By Rock Westfall
Georgia RB Trevor Etienne was arrested early Sunday morning for DUI and reckless driving. His probable one-game suspension adds to the increasingly lawless image of coach Kirby Smart’s Georgia program. Georgia continues to play with a fire that is reminiscent of Florida’s Urban Meyer era.
Etienne Makes a Horrible Bet, Yet Wins
According to a police report released Tuesday morning, Trevor Etienne was charged with four misdemeanor driving charges. Etienne declined a sobriety test and was going about 80-90 mph in a 50 mph limit zone, passing cars in the process.
Driving-related offenses have been a major issue for Georgia during Smart’s tenure. In fact, there have been over 300 driving offenses since Smart took over the program.
Previously, Football team members who have been arrested on such charges have been suspended for games. However, Smart has not confirmed those suspensions until after the games, but he came close to doing so on Tuesday.
Georgia policy calls for a 10 percent of the schedule suspension for players arrested on DUI. In Etienne’s case, that should amount to one game, the season opener against Clemson. Georgia won’t commit to anything until the legal process plays out. But words such as “consequences” have been tossed out in appeasement attempts. This normally means there won’t be much in the way of consequences at all.
The potential for such a seemingly light punishment has ignited disgust. Georgia’s already disgusting reputation for being lax with off-field discipline is further enhanced.
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Trevor Etienne lucked out by only getting arrested. He could have killed an innocent person. Ironically, by harming no one, it was the luckiest night of his life. And since he plays at Georgia, he is likely to parlay his good fortune into a profit.
Georgia RB Trevor Etienne was arrested at 5:27 a.m. and charged with DUI, reckless driving, affixing materials that reduce visibility of windows/windshield, failure to maintain lane/improper driving on the road. He has posted $1,883 bond according to Athens-Clarke County records
— Barrett Sallee 🇺🇸 (@BarrettSallee) March 24, 2024
Kirby Not Smart to Say “We Do it Better Than Anyone in the Country”
Kirby Smart held a Tuesday press conference that touched on the Etienne incident and Georgia’s efforts to curtail such problems. Smart called Etienne a “great kid, great person” and subsequently played the tiresome youth card by saying that “kids sometimes don’t make the best decisions.”
And then came the most ironic and asinine tone-deaf mic-drop comment that Smart possibly could have made. Smart said that he discusses potential solutions with other programs across the nation and that at Georgia, “We do it better than anyone in the country.”
Seriously. Smart said that with a straight face.
Right now, no objective person wants to hear any more of it. Georgia fans would never tolerate equivalent failures on the football field or Smart trying to explain them away with examples of his efforts before the lost games.
Big-time college football is all about results. Few get more results on the field than Kirby Smart. However, his results off the field are an absolute failure. And if his results off the field were judged on an equivalent level to his on-field success, Kirby Smart would have been fired by now.
Does an Innocent Outsider Have to Die? Where is the Fear Factor?
Previously, Smart has told the media about all of the meetings that his program holds discussing the dangers of reckless driving, including former NFL receiver Donte Stallworth talking to the Bulldogs about how his drunk driving resulted in the death of a pedestrian in 2009. Those are commendable efforts. But the results are lacking.
Nobody accepts it when a coach says his team prepared and practiced well following a lost game. So why should it be different off the field?
Kirby Smart has indeed invested time and resources in addressing his program’s inability to stay out of the fast lane. But the off-field losses are mounting, and the perpetual failures call for a change in tactics.
The only reasonable explanation for the lack of off-field success is that Georgia players do not fear the consequences of their actions. If there were a fear factor, there would almost certainly be more thoughtfulness and consideration by Georgia players when they get behind the wheel. The results show that players are not afraid to take reckless risks. They don’t fear consequential punishment.
Georgia lost two of its own on January 15, 2023, when offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy were killed in a wreck that involved alcohol and speeding. Yet AFTER that tragedy, there were at least 15 speeding or reckless driving offenses committed by Georgia football players.
Is it going to have to take, God Forbid, the death of an innocent outsider from the football program for Smart and Georgia to get their minds right? Or would that even register?
The wonders never cease.
Xavier Truss wearing 77 in honor of Devin Willock pic.twitter.com/Cdgn3wMtBz
— Jed May (@JedMay_) September 2, 2023
Is Georgia a Sequal to the Urban Meyer Era Florida Gators?
Consider Georgia’s previous incidents and allegations of bar room brawls, sexual assault, domestic abuse, and weapons on campus. Hence, you have a program that is beginning to resemble Urban Meyer’s reign of terror at the University of Florida. The football father of Aaron Hernandez essentially oversaw the transformation of Gainesville, Florida, into “Gangsville.” There were over 30 arrests under Meyer’s watch. Many of them were for violent offenses.
Literally all I want for Christmas is a 30 for 30 on the 2008 Gators…
– Urban Meyer
– Tim Tebow
– Cam Newton
– Aaron Hernandez
– Percy Harvin
– Riley Cooper
– Joe Haden
– Janoris Jenkins
– Both Pouncey Bros pic.twitter.com/DtbZLh7dXX— TPS (@TotalProSports) December 16, 2021
When Florida was winning championships, the off-field problems were brushed aside. Times were great, and everyone was eating it up. Florida was the capital of college football glory.
With the off-field issues mounting, Meyer began to crack. As then-Florida offensive lineman David Young said, “He couldn’t take the heat—that’s all that was. He wanted to hand the job off and get out of there.”
Following an 8-5 season (4-4 in the SEC), Meyer resigned in 2010 after reneging on a 2009 resignation. He left with shattered nerves and under severe national criticism.
Florida has never recovered from the Meyer Football Crime Family era. Yes, Meyer won two national championships but left a badly damaged program that his successor, Will Muschamp, was forced to clean up, at great cost to Muschamp’s aspirations and career.
At its peak, Florida fans never saw such a downfall coming. But it came. Georgia fans would be wise to study the history of their hated rival. And Kirby had better get Smart about the dangers of having a lawless off-field reputation.
The time has come for the iron fist at Georgia. Even in the win-at-all-costs world of college football, there is only so far anyone can push the needle.
May nobody lose their life in the process. Nobody should have to die in order for Georgia to see the light.
Reading up on Aaron Hernandez’s time in Gainesville. Apparently Urban Meyer’s program was known to put healthy Florida players in walking boots to cover for disciplinary suspensions.
Keep in mind Meyer would later teach leadership classes at Ohio State… pic.twitter.com/mOXpnc6jYr
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) January 18, 2020
