The only thing that is going to stop the Georgia football program from achieving all it can is the Georgia football program itself. For as synonymous as winning has been to the Kirby Smart era of Georgia football, a close second would be many of its players, past and present, loving to put the pedal to the metal. This cost the lives of Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy back in January 2023.
So while Georgia continues to be a national punching bag over reckless driving, it seems as though Smart has finally had enough of the nonsense. Georgia has suspended wide receiver Nitro Tuggle and offensive lineman Marques Easley indefinitely for excessive speeding and reckless driving. Athens-Clarke County loves to target the Georgia student body, but at some point, just stay home!
UGA Sports Communication released the following message about Tuggle and Easley's suspensions.
“Nitro Tuggle and Marques Easley have been suspended indefinitely from all team activities. There will be no further comment.”
This has been an issue for years in Athens. Here is what Smart had to say about it at SEC Media Days.
“As far as I know, there’s not one team that has ever suspended a player for a traffic violation. That’s what Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint got suspended for. I don’t know that anybody has kicked anybody off the team for that, and we have that. We’re going to continue to be proactive. It’s repeated behaviors that will get you dismissed. Repeated poor behaviors and poor decisions. In some cases we have repeated behaviors. In some cases, we have guys that make mistakes. We’re gonna punish them.”
With Tuggle and Easley being suspended, Georgia may finally put this nuisance of an issue to bed.
Kirby Smart finally suspends two Georgia players for reckless driving
Hopefully, this is the last time I have to write this. I went to school here. Anyone who has would probably agree with me that it is different when interacting with the Athens-Clarke County Police. It is almost like they hate the fact the University of Georgia is in its jurisdiction. This runs counter to the whole reason why Athens, Georgia even exists. It is a great college town because it is a college town!
That being said, excessive speeding is what jackasses do on the freeway. This is not just Georgia football culture, but in athlete culture in general. When people feel they have a nice car, they like to show it off a bit. As the old adage goes, act like you have been in the end zone before. Then again, college-aged kids are just going to do it anyway. You cannot tell the what to do, only offer guidance.
Heading into the 2025 college football season, Georgia is a borderline lock to make the 12-team College Football Playoff again. I would not put the Dawgs in the same group of teams like Ohio State, Penn State, Texas, and maybe even Clemson now, as being 100 percent locks to make the tournament. Georgia has a tough schedule, but it will have the roster to win around 10 games again.
All we can hope for is Georgia gets back to basics and continues to play like the champions they are.