Georgia Bulldogs
Threepeat?
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
How many Georgia fans remember the 1980 jokes?
Kirby Smart is entering his 8th season as the king of the bulldog nation. With an 81-15 overall record that includes 2-SEC Titles and 2- back-to-back National Titles.
Georgia currently is the premier football program in the country and the consensus preseason number one team in the country.
Years of consistent top 3 recruiting classes are paying off now for the program as UGA has become a major pipeline for the NFL.
Carson Beck has won the starting QB job and looks to have a breakout season. Beck has patiently waited his turn in the transfer portal era, and it should pay off for him.
The offensive line is the best in the country. The WR room is the best the program has ever seen, and then you have TE Brock Bowers who just may be the best player in the country.
The RB room is banged up and must get healthy by the South Carolina game on 9/16.
On defense, two words Kirby Smart. As long as Kirby is running things in Athens then UGA will be elite on defense.
Let’s look at the schedule with my predictions:
Sat, Sep 2 vs UT Martin: UGA a lot and UT Martin a little. 1-0
Sat, Sep 9 vs Ball State: Thanks SEC for canceling the Oklahoma game and making UGA scramble for a replacement. UGA 49-10. 2-0
Sat, Sep 16 vs South Carolina: UGA is the last team to beat UGA in Athens back in 2019. The country will be hyping Carolina in this one, but UGA will look like a national champion contender in this contest and win 35-17 to go to 3-0.
Sat, Sep 23 vs UAB: UGA tunes up for Auburn 42-17 to go to 4-0 on the season.
Sat, Sep 30 @ Auburn: Auburn has rebuilt their roster in 2023 through the transfer portal. I have already seen the pundits attempting to call for an upset here. Hugh Freeze will be a problem for UGA while he is at Auburn. He is already turning Auburn around on the recruiting trail. UGA’s next trip to Auburn in 2025 will be a monster game, but Auburn is not there yet in 2023. UGA wins 31-17 to go to 5-0.
Sat, Oct 7 vs Kentucky: UK has won once in Athens in 45 years, and they play annually. Not happening. UGA 27-14 to go to 6-0.
Sat, Oct 14 @ Vanderbilt: Last two years combined score is UGA 117-0. 7-0 going into the bye week.
Sat, Oct 28* @ Florida: Florida is another school that is in rebuild mode. Billy Napier has a top five recruiting class in the works for 2024. Florida will be a lot better on defense, but offensively the Gators aren’t there yet. UGA goes to 8-0 with a 35-21 win over Florida. I’ll be in Jacksonville for the festivities.
Sat, Nov 4 vs Missouri: I’m putting UGA on upset alert here. Mizzou is sandwiched in a tough back end of the schedule for UGA. I’m worried about this one as Missouri could be a top 3 team in the SEC East. UGA wis 24-20 to go to 9-0.
Sat, Nov 11 vs (22) Ole Miss: Lane coming to Athens will have Kirby’s full attention. UGA wins 42-24 to go to 10-0 on the season.
Sat, Nov 18 @ (12) Tennessee: Ok Tennessee you have been beating your gums all off season about this contest. Joe Milton is the most hyped QB in the country. Vol fans conveniently forget that Milton was the starter two years ago and lost his job to Hendon Hooker. I’m not buying the hype and Tennessee is not better than UGA on both lines of scrimmage. UT has been horrible in the secondary as well. Statement game for UGA as they beat Tennessee 34-20 to go to 11-0.
Sat, Nov 25 @ Georgia Tech: UGA has not lost in Atlanta since 1999 and will not in 2023. UGA wins 45-24. 12-0.
Regular season 12-0 and favored to win SEC and National title for the 3rd consecutive year in the playoff era. Enjoy the mountain top UGA fans.
Benefit Of The Doubt
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It was hardly the kind of news that moved the recruiting world: Late last week, Nnamdi Ogboko, a nose tackle from Garner, N.C., committed to Georgia.
Ogboko is a three-star prospect and the 94th-ranked nose tackle. His overall national rank is 934th.
