SEC football players have apparently been on their best behavior recently.
Ron Higgins of NOLA.com reports that SEC football arrests are at a record-low pace in 2016. Data gathered from arrestnation.com, a website which tracks arrests of coaches and athletes at the college and pro level, has the number of SEC football arrests in single digits — at only seven — through the 2016 calendar year. Last year at this point, there were 12 arrests. Prior to that, 30 SEC players were involved in arrests in 2014.
Now the SEC hasn’t been perfect, as former Mississippi State quarterback Dak Prescott was arrested earlier this month for a DUI.
“We can all learn from that,” LSU coach Les Miles told his team before players began their spring break. “I guarantee you Dak Prescott did.”
Still, the single digit number is encouraging and a good indicator that players are being more responsible in their decision-making off the field. That’s one less offseason headache for SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and the conference’s coaches to worry about.
Since arrestnation.com began keeping track of arrest information in 2011, Florida has led the conference with 28 player arrests. Georgia is second with 23, followed by Ole Miss. Among SEC coaches, Alabama’s Nick Saban leads the field with 17 players arrested during his tenure.
However, as Higgins notes, arrest season is still upon us, as players are more likely to be arrested and locked up in the summer months. Since 2011, 237 SEC football players or coaches have been arrested, with almost 1/3 of those happening between May 1 and the end of July. That makes sense. With less structure being out of school and practice during the summer months, players are more likely to get in trouble.
The news should be taken with a small grain of salt. It is encouraging and noteworthy that players are getting arrested at a record-low pace, but how they behave during arrest season will be a true test to gauge their trending behavior. Hopefully, SEC students and coaches can continue to break records off the field and keep the arrests to a minimum.
[NOLA.com]
