It's an all-too-familiar story for Georgia fans at this point. Two more Georgia football players were arrested on a variety of vehicular charges and have been suspended indefinitely.
This adds to the total of more than 20 traffic-related arrests and incidents since January 2023, when offensive lineman Devin Willock and UGA staffer Chandler LeCroy were killed in a car accident - a trend Kirby Smart was hoping would end this year.
But Nitro Tuggle's and Marques Easley's arrests prove It may be time for Kirby Smart to take off the kid gloves and take a hardline approach to punish his players who choose to do dumb things behind the wheel.
This is not an indictment of Smart by any means. The Georgia head football coach has preached, yelled, and pleaded with his players not to engage in any kind of reckless driving or driving under the influence. He has suspended and disciplined players as means of curtailing the rash of incidents, to no avail.
Kirby Smart has to put people over the program
It might be time for Smart to take a zero-tolerance stance and remind these young men that playing football for Georgia is a privilege - and it's one that can be quickly taken away.
The simple statement of any player being arrested and charged with any traffic-related offenses beyond a parking ticket will result in his immediate dismissal from the team - backing that up with action to prove he's not making idle threats - will quickly bring a halt to this dangerous problem.
Could a measure like this potentially cost Georgia an important player and have a negative effect on the season? Without question, yes, but caring about these players' lives and well-being, as well as other people on the road, needs to be at the forefront of Kirby Smart's thinking.
It's not that the arrests and incidents are just a bad look for the program, they are -- as proven in the tragic case of Willock and LeCroy -- a danger to human life, and eventually an incident could take the life of an innocent bystander or another driver.
Georgia recruits good kids, for the most part. But the exuberance of youth can become like a drug of its own, and the guidance and tough love of a powerful football coach like Kirby Smart may be exactly what's needed to bring a kid back down to earth and teach him to make better choices.
Nobody wants to see players dismissed from the Georgia football program, but better to see them playing football somewhere else than Kirby Smart having to attend a trial or memorial service. The deaths this school has already endured are enough.