Georgia football’s Ja’Marley Riddle arrested on speeding, felony drug charges
Another Georgia football player has been arrested, with defensive back Ja’Marley Riddle being charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance — both of which are felonies — and a misdemeanor speeding offense.
According to the Glynn County Sheriff’s Office, Riddle was arrested on Friday, May 8, in Brunswick and charged with possession of more than one ounce of marijuana and possession of a Schedule 1 controlled substance.
“We are aware of the charges and are actively gathering additional information,” a Georgia football spokesperson said in a statement. “As this is an ongoing legal matter, we will not be providing further comment at this time.”
The Georgia defensive back posted bonds totaling $16,526 the same day of his arrest. The news of Riddle’s arrest was first reported by WGIG-FM 98.7 in Brunswick.
Riddle transferred to Georgia this offseason from East Carolina. He was limited this spring because of an injury he suffered during his time with the Pirates. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining and is expected to help Georgia in the secondary this fall.
Riddle’s arrest is the third this year for a member of the Georgia football team related to driving. Chris Cole and Darren Ikinnagbon were both arrested and charged with reckless driving in February.
“We try to prevent the same mistake and you would think it’s as simple as just telling them, right? No, it does not work that way,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said in an April interview with 680 The Fan.
Smart said UGA requires defensive driving courses for some of its players.
“There’s nobody in the country — and I’ve asked everybody in the country — that does a mandatory defensive driving course every year that requires players that don’t have (a) driver’s license to take six hours with someone riding around with them to teach them how to drive. ...
“We want to educate them and help them with that. You can’t, you know, a lot of places can’t mandate that you have to do that. We do, and we do because of our history. That doesn’t make it perfect, but we’re certainly in a constant pursuit of perfection.”
About the Author
Connor Riley has been covering the University of Georgia since 2014 before moving to DawgNation full-time before the 2018 season. He helps in all areas of the site such as team coverage, recruiting, video production, social media and podcasting. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2016.
