This week, the Georgia Bulldogs football program has come under fire after a investigative report from the Atlanta Journal Constitution detailed how “strong on-field performance appears to excuse bad off-field behavior” with regards to alleged abuse of women.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s report identified 11 different players who have played under current head coach Kirby Smart who “remained with the team even after women reported violent encounters to the police, to the university, or to both.”
“When a top defensive player was jailed on a rape charge, head coach Kirby Smart let eight players go to court to seek their teammate’s release, the player’s lawyer said. This show of solidarity occurred even though the alleged victim worked part time for the football program,” the AJC reported on Wednesday.
“A player charged with recording a sex act with an unconscious woman remained on the roster for a full season until he transferred. Others have stayed with the team while accused of transgressions that ranged from threatening or attacking their girlfriends to sexual assault.”
The report also detailed a previously unreported incident involving 16-year-old football recruit Jamaal Jarrett, who the team signed even though he drank underage and was investigated for sexual assault during a campus visit.
According to the AJC’s report, the detective investigating the sexual assault allegation referred to Georgia as “my beloved Bulldogs” during an interrogation with Jarrett at the Athens police headquarters.
For those looking in need of assistance the National Sexual Assault Hotline can be reached at 1-800-656-4673
[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
