Kirby Smart reveals punishment for Georgia staff member Jarvis Jones

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has revealed the punishment for staff member Jarvis Jones, who was arrested last Friday for speeding.

Smart shared after the game that Jones was suspended for Saturday’s game against Ball State. However, he will be back next week when the Bulldogs host South Carolina, according to Seth Emerson.

Georgia had no issues without Jarvis Jones on Saturday, beating Ball State 45-3

Jones was reportedly arrested last Friday after driving more than 40 miles per hour over the speed limit.

“At 10:40 p.m. Friday, Jarvis Jones was driving west down Atlanta Highway in a 1984 Buick Regal when Athens-Clarke County police clocked him traveling at 86 mph in a 40 mph zone,” the AJC’s Chip Towers reported.

“That’s according to a police report released to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday. Jones, a former Georgia football star who now works for the Bulldogs as a player-connection coordinator, was subsequently arrested and taken to Athens-Country Jail, police said.”

Jones now joins a number of other members of the Georgia football program who have been involved in some sort of traffic-related incidents in recent years. The AJC noted that “players had been cited or arrested for speeding and/or reckless driving a total of 14 times since two members of the program were killed in a high-speed crash on January 15.”

“Jones was charged with reckless driving and speeding/maximum limits,” Towers wrote. “He was booked at Athens-Clarke County Jail at 11:26 p.m. and released an hour later on a $2,400 bond.”

Even before the tragedy on Jan. 15, traffic violations were an issue for Georgia. According to an ESPN article from this past June, these sorts of violations are incredibly common for the Bulldogs football team.

In that article, ESPN’s Paula Lavigne reported the following statistic:

“Players have also been involved in at least 60 additional moving violations — including speeding, distracted and reckless driving, and disobeying traffic signs — since the beginning of the 2021 academic year, according to ESPN’s analysis of 911 calls, police reports and court records from Athens-Clarke County.”

The Jones issue is the latest in an extremely concerning trend for Georgia.

For his AJC piece, Towers noted that he did reach out to Jones and the University of Georgia for comment, but didn’t receive a response from either party as of publishing.

Jones was the No. 17 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers after an All-American college career. He also won the Jack Lambert Trophy in 2012 and was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year that season.

Jones played four seasons with the Steelers and had a preseason stint with the Arizona Cardinals in 2017.

Nick Kosko contributed to this report.