The Athletic's Georgia Bulldogs' beatwriter Seth Emerson joined Dukes & Bell Wednesday to talk about the recent rash of arrests for the program.
Emerson told the guys head coach Kirby Smart is taking the arrests seriously.
“He is not downplaying any of it,” Emerson said. “I think fans may be downplaying it and I see why; they're all misdemeanors. The arrest yesterday was less than an ounce. We just got the police report. It doesn’t appear they were smoking during the day, it was just in their room. But I’ve covered this team when things appeared worse.”
Seth talked about the social media post by Brenton Cox.
“It was deleted, not before a bunch of people screenshotted it,” Emerson said. “You can post whatever you want on social media but people can read into and take it however they want. This will be more about how you respond to it than the actual crime itself.”
When asked about the player leadership on the team...
“Kirby actually said that he thinks the leadership is actually good,” Emerson said. “But what he said is you can’t control what a few people are going to do. He said 90 percent of the people on the team are doing what they are supposed to do. I’m not going to say the leadership on this team is bad and they’re doomed, on the other hand, I’m not going to say it’s great either.”
Seth talked about the policy for marijuana.
“Kirby did not confirm that they will be suspended for the opener,” Emerson said. “The student handbook policy says there is a one-game suspension for marijuana. The policy was tweaked in 2017 for discretion, which allowed Natrez Patrick back on the team. But he did say they have polices and they will adhere to them.”
Emerson told the guys Kirby will come down hard on the players arrested.
“It’s taken two separate Kirby Smart press conferences very much about off-the-field problems,” Emerson said. “He’s not downplayed it. Kirby is savvy enough to know that he has to come out forcefully against this.”