Hmm. A three-star nose tackle from North Carolina committing to Georgia? Is there any precedent for that?
Ogboko’s commitment reinforced how much Kirby Smart and his staff have earned the benefit of the doubt.
The Georgia recruiting colossus was built, not just on five-star prospects (and there have been plenty), but on the likes of Jordan Davis (same background as Ogboko), Ladd McConkey (three-star prospect ranked in the 1,000s of his class) and Stetson Bennett (his story is well known).
These solid-but-not-star role playing recruits are an area of need, and so far defensive line coach Tray Scott is coming through. (There’s a reason he’s a position coach earning $1 million.)
In early June, Jordan Thomas and Justin Greene gave the program two four-star commits, and since then, Quintavius Johnson and Ogboko have been added. (Johnson could end up playing more on the edge than the traditional defensive line.)
The hallmark of the Smart era has been a blend of winning big recruiting battles, trusting the coaches’ evaluations and developing.
As the 2024 class takes shape — and things are far along — Georgia again seems to be combining the usual array of blue-chip players with lesser-heralded players like Ogboko.
There may be two national championship trophies in the building pulling in top talent, but the formula is staying consistent. Some thoughts on where things stand at this point:
There are 21 commitments — one reason the class is ranked No. 1 in the 247Sports Composite. (It measures quality as well as quantity.)
So far, the only power conference teams with more commitments were Stanford (24) and Michigan and Minnesota (23 each).
Among those hanging back is Alabama, with only eight commitments — one reason it’s only ranked 28th. But both those numbers will improve before December.
Ohio State, another program that regularly competes for the top ranking, has 16 commitments and is ranked second.
Dylan Raiola, the top overall recruit in the country, is now technically an in-state commit for Georgia, after deciding to play his senior year at Buford High, about 50 miles from Athens.
Meanwhile, Ryan Puglisi is giving all outward signs he’s holding on to his commitment. The four-star player from Avon, Conn., committed to Georgia in October, and Smart and Bobo seem eager to keep him in the fold despite Raiola’s addition.
Only two offensive linemen are committed to UGA: three-star players Marcus Harrison (Hamburg, N.Y.) and Malachi Toliver (Cartersville, Ga.). That means there’s room to add.
Returning to the size of the class, Georgia is in a good position. Why? Signing limits don’t exist anymore. Other schools can’t recruit against it and say, “Look, Georgia is already at the 25-man limit.”
Schools only need to be under the 85-scholarship limit, and Georgia can tell recruits — as can any school — that it expects attrition after the season, either via the portal or the NFL Draft. Things are changing in the NCAA.
There’s still time for subtractions and additions to Georgia’s list. Kirby has established himself as an ALPHA recruiter.
If You Build It…
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Nobody cares about other sports. It’s all about football.
As long as football is going well, the money is rolling in, the fans are happy, and the athletic department has money to count it will be that way. Because (financially) nobody cares about other sports.
Georgia, like every SEC program, has a lot of money coming in every year, and the football program’s success means donations are high. But that’s football money, so there’s only so much of it that’s going to be redirected to other sports.
The public perception of an AD still revolves largely around coaching hires. Josh Brooks inherited his most high-profile one: Kirby Smart, who will be at Georgia for a long time.
The football program basically runs itself, with Smart overseeing a staff of about 150 coaches, trainers, student assistants and other staffers.
Athletic Director Brooks still oversees the program, but he knows he can devote more time to the other 20 sports under his purview.
Here’s a look at other UGA programs getting shafted when it comes to spending:
Stegeman Coliseum had to be closed this spring because of a roofing error, it was suggested by staff and directors for the school to build a new arena.
The final decision was fixing the roof and continuing renovations to the arena. Stegeman Coliseum houses men and women’s basketball, gymnastics, and volleyball.
Similarly, UGA decided on renovations for Foley Field, rather than building a new stadium for the baseball team.
Contrarily, the track program is getting a new facility, or at least the process has begun to build it near the softball and soccer complexes, off Milledge Avenue.
That decision is not about favoring track. Brooks said, “it’s about what makes the most sense”, pointing to the track program having a small space in its current area, which eventually will become a practice field for football.
