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The football program at the University of Georgia already had a culture problem that was impossible to ignore heading into the season, and things have taken yet another turn for the worse after wide receiver Colbie Young was arrested in connection with an alarming incident that allegedly unfolded on Monday night.
The Georgia Bulldogs have been the best college football team in the country over the past few years, but its players have made headlines for all of the wrong reasons time and time again thanks to a string of legal issues that have raised plenty of questions about Kirby Smart’s ability to keep his guys in line.
Prior to the start of the current college football season, at least two dozen people associated with the program had been charged with crimes related to reckless driving or operating a vehicle while under the influence (a number that rose by one more after it began), which doesn’t even include those who’ve been arrested on other charges.
Smart opted to kick wide receiver Rara Thomas off of the team over the summer after he was jailed in connection to a domestic violence issue, and it appears he now has another decision to make now that another guy at that position has met the same fate.
According to ESPN, WR Colbie Young (who spent the past two seasons at Miami before transferring ahead of the current campaign) was booked in Athens-Clarke County Jail on Tuesday morning on charges of battery and assault of an unborn child due to an alleged altercation involving his pregnant ex-girlfriend that transpired shortly after midnight.
A police report documenting the situation asserts Young arrived at the woman’s apartment to discuss their relationship and became aggravated when she answered a phone call during the conversation, saying he grabbed her and proceeded to “squeeze her torso and abdomen very hard.”
The responding officer said he observed bruises that lined up with her account of the events before she was taken to the hospital for treatment, but Young denied he had any role in inflicting the marks.
The wide receiver is innocent until proven guilty, and while there’s only so much Smart can do to monitor the behavior of his players, it’s becoming increasingly clear something needs to change in Athens.