Smael Mondon, Bo Hughley arrested in Athens for reckless driving
A pair of Georgia Football players have been arrested in Athens-Clarke County this week. In separate instances, both senior linebacker Smael Mondon (Wednesday, July 10, 11:05 p.m.) and redshirt freshman offensive lineman Bo Hughley (Tuesday, July 9, 8:37 p.m.) were taken in on reckless driving charges.
Hughley, arrested by UGA police, also received a a failure to maintain lane/improper driving on road charge while Mondon had racing on highways/streets tacked on to his. All four charges are misdemeanors and the players were released on bond, both within two hours of being booked, totaling $26 each.
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.
As for Mondon and Hughley on the field, it’s a tale of two different stories. Mondon is a returning starter and an expected key contributor – and leader – for Georgia’s defense in 2024. He finished as UGA’s leading tackler in 2022 and was second on the team in 2023. Hughley on the other hand did not see any action during his first year on campus. He was a top-150 player coming out of Langston Hughes High School in the Class of 2023.
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.
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.