Georgia has long seemed to need a master plan for facilities instead of jumping from project to project and wasting money. Witness the millions spent in 2010 on a small-scale indoor facility for football, knocked down five years later to build a bigger one.
An official master plan has not been released. Brooks said he has been hesitant to release the plan to remain flexible to change.
With NIL becoming the new wave, donations for facilities may be dwindling. In Georgia’s case, they have their major football projects checked off, just in time.
Georgia wanted to be successful in football and they are now the two-time National Champs. But, that price came with every other program on campus practicing and playing in substandard facilities.
Put it On The Calendar
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
One of the most anticipated days in recent memory in SEC football history happened this month with the 2024 SEC football schedule release.
Oklahoma and Texas officially join the SEC on July 1, 2024. Now we know who everyone will play in the 2024 campaign. The 8-game conference slate has some great matchups for 2024. Let us look at the UGA 2024 football schedule:
Non-Conference Matchups:
Clemson: Georgia will open the 2024 season with Clemson in Atlanta for a neutral site game. These two schools are about ninety miles apart and Clemson recruits the state of Georgia hard. This will be a great contest with two elite programs meeting in Atlanta. It is quite possible that UGA will come into this contest with a new QB making his first collegiate start.
Georgia Tech: Clean Old-Fashioned Hate. I do not need to say anything else about this rivalry.
2- Cupcakes whose names are not important. They will receive their check and move on.
SEC Road Games:
Texas: Welcome to the SEC Texas. You get rewarded by playing the Georgia Bulldogs.
This will be a highly anticipated match-up. We do not know where this one will fall on the schedule, but I think it will be an early season game in mid-September.
Arch Manning, who chose Texas over UGA in the recruiting process could be the starter for Texas in 2024.
For UGA fans, a road trip to Austin, Texas is a bucket list trip. This writer really wants to make that road trip.
The 2024 UGA team could be rolling into Austin with a new QB and 3-4 new OL making a road start at DKR. Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium. I am looking forward to this contest.
Alabama: The Dawgs travel to Tuscaloosa for a national spotlight game. A regular season contest of the elite programs in the conference currently and a contest that has been the National title game twice in the past five years. Must watch TV.
Kentucky: Kentucky has not beaten UGA since 2009. Winning in Lexington has never been an issue for the Georgia Bulldogs. I will give Kentucky this, they play a physical brand of football. This could end up being a 23-14 type of game.
Ole Miss: Georgia’s last trip to Oxford was in 2016 where they were hammered by the Rebels 45-14. UGA and Ole Miss were annual opponents until SEC changed its scheduling model back after the 2002 season.
From 1966 through 2002 UGA and Ole Miss played every season. UGA leads the series 32-12-1. A trip to The Grove is a must in the SEC. Good to see Ole Miss back on the schedule.
Neutral Site:
Florida in Jacksonville: Under contract in Jacksonville through 2025 this is Georgia’s biggest SEC rival. I would pull for Iran over Florida in a sporting event.
SEC Home Games:
Auburn: I thought this rivalry would be a casualty of the 8-game SEC slate. Thank you, SEC, for keeping the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry intact.
Tennessee: Thank you SEC for keeping the Vols on the schedule. This has become a nasty rivalry since 1992 when the SEC was split into divisions.
Mississippi State: UGA drilled State in Starkville last fall and will drill State in Athens in 2024. Some things never change in the SEC.
Thoughts:
This is one of the toughest schedules in the country in 2024. I do not like losing the South Carolina game. Georgia is Carolina’s biggest SEC rival. I guess with expansion you knew some of these types of games were in jeopardy.
Georgia picks up Alabama, Ole Miss, and Texas and loses South Carolina, Missouri, and Vanderbilt in 2024. Seems about right does it not UGA fans?
A New Home?
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It was announced this week that the Georgia/Florida football game will remain in Jacksonville through the 2025 football season.
The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party has been held in Jacksonville since 1933. The 1994 and 1995 contests were held in Gainesville and Athens due to Jacksonville being granted the Jaguars by the NFL in expansion. The old Gator Bowl was turned into what we now know as TIAA Bank Field.
