ATHENS — Georgia tailback Isaiah Crowell, speaking with reporters Tuesday night for the first time since being suspended from last week’s game, said he wanted to apologize to fans and make amends.
“I just want to say that I made a mistake, and it will never happen again,” Crowell said. “I want to apologize to my family, fans and the Bulldog Nation.”
He added: “I just want to come out and prove to the fans that they can trust me.”
When Crowell was asked about reports that the suspension was for failing a drug test, a Georgia official intervened and said: “He really can’t talk about that.” Crowell then said: “I [have] no comment on that. I know that is what everybody wants to talk about anyway.”
Crowell called the suspension “a learning experience” and said it “showed me what I had at stake and what could happen to me. ... I’ve just got to move on from it.”
While their teammates practiced last week, Crowell and two other suspended tailbacks were subjected to extra conditioning work.
“We did drills, sleds and different things to get me better, to get my lungs better and to get me stronger,” Crowell said. “I think it was a good thing, rather than, like, a discipline thing.”
On a different note, Crowell discussed Saturday’s game against Auburn and comments by his former high school teammate, Auburn freshman defensive tackle Gabe Wright.
“I know he’s been talking, telling the media he knows how to stop me or whatever,” Crowell said. “But we’re just going to have to see.”
Asked if Wright will be able to tackle him, Crowell said: “Nah. Never has, never will.”
Although he grew up in Columbus, about 35 miles from Auburn, Crowell made it clear he was never a fan of the Tigers.
“I never liked Auburn. Point blank, I never liked them,” he said. “I don’t know why.”
Earlier Tuesday, Georgia coach Mark Richt said Crowell will be in the starting lineup when he returns from suspension against Auburn.
“I can’t imagine him not being [the starter],” Richt said. “We’re expecting big things from him this week.”
Thomas’ apology
Carlton Thomas, another of the Georgia tailbacks suspended last week, also issued an apology Tuesday night.
“I am disappointed in myself for what I did,” Thomas said. “I really want to apologize to the Bulldog Nation in general. It is my second [suspension], and even though it is two mistakes, I feel like the Nation is still behind us, and that’s something to be thankful for.
“When you make mistakes, you don’t just stay down from them. You move on; you learn; you don’t make the same mistake twice.”
Like Crowell, Thomas did not specifically address the reported failed drug test.
“I did my punishment,” Thomas said. “I want to move on and be a man about it and come out and contribute to another win. I feel like we have got too much positive momentum to just stick on what I did.”
Dogs’ Missouri rep
Georgia tight end Aron White, a senior, wishes the SEC’s annexation of Missouri had come one year sooner.
“So bummed,” White said. “I would have loved to play Missouri, especially my senior year.”
White grew up in Columbia, Mo., where the SEC’s newest member is located. Missouri will join the SEC — and Georgia’s schedule — next season.
White said he thinks his fellow Missourians “are going to be a little surprised at how crazy some of the football fans are in the SEC and how big of a stage they’re going to be on.”
He grew up a Missouri fan and was heavily recruited by the Tigers, eventually deciding to sign with Georgia because he wanted to play in the SEC and “didn’t want to stay at home and be the hometown kid.”
He never would have guessed that Missouri would follow him to the SEC.
“I never would have believed the teams that have left the Big 12 would have done that,” White said. “Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and now Missouri — that’s nuts.”
Etc.
Wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell was in a non-contact jersey at Tuesday’s practice. Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo indicated afterward that he expects Mitchell to play Saturday. ... Richt said he’s “not 100 percent sure” whether he’ll continue the Blair Walsh-Brandon Bogotay kicking rotation used in Saturday’s game.
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