Kirby Smart expresses "disappointment" following arrest of Georgia players

Over the years, Georgia coach Kirby Smart has had to deal with repeated issues of reckless driving from his Bulldogs players. One of those incidents culminated in the deaths of a player, Devin Willock and a staffer, Chandler LeCroy, while celebrating after the Bulldogs won the national championship in 2022.

On Thursday, Georgia wide receiver Nitro Tuggle was arrested for reckless driving in Athens and was quickly followed by teammate, Marques Easley who was also arrested on Friday for an accident during which he crashed into a power distribution box and was charged with reckless driving and reckless conduct.

Over the past two years, Smart has had to deal with 24 separate incidents of his players being arrested for various forms of reckless driving and on Wednesday, while speaking to reporters, he addressed the latest arrests. Despite the recurrence of the issue at Georgia, Smart was hesitant to abandon the players to their fates.

“Disappointed, obviously, in those two young men in their decision-making process for each one," Kirby Smart said. "Both of them are younger players that made crucial mistakes. We'll continue to look at these on a case-by-case basis. There's things that surround each one of these outside of just the immediate reaction is, 'How in the world can this happen again?'

"And I get that, but each one is a case-by-case basis. You have to look at as these are your children. That's the way I look at it. I look (at) what I would do with my children and there's 18 to 19 to 20-year-olds. They make mistakes. The consequences that come with those are based on a case-by-case basis. That's really what these two right now are doing."

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Kirby Smart has taken measures to address driving issues

The recurring nature of Georgia Bulldogs players being arrested has put the program and coach Kirby Smart on the spot about the indiscipline plaguing the team. Some fans even compared the high-achieving team and coach Urban Meyer's Florida Gators, who won two national championships but were plagued by arrests of key players.

Smart has taken several measures to curb the reckless driving issue that has plagued his program. Some of the measures include using local law enforcement to speak to his players, withholding NIL payments and educating the players about the consequences of being arrested, which includes suspension and dismissal from the team.

Marques Easley and Nitro Tuggle were immediately suspended from football activities after their highly publicized arrests.