Details released from reckless driving arrest of Smael Mondon
Details of the arrest for Smael Mondon were shared on Thursday afternoon after the Georgia linebacker was booked Wednesday night in Athens-Clarke County. Charged with reckless driving and racing, Mondon was released shortly after midnight on Thursday morning.
According to the report of Marc Weiszer from the Athens Banner-Herald, Mondon was heading eastbound on West Broad Street, “accelerating at a high rate of speed in the 2022 Dodge Charger he was driving.” Changing lanes in front of a vehicle and driving at “an unsafe speed,” Mondon was pulled over at 1000 W. Broad Street, the former address of The Varsity. He was reportedly going 75 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone.
Freshman defensive back Demello Jones was operating the other vehicle involved in the incident, a Porshe Panamera. He slowed down “to check on his teammate.” Mondon denied racing and said he did not know Jones, who was also cited for racing but was not arrested because he voluntarily pulled over.
Mondon’s arrest comes a little over 24 hours after one to teammate Bo Hughley, who was also charged with reckless driving. His charge came from UGA Police as a result of a single car accident on River Road.
The arrests are the third and fourth respectively of the offseason for Georgia Football, all four of which have had reckless driving tags. Running back Trevor Etienne recently had DUI charges dismissed from his March 24th incident, pleading no contest to reckless driving and guilty for underage possession of alcohol, failure to maintain lane and a window tint violation. Meanwhile, freshman wide receiver Sacovie White was arrested in May for going the wrong way down a one way street in downtown Athens.
Since the end of Georgia’s 2022 season that culminated in a second straight National Championship victory, members of the football program have been involved in several driving-related offenses. Jamon Dumas-Johnson was arrested for racing and reckless driving in February of 2023 for an incident that occurred on January 10th upon return to Athens from Los Angeles after the title game. Others arrested have included Jalen Carter (albeit after his declaration for the 2023 NFL Draft), De’Nylon Morrissette, Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and support staffer Jarvis Jones.
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Georgia head coach Kirby Smart has spoken on the issue before, expressing disappointment with the decisions made by his players.
“I think the first thing I’ll address and talk about a little bit is the expectations we have here at Georgia for our student-athletes. Certainly, we haven’t met some of those requirements, and we want our student-athletes to meet those, and we take those things very seriously,” Smart said as part of his opening statement to the start of spring practice in 2023. “The standards that have been created here for a long time, that doesn’t change, and we want our players to live up to those. The mistakes they make, we treat them like we do our kids. We discipline them. We try to prevent them. We try to educate them. We try to do all we can to help our student-athletes in a positive way.”
“I feel like our players are starting to be able to acknowledge and they understand that when you make mistakes, the decisions that are costly can cost you your life,” he added in light of the incident that cost offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy their lives. “That’s not to be taken lightly. I think our guys understand that, and continue to educate them, and we’ll continue to do all we can as a university to make sure they behave and do that in a proper way.”
Smart will speak with reporters next Tuesday at SEC Media Days in Dallas where the two arrests, as well as the recent resolution to the Etienne case, are expected to be addressed.
