It’s becoming a familiar — and unfortunate — narrative. Another Georgia football player gets arrested for reckless driving. Then another. And another. And once again, head coach Kirby Smart is left standing at the podium trying to explain how this keeps happening.
The latest incidents? Sophomore wide receiver Nitro Tuggle was clocked at 107 mph in a 65 mph zone. Just two days earlier, freshman offensive lineman Marques Easley crashed his Dodge Challenger into a residential building after veering off the road. Both were suspended indefinitely.
And yet, ESPN analyst and former Georgia Bulldog David Pollack said this week that there’s simply no solution.
“There is no solution,” Pollack said via On3. “They’re getting fined, which is good… but I promise you Kirby probably would have figured it out [if there was a way].”
Pollack went on to describe how players have turned the Athens Loop into a dangerous racetrack. “From what I understand, I’ve heard a bunch of good stories now about how they’ll basically time themselves going around the loop, which is extremely dangerous,” he said. “Back in the day, we didn’t have these cars because we didn’t have this money. So, mo money mo problems, right?”
To his credit, Pollack acknowledged that Smart and Georgia’s administration have brought in speakers — including police officers and people who’ve lost loved ones — and they’ve pushed for education around driving safety. “It’s not sinking in,” he said. “I don’t understand it but I do understand it… I remember that feeling [of being] untouchable.”
Kirby Smart echoed some of those same frustrations during his press conference last week.
“Yeah, disappointed, obviously, in those two young men and the decision-making process for each one,” Smart said. “It’s not been several months, it’s been several years in terms of defensive driving courses… We’ve had several speakers come in, and we continue to educate and we’re not going to stop at that.”
But at some point, don’t actions need to go further than education?
Let’s be honest here — this isn’t just an occasional problem. According to a report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Georgia football players have been involved in over two dozen driving-related incidents since January 2023. One of those incidents — the crash that killed offensive lineman Devin Willock and staffer Chandler LeCroy — was tragic and should have been a wake-up call.
And yet here we are.
Yes, Smart suspended Tuggle and Easley. But indefinite suspensions are a temporary fix. What would really get a player’s attention? Being kicked off the team. Losing an NIL deal. Facing true consequences that directly impact their football future and financial standing.
Pollack even mentioned it himself: “Fine. Kick them off the team. Suspend them indefinitely. That’s the kind of stuff you can do. Listen, that takes a paycheck away, probably. Take some of that money away and that’s probably a start.”
But then he contradicted that stance by insisting there’s no solution. So which is it?
The reality is, most programs across the country don’t deal with this volume of driving-related arrests. Sure, you’ll get the occasional DUI or traffic violation at schools like Alabama, Ohio State, or Michigan. But not like this. Not a recurring pattern year after year. This is becoming a Georgia problem — and it’s not just bad optics, it’s putting lives at risk.
Of course, the players making these decisions are young adults. And yes, young people do dumb things. But if the same dumb decisions keep getting made in the same program, over and over, it’s no longer just a player issue. It’s a culture issue.
Georgia has every resource imaginable. National championships. Top recruiting classes. Millions in NIL. And yet, it seems like when it comes to discipline, they’re still trying to figure it out.
It’s time to stop acting like there’s nothing that can be done. There is. It just might require doing something drastic — something unpopular — to finally get the message through.