Both universities released statements below regarding the agreement:
“We are pleased with the decision to exercise the option that will keep the game in Jacksonville for 2024 and 2025,” said UGA J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Josh Brooks, via a release from Georgia.
“We look forward to discussions that I’m sure will continue over the next couple years exploring all the options for 2026 and beyond. We continue to be appreciative of the working relationship we have with the University of Florida and the City of Jacksonville.”
“The City of Jacksonville has been a historic host for one of the greatest rivalry games in all of college football,” Florida Athletics Director Scott Stricklin said. “We are excited to have the game in Jacksonville for another two seasons.”
Where the game will be played beyond 2025 is still unknown. The City of Jacksonville recently announced that TIAA Bank Field will undergo major renovations in 2026 and 2027, which means the Jaguars will play their home games in another venue for those two seasons.
Do not panic Jaguars fans. You are not relocating to London.
Based on that the future beyond 2025 is up in the air. Florida is the designated home team in odd numbered years and will be the home team this season.
With this announcement we know officially that Georgia and Florida will be permanent opponents when the SEC expands in 2024 with the addition of Oklahoma and Texas.
It has pretty much been documented that that would be the case, but the new agreement cements that.
I’m a proponent of always keeping the UGA/UF game in Jacksonville. It is part of SEC tradition. There is a growing movement within the UGA fan base to move the game to a ‘home and home’.
I personally think it is driven by Atlanta metro area Dawg fans that don’t feel as strongly about the game staying in Jacksonville.
You see UGA fans in the Atlanta area can travel to Athens in usually under an hour on gameday, then go back home and sleep in their own beds at night after the contest.
You hear many in the Atlanta area say if not home and home then rotate between Jacksonville and Atlanta and let some of the revenue the game generates benefit the state of Georgia.
Well, the current location in Jacksonville benefits the Golden Isles of Georgia to the tune of $6-$8 million dollars annually for a 3-day weekend in late October. Atlanta already has the SEC Championship game.
South Georgia Dawg fans basically make a weekend of it in Athens for every home UGA game due to travel distance.
And many fans south of Macon are season ticket holders. Think about that for a second.
Economically the game in Jacksonville is a financial windfall for both schools. Playing the series home-and-home would net Florida and Georgia just $1.5 million annually according to The Gainesville Sun, a $3 million shortfall compared to playing in Jacksonville.
Each school would make about $3 million playing games at their respective stadiums, but that revenue would have to extend over a two-year period. Each school receives about $2.9 million dollars each annually by playing in Jacksonville.
Keep the game in Jacksonville. Kirby Smart is the king of college football currently. Recruiting rules can change if the king pushes that narrative so UGA can host recruits in Jacksonville.
There is no experience like the Cocktail Party in Jacksonville on the last weekend in October.
Due to stadium renovations, you could see the Gators in Athens in 2026.
Beck-oned Starter
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton are very much in the competition for QB1.
We hear that Vandagriff’s performance on G-Day was hurt by a few dropped balls. What fans saw, however, was clear.
Carson Beck is Georgia’s starting quarterback this upcoming season!
That does not mean Beck will finish the season there. Nor does it mean Beck has the clutch gene (a la Stetson Bennett) and will be the one to lead Georgia to a third consecutive national championship.
There are necessary caveats. Beck benefited from playing with the first-team offense, which meant he had top skill-position receivers on the offensive line.
What I saw was Beck getting the first five of those drives, producing 24 points while he threw for 211 yards.
Vandagriff went in during the second half, and started off throwing an interception, then leading two more zero-point drives.
Vandagriff seemed a bit tentative on decision-making, which you can afford when you can run.
A strong QB knows that often it is best to get the ball out. Vandagriff’s running ability is alluring; it’s tempting to give him the benefit of the doubt, roll him out there and watch the fun.
At this point, however, Vandagriff’s upside seems outweighed by Beck’s skill set. The downfield throwing ability, his arm, the decision-making; it all looks like it’s there for Beck, and Vandagriff appears more as a high risk-high reward stock option.
