I refuse to believe that 18-22 year old dudes are so categorically dumb that cracking down on racing-related offenses would destroy the program.

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Kirby Smart apparently believes that zero tolerance, even for DUI or racing, will have negative consequences. I believe that too. Kirby is trying very hard to solve this problem, but he hasn't started using wholesale dismissals for a reason. If he thought that would solve the problem, I think he'd have already done it. Maybe he'll start now, but it will have consequences. And the problem will continue, because the causes are systemic and young people do not learn from the mistakes of their predecessors.

If UGA adopts a zero tolerance policy for speeding, or racing, or DUI, why would a promising recruit risk their career. What will parents of promising recruits think if Smael Mondon sees his draft prospects slammed because he misses his senior year for driving 75 in a 45 zone? When they see Demello Jones kicked out before he ever suits up, after a first offense?

Parents know that their teenagers will make bad decisions, because that's what young people do. Other coaches will tell them, come here, we won't sabotage your future like UGA does.

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why would a promising recruit risk their career.

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Idk how many times you've driven 75 in a 45, where the turn and road shoulder etc. are all built for someone going 45mph, but it definitely feels like you're risking your career right there. Idk how many times you've been passed by cars going 30+ over the speed limit either but nobody likes that.

This is different from getting kicked for smoking some weed in your dorm. It's also different from the guy going 42 in a 25 zone.

I'm over defending it, over comparing ourselves to other programs, over saying boys will be boys all that. At a certain point enough is enough and I fully believe this ends when people get kicked out. Someone's already died and don't forget LeCounte's injury riding his scooter.

This is literally the one black mark, the one topic of focus & discipline and these guys are still screwing up 2 years later. That is unacceptable.

hahaha....i was thinking "Man, i wonder where he was....im sure ive done 75 going down......OH...going down past the varsity?!" yikes nvm