In case you missed the news that dropped Tuesday morning, Georgia wide receiver Colbie Young was arrested on one misdemeanor count of battery and one count of assault on an unborn child.
This situation is very sad based on the allegstions alone, but looking at things on a grander scale it’s another bad legal incident going on in the Georgia football program. This has become all too common within the program as I’ve honestly lost count regarding the amount of legal issues that have occurred in the program this year.
The fanbase is becoming restless as they hope to get back to focusing on just football and Kirby Smart is also becoming increasingly concerned with the state of his program.
Smart spoke with the media on Tuesday and discussed the Young news and unfortunately he wasn’t able to give an update at this time.
"I know you guys want to know about Colbie and want to ask about it. It is a pending legal matter and I do not have any answers right now. I have not even had a chance to talk to him yet. So I cannot answer any questions about it right now."Kirby Smart
Even though Smart doesn’t have an update to share regarding the arrest, he did have a lot to say on how he and his staff are handling things.
"I certainly recognize we have got to do a better job, but it is hard. It is hard on our staff because we have really good kids. We have really good people, man."Kirby Smart
I don’t mean to downplay the situation surrounding Young at all because that is obviously extremely important on its own, but once this situation is resolved Smart and his staff need to figure out a better way to help their team. And those changes should actually probably start as soon as today.
Smart knows that he has to do better to help these men be better representations of the University and football program, and it sounds like that is exactly what we can expect going forward.
"You just want them to make better decisions as men off the field. And, you know, I take a lot of responsibility for that. It is tough, but that is the cost of leadership. You are going to be judged by the people you lead and you have to stand up and face it and do right by the kids and keep trying to find a better way."Kirby Smart
I hope we see a decrease (if not elimination) in the amount of legal incidents in the program. Obviously that is just an all around better thing for the team and society as a whole, but I think I can speak for everyone in the fanbase that we want to get back to watching Georgia football. We don’t want or need this off the field stuff, all we want is to watch the Bulldogs play (and win) on Saturdays.
I hope we get back to that very soon.