If there is legitimate concern about Beck, it’s whether he has matured enough from his first two seasons, when by his own admission he needed to mature.
On the field, he didn’t know the system well enough and did not work hard enough to know it. Off the field, he missed a few too many classes or study halls.
Saturday’s game was also an example of how Beck has matured as a quarterback. He wasn’t out there showing off his arm. He was excelling in touch and timing passes. He was calm and confident in the pocket.
That does not mean Beck will prove the right choice in games to come. The flaws that were there a few years ago might not have gone away.
At some point, coaches must go with what you see. None of the three quarterbacks has proved themselves in a real game. Often coaches don’t know what they have until the games begin.
Georgia does have three good options. This is not 2015 when the team finished spring not sure the right guy was on campus and went out and imported its eventual starter.
This year is a classic, pre-portal-era quarterback situation where three veterans who waited their turn and developed are being considered.
Georgia, of all the luxuries it has these days, enjoys being able to pick a quarterback who has waited and developed.
And after the Spring Game, it seems pretty clear which one has developed the most.
G-Day
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Georgia Bulldogs played their annual G-day Spring Game earlier in the month.
The Red team beat the Black team by a score of 31-26. Arian Smith scored two touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving. Carson Beck got the start at quarterback and certainly looked like a starting quarterback as he finished 13-18 for 211 yards and a touchdown on the day.
Great weather was on hand. “Boom” was introduced as the new mascot. One side of the stadium was filled. The home side was closed due to off season upgrades to Sanford Stadium that are under construction.
The 2022 National Champions got their rings. Overall, it was just an enjoyable day for football in Athens, Georgia.
G-Day Thoughts:
1.This is Carson Beck’s team in 2023. He is going to be the man and showed off a rocket arm and carried himself like a seasoned QB.
His body language is confident. This guy has waited his turn and has won the starting QB job for the University of Georgia.
2.Gunner Stockton looked better than Brock Vandagriff. This will be an interesting battle to follow in the fall camp if one does not transfer out before April 30th when the portal closes.
3.The Tight End group is phenomenal. Brock Bowers is picking up right where he left off.
Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie make this the top group in the country at their position.
Could a TE win the Heisman?
4.Roderick Robinson is going to be a beast at RB. Another in the extensive line of great running backs at UGA. He is big at 235 pounds and is fast.
5.The WR group is deep and talented. No Rara Thomas but he is serving some internal discipline, if you read between the lines and will be ready this fall.
6.The offensive line will compete against anyone at anytime and will dominate. Starting unit could be the best in the country.
7.Special teams looked ok. Count me as officially worried about the FG kicker position.
8.Fifty-seven total points combined in a spring game tells me the offense will be purring under Mike Bobo.
Bobo was never a problem at UGA before. His offenses always produce. In those days UGA could not stop a dripping faucet on defense. Kirby has cured that.
9.The first-year defenders are as talented of a group that UGA has ever recruited in one class. The UGA defense will be dominant this fall once again.
10.The schedule suits Carson Beck perfectly this fall. Four straight home games before a road trip against Auburn on September 23rd.
11.Bear Alexander hit the portal. This may hurt on the defensive line. Christen Miller, Jordan Hall, and Jamaal Jarrett looked good on the defensive line which explains some of the rumors on why Bear was looking elsewhere.
12.Kirby stated before the game that he wanted to sling the football all over the field to see where the QB’s were in their development.
UGA has a couple of RB’s injured and they know they can run the football behind that offensive line. Their plan was to work on the passing game and that is what went down.
13.Bullet point thirteen is in honor of Stetson Bennett, who will be the only QB drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft who was a starting QB for a national championship football team.
In fact, he did it on back-to-back occasions. No other QB in the upcoming draft brings those intangibles to the table.
UGA should compete for a third straight national title this fall. Times are good in the Classic City!
Complicated Hero
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Stetson Bennett; the great story, has turned into something more complicated.
For so long he was the folk hero, the former walk-on proving everyone wrong, winning one and then two national championships.
