Kirby Smart, Georgia officials push back on 'false accusations' that program is lax around sexual violence

In an unorthodox meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Georgia football coach Kirby Smart and a number of university officials pushed back on recent reporting from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the football program had a permissive culture toward sexual violence. This meeting came a week prior to Smart and several players traveling to Nashville for SEC Media Days.

Along with Smart, athletic director Josh Brooks, senior deputy AD Darrice Griffith and Georgia equal opportunity office director Qiana Wilson spoke with media. Along with addressing the reports of lax consequences for sexual violence, Smart also spoke to the recent issues with reckless driving among Georgia players.

Brooks, according to a report from On3’s DawgsHQ, said it was Smart who brought the group together to refute some of the recent reporting.

Smart said Georgia has “no tolerance” for sexual violence.

“I can handle a lot of talk,” Smart said, according to DawgsHQ. “What I cannot and will not tolerate is false accusations that this program or this university condones sexual misconduct, OK?”

The AJC reporting centered around two main episodes of alleged sexual violence. The first involved then-recruit Jamaal Jarrett, now a freshman on the team at Georgia. The second was the well-publicized rape case in 2021 involving then-Georgia linebacker Adam Anderson.

In the Anderson case, the AJC reported on a specific courtroom scene where a number of Georgia players offered testimony as character witnesses for the defense. Anderson’s defense attorney referenced a promise made to Smart about releasing the players after testimony so they could return to team activities, presumably being missed due to their presence in court.

They also reported more specifically about the presence of Bryant Gantt, Georgia’s director of player support. The AJC characterized Gantt as something of a fixer for Georgia players in legal trouble, making sure they show up when and where they’re supposed to and even taking money from a player to go pay a fine at the courthouse.

It’s unclear if they were subpoenaed to appear before the court — i.e. ordered by the court to come that day and testify — or if they volunteered to do so of their own volition after Anderson’s lawyer asked them to. The former, being ordered by the court to appear, would definitively quash any notion that players and Gantt were there to support Anderson. A request from an attorney to testify as a character witness is in no way binding or obligatory.

No subpoena for the players or Gantt to testify was apparently provided or referenced by Smart or Georgia officials.

Smart said that he had not instructed Gantt or any players to attend the bond hearing. The AJC also played up the players listing their names and positions on the stand, but Georgia’s general counsel, Mike Raeber, explained that they were asked a direct question under oath — their name and position on the team — and answered accordingly.

According to an interview with Anderson’s accuser in the AJC, Gantt “was staring at me, smiling. It was really weird, like he was trying to intimidate me.”

Anderson’s accuser, who worked part-time for the football program, eventually quit her job. Anderson was suspended from the Georgia football team on Nov. 1, 2021, and never played for the Bulldogs again.

The second incident the AJC’s reporting centered around involved Jarrett, then a highly sought after recruit. Jarrett allegedly forced a woman to perform sex acts on him while he recorded on video during a recruiting visit to Georgia.

After a brief police investigation, including a police interview with Jarrett while his mother and Gantt were present, no charges were brought against Jarrett. He has since signed with Georgia and enrolled in school there.

Smart said that he did consider stopping his recruitment of Jarrett, but decided he could keep pursuing him after the investigation concluded without criminal charges.