Kirby Smart responds following another Georgia incident for reckless driving, speeding

Over the weekend, the Georgia Bulldogs were hit with yet another reckless driving and speeding related incident.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a Georgia football staff member, former Bulldog player Jarvis Jones, was arrested Friday night, per the AJC. Here was that report as published Labor Day morning, by Chip Towers: 

“Jarvis Jones was arrested Friday night by Athens-Clarke County police for reckless driving and speeding/maximum limits. He was booked at Athens-Clarke County Jail at 11:26 p.m. and released an hour later on a $2,400 bond. Maximum limits typically means more than 20 miles per hour over the speed limit.”

Towers noted that Jones played for Georgia roughly a decade ago and has been a staff member with the team for quite a while now. 

“Jones, who starred for the Bulldogs as an outside linebacker from 2011-12, currently works for Georgia football as a player connection coordinator. He has been a member of the Bulldogs’ football staff in various capacities since retiring from the NFL in 2016.”

Following the news of the arrest hitting the airwaves, Kirby Smart commented on the issue, stating there will be “internal discipline” for Jones.

“There’ll be internal discipline,” Smart said, via Seth Emerson of The Athletic. “It’s a personnel matter, and I can’t really comment any more on it.”

Alas, 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 arresting 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.”

Now, it’s a staffer who was caught driving recklessly. 

Even before the tragedy on Jan. 15, the traffic violations were an issue. According to an ESPN article from this past June, these sorts of violations are incredibly common for the Georgia 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. Head coach Kirby Smart is scheduled to meet with the media at noon today, where he’ll certainly be asked about yet another reckless driving charge for a member of his program.

On3’s Alex Weber contributed to this article.