All along there was an edge to him, but it manifested itself in endearing ways, especially to Georgia fans.
mic drop after throwing a touchdown, the telephone signal to taunt Tennessee fans who had lit up his cell phone. And the general competitive spirit that won over the Georgia coaches who kept trying to find another quarterback.
But since winning the second national championship, Bennett’s edges have come out in other ways.
Blowing off the morning-after news conference, being accused of not being warm enough with fans at the championship celebration, a slightly off-key speech at the celebration, then an arrest on a public intoxication charge.
By themselves, none of these put Bennett in red flag territory, but together- they’ve added up to an interesting narrative heading into the draft.
Bennett responded by retreating from public view, dodging interviews and press opportunities all together. He emerged and had a good showing at the NFL combine, as well as a pro day performance that reinforced Bennet’s arm strength, athleticism and accuracy.
Thus, the narrative has flipped: The physical attributes are there, the intangibles are now in question.
This drama-turned-screenplay is still being written. Will the next Act be in the NFL?
Admittedly, that’s a stretch. The idea of Bennett achieving a long NFL career is about as likely as … Well, feel free to ask a new employee of the Baltimore Ravens about doubting the kid from Blackshear, Ga.
Maybe it’s about being the best football player, but plenty else goes into the NFL Draft.
That’s why Bennett has to confront off-field questions. He said there have been “a lot of different questions,” not specifying which ones, but outlining his approach: being honest, and upfront, (NFL teams already know the answers to their questions). They want to see how Bennett, and any prospect in that matter, answers.
There’s a tired routine that’s played in the run-up to the draft: prospects being asked who they’ve met with. Bennett wasn’t asked that, pointing out that those meetings and media coverage is all a game.
Sometimes teams meet multiple times with prospects they have no intention of drafting, creating a smokescreen, then never meet a prospect they do draft until they’re drafted.
So Bennett takes the meetings, but doesn’t read into which team is talking to him, which team has concerns about his intangibles, and which team wants to pick the former walk-on turned folk hero turned complicated NFL prospect.
So, where will Bennett get selected on draft day? His résumé is impressive. He’s a back-to-back national champion. He is the first quarterback in Georgia history to achieve that accomplishment. It was a storybook college career for Bennett, as he grew up a die-hard Georgia fan. But the story may not have a happy ending if the goal is hearing his name early on draft night.
Ranked 10th at quarterback on my draft board, the 25-year-old is the same age or older than several NFL quarterbacks who have been in the league for a few years.
To put it in perspective, Bennett is older than the 24-year-old Jalen Hurts, who just led the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl … in his third NFL season.
That said, I believe Bennett will hear his name called before the NFL draft has concluded. He comes from a winning culture, and NFL teams love to be surrounded by winning.
From all accounts, Bennett would make a great addition to a locker room. On top of that, we know he is not afraid of the big moments should he ever be called upon.
Who knows, maybe Bennett’s legend will continue to grow, and he pulls off the unexpected. It wouldn’t be the first time.
Falling Apart?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Many talent evaluators around the NFL believe Jalen Carter is the best player available in the NFL draft.
Whether he goes first or fifth or somewhere significantly south in the draft depends in large part on whether: 1) He has a significant turnaround from his current physical and mental state , or 2) a team locks onto his raw talent only.
The best version of Jalen Carter was not on display at Georgia’s Pro Day. NFL personnel officials, coaches and media members in attendance saw an overweight Carter huffing and puffing through drills that were set up for defensive linemen. He did not participate in any other skills tests, nor the 40-yard dash.
Carter weighed 323 pounds, that’s 13 pounds heavier than he was listed at during Georgia’s season. It’s also nine pounds heavier than the 314 he weighed at the scouting combine two weeks ago. It was clearly not nine pounds of muscle. He looked flabby. He looked like a risk for any team that decides to hand him a $20 million-plus signing bonus.
After arriving in Indianapolis to undergo physical exams and meet with teams (Carter had already opted out of workouts), the arrest warrant was issued in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. Carter left Indianapolis, turned himself in and was booked and released within hours. Then he returned to the combine and resumed interviews with teams.
