Smart: Staff has ‘total control’ of Bulldogs
ATHENS, Ga.– For the 2nd time in as many weeks, Georgia coach Kirby Smart defended the culture of his program and said he and his personnel have “total control” of his players.Speaking to press reporters at a news conference ahead of the start of spring practice Tuesday, Smart was consistently inquired about what his program was doing in the wake of a Jan. 15 auto accident that killed offending lineman Devin Willock and hiring staffer Chandler LeCroy.Police declare that LeCroy was racing an SUV driven by former Bulldogs defensive deal with Jalen Carter when LeCroy crashed. Cops said LeCroy was driving 104 miles per hour when the lorry she was driving, an SUV rented by the Georgia sports department for recruiting purposes, left the road and struck 2 power poles and several trees. According to authorities, LeCroy had a blood alcohol concentration of.197, about 2 1/2 times the legal limitation in Georgia.”Absolutely, we’ve got total control of our program and our kids in our program, “Smart said.” Do kids make mistakes? Yes, young student-athletes make errors. They do. It takes place all across the nation. It happens here. There’s no absence of control for our program. “I think our kids will tell you we have an unbelievable culture here.
We have a connective tissue that brings our group together. However our men do make mistakes. That’s traditionally probably going to happen when you’re 18 to 22 years old. Our task as coaches is to prevent that from happening, which starts with me. You do that by how you educate your players and how you discipline them, and we’ll continue to do that at a high requirement.”Willock, an offensive lineman from New Jersey, was ejected from the automobile and died at the scene. He was sitting behind LeCroy and wasn’t wearing a seat belt. LeCroy was transported to a medical facility by ambulance and passed away as an outcome of her injuries.Former Georgia player Warren McClendon and another female staffer, Tory Bowles,
were injured but survived.Carter, who is thought about a prospective top-10 choice in April’s NFL draft, was jailed March 1.
He faces misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and racing. Linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson, a Butkus Award finalist in 2022, was detained last month on the same charges in a different alleged racing occurrence on Jan. 10, the day after the Bulldogs defeated TCU to win their second straight national championship.”I think our players are beginning to acknowledge and understand that when you make mistakes, the decisions are expensive,”Smart stated.
“They can cost you your life, which’s not to be ignored. I believe our men comprehend that, and we’ll continue to educate them. We’ll continue to do all we can at the university to make sure they behave in the appropriate way.”Smart informed ESPN on March 3 that his program generated officers from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department and UGA Police Department to inform his players about the risks of street racing.” I’ve never ever been part of a program where [racing] was something you had to repeatedly deal with,”Smart stated.
“You have to do a terrific task of ensuring your players understand the threats and dangers that are out there. With lorries, specifically nowadays that go actually quick, we have actually got to be very careful.”