ATHENS — Georgia coach Kirby Smartyet again addressed the issue of reckless driving and its impact on the Georgia program on Tuesday.
Last Thursday, Georgia cornerback Daniel Harris was arrested on five misdemeanor charges, one of which was reckless driving. Per the arrest report, Harris was going 106 miles per hour.
“We continue to have guys make poor decisions, you know? It’s very unfortunate,” Smart said. “I know that our staff, myself, continue to drive home the sensitive nature of it. It’s certainly a deadly speed when you talk about the speed that he was traveling at. You want kids to grow up. You want to treat them like your own kids. You want them to grow up and make good decisions and learn from other’s mistakes. We have guys share, and yeah, we obviously continue to talk to them, but it hasn’t stopped it. We’ve got to find a way to do it.”
Harris traveled with the team to Kentucky but did not play in the game.
Georgia has now had five players arrested since the beginning of March on driving-related charges. Only Harris and running back Trevor Etienne have missed game action, with the latter being suspended for Georgia’s season-opening game against Clemson.
Etienne declined to get into further specifics as far as further punishments for his arrest. But the junior running back did stand in front of the entire team and offer his thoughts on what seems to be a continuous problem for Georgia.
“I mean, yeah, I addressed the team,” Etienne said. “I just tell them all, ‘Use me as an example. You know, it’s not worth it.’ You know, it’s something we want to move forward from and, you know, keep putting our best foot forward and try to avoid those situations.”
The reckless driving arrests come under greater scrutiny at Georgia given the tragic loss of Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy in a car accident in January of 2023. Georgia also had several driving-related arrests last season as well.
It’s been a repeated issue at Georgia that despite the staff’s efforts has not been corrected.
“Our staff has driven into us. We’ve done a bunch of stuff. We’ve talked about it,” outside linebacker Chaz Chambliss said. “We’re just trying to drive it down to, just make the main thing the main thing. There’s no reason to put the team at risk or our standard or our identity.”
Smart did not provide further comment on Harris’ status for the next game for Georgia, only that it was Smart’s decision to not play Harris against Kentucky.
Georgia’s game against Alabama is set for a 7:30 p.m. ET start on ABC.