No, Carter shouldn’t get brownie points for having to leave the combine in the first place. Yet, he returned when others might have stayed away. Which is an additional point for teams to consider in assessing one of the most intriguing prospects in the draft.
Carter is the most dominant defensive lineman in this draft, who had a viral moment in the SEC Championship Game when he lifted LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels with one arm while throwing up the No. 1 sign with his other hand.
Putting aside Carter’s two misdemeanors, the main questions about Carter that have been out there among pro scouts since during the season related to his consistency and work ethic.
Carter’s Pro Day was not a good look. There already were lingering questions about where Carter might be psychologically after the accident, and how he had handled himself in the suddenly negative spotlight.
All 32 NFL teams attended the Georgia pro day, including Falcons Head Coach Arthur Smith, Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus and General Manager Ryan Poles and Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin and GM Omar Khan.
Carter helped lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships and played at a dominant level despite dealing with knee and ankle injuries.
He has a month before the draft to get into shape and ease concerns. He has a month to realize he is in the midst of a job interview.
Bad Rep
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Star defensive tackle Jalen Carter became the third member of Georgia’s 2022 national championship team to be charged with reckless driving.
A fourth bulldog was charged with a DUI and the fifth was reported to have gone 34 miles over the speed limit at the time of arrest.
In total, nine Georgia players have been arrested in the last 13.5 months.
These arrests don’t have to be blamed on Georgia. There’s nothing that’s come to light that suggests it is. With that being said, these incidents still reflect poorly on the program’s image, as a charge reflects poorly on all five player’s criminal records.
All of these are misdemeanors, but Georgia’s program is at their highest media coverage nationally in the history of college football. The microscope is more zoomed in than ever, and narratives will be longer if these habits continue.
The car crash that took the lives of Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy is a terrible tragedy. The other parts of the story have always seemed irrelevant: I don’t care about staffers socializing with athletes. I don’t care very much about a university car being used. I don’t care that they were at a strip club.
I do care what directly led to the crash. Now, Kirby Smart should talk with his program and take a leadership role in athlete risk aversion.
Smart needs to get a handle on street racing and reckless driving. Police report the cause of the car crash to street racing and reckless driving.
A coach can’t take away anybody’s ability to drive, but they can take away a starting roster position. An athletic director may set an example by suspending or dismissing players for criminal offenses while eligible.
Smart has indubitably built an athletic powerhouse in seven seasons in Athens, going for his third consecutive National Championship next season. However, after their latest title win, the team has been marred with bad morale and criminal news headlines.
The one thing that could bring down Smart and the Bulldogs’ dynasty is legal actions and a criminal reputation. Anybody remember the facelifting SMU and Miami have been doing after their debacles?
University of Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks stated that neither Willock, nor the driver of the car was on “athletic department business” at the time of the accident.
Brooks added that his department “[conducted] a thorough review, in coordination with appropriate legal counsel, to fully understand the circumstances surrounding this tragic event.”
This sounds like Brooks is trying to minimize sue damage. In a wrongful death case involving a motor vehicle accident, it is sometimes possible to hold an employer responsible if their employee’s negligence was responsible for the fatal accident. This is a vicarious liability under Georgia law.
Georgia follows a “comparative fault” standard in all personal injury cases, which includes wrongful death claims. Basically, this means that when the negligence of multiple parties led to an accident, a judge or jury must apportion the blame accordingly. The judge will then reduce the victim’s damages to account for their determined percentage of fault.
Willock’s family has not filed any legal action arising from his death. High-profile accidents like this one often raise a number of questions regarding the law in this area. Dave Willock, who is the father of the late Devin Willock, said that he was not planning a lawsuit at this time.
“Georgia is working with us,” Willock told the AJC. “We have no reason to do that (sue Georgia), because they are compensating us 100 percent.”
I have a feeling that in the near future lawsuits will be filed, but until then, Smart and Georgia’s athletic department have to clean up their public image.
In scenarios like these, a little bit of prevention is worth a whole lot of cure- Georgia got lucky, but it won’t matter if these incidents keep happening.
