Kirby Smart, Georgia officials object to reports of permissive culture within program

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia is defending itself against reports that it has mishandled or ignored allegations of assault, both sexual and non-sexual in nature. The program is also doing what it can to strike down the idea that it chooses sides when players are accused and charged of such crimes.

Seventh-year head coach Kirby Smart, J. Reid Parker Director of Athletics Josh Brooks, Senior Deputy Director of Athletics Darrice Griffith, and the Director of UGA’s Equal Opportunity Office, Qiana Wilson, all met with reporters on Tuesday.

According to Brooks, it was Smart who spearheaded the effort to get all four in front of reporters where they could refute a recent article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The report stated that Georgia rallies around players when they are accused of assault.

All four individuals spoke on the issue with Smart speaking twice before the briefing was opened for questions.

“I can handle a lot of talk,” Smart said. “What I cannot and will not tolerate is false accusations that this program or this university condones sexual misconduct, OK? No tolerance for sexual assault or abuse. Never have, never will we have that.”

That statement from Smart came after he pointed out that he does view his world through the lens of a football coach but that he also looks at it from the angle of a husband and a father.

Brooks, in an opening statement, stated that any Georgia player charged of assault has been suspended immediately and never competed for the program again. That includes Adam Anderson, who was mentioned in the AJC’s recent report.

Jamaal Jarrett

The other instance referenced by Brooks because, again, it was mentioned by the state’s largest newspaper outlet, was Jamaal Jarrett. Jarrett was not charged with a crime after an incident that took place during his official visit last June. He, at the age of 16, had sexual relations with a 20-year-old whom he met online months earlier.

An investigation by Athens-Clarke County Police into aggravated sodomy allegations determined that charges should not be brought. Georgia continued to recruit Jarrett and signed him in December. He’s currently on the football team.

Smart, in responding to a question from the AJC, stated that he did consider halting his recruitment of Jarrett when those allegations were brought forth. But once all of the information became available, information that DawgsHQ has published, the decision was made to continue on with its pursuit of the defensive lineman.

Adam Anderson

The AJC’s report also claimed that Georgia took sides when Anderson was charged with raping a UGA student and part-time employee of the football program while she was sleeping. Anderson was suspended once the athletics department was notified of the allegation via Wilson and the Equal Opportunity Office.

Insight into UGA’s protocol was provided by Griffin at the beginning of the press briefing where she stated that the decision to suspend or dismiss in such situations doesn’t fall on the head coach. The athletics department takes it out of the coaches’ hands in all sports.

Anderson was suspended that Monday, more than three days before it was reported in the media. But the AJC’s report zeroed in on the former Georgia pass rusher’s bond hearing.

That’s when UGA’s director of player support, Bryantt Gantt, and several other players appeared before a judge to serve as character witnesses so that Anderson could be afforded the opportunity to await his trial date outside of the confines of a jail cell.

The AJC claimed that Gantt and UGA players presences at the hearing was evidence of the school choosing Anderson’s side and showing support for the accused. Not only that, but it was framed in a way that suggested that they were dispatched to the court by Smart for that purpose because they identified themselves with a statement of affiliation with the program.

Smart and Georgia officials say that Gantt and players made a personal choice to attend the bond hearing and that it was not their place to encourage or discourage attendance. UGA’s General Counsel, Mike Raeber, also spoke on that topic from the back of the room.

“Those players and staff that appeared were under oath and they were asked by the defense counsel to identify themselves, including to identify themselves by position,” Raeber said. “So unless the suggestion is that they should have declined to answer the question under oath, then I fail to see how that can possibly be construed as them or the program taking sides in that matter.”

After the suspension was made public on November 4, 2021, Anderson did not practice or play for Georgia again.