I’m not going to waste time speculating how a 19-year-old could deposit a $71.50 stipend check into his bank account with a cellphone app (leaving a digital fingerprint), then rush to a convenience store to cash that same check again (leaving a signature and a digital fingerprint in full view of eyewitnesses and security cameras), and somehow think he could get away with this.
Any parent can attest that a child’s brain development from 3 years old to 19 isn’t as pronounced as one might believe. The only thing that’s certain to change is the object the child is holding when you ask, “What’s behind your back?”
Toddler (holding chocolate chip cookie): “Nothing.”
Teenager (holding $71.50): “Nothing.”
The bigger question Tuesday, following the arrest of four Georgia players for misdemeanor theft and felonious stupidity, is whether this says anything about the football program in general or coach Mark Richt in particular.
The first question is difficult to answer. Georgia certainly has had its share of arrests. Maybe more than its share. But determining whether a program has recruited too many knucklehead players can be graded only on an annual basis, given defections and new classes. Let’s at least get through the summer before pronouncing judgement on 2014.
As for Richt, he has done nothing wrong, screams from critics notwithstanding. He needs to continue what he has been doing, suspending and, in some cases, dismissing players.
A coach can control problems within his program only two ways: 1) taking fewer risks in recruiting, and Richt seemingly has been doing that; 2) coming down hard when lines are crossed.
All four arrested players — Tray Matthews, Uriah LeMay, Jon Taylor, James DeLoach — practiced Tuesday, the first day of spring drills. Don’t draw any conclusions from that. Richt said he just hasn’t made any decisions yet. He said the players did “foolish” things. He said there would be “consequences.”
“These guys are not going to be perfect,” Richt said. “If they do something that needs discipline, we’re going to give it. If it causes a guy not to be at Georgia, then it will happen. If it causes a guy to lose playing time, we’ll do it.”
One-game suspensions probably are not enough. We’re talking about actual theft and fraud here.
Full dismissals will, and should, be considered. That might seem harsh. But think about it: Is the point to send a message to only the individual players or to everybody involved with the football program about what will or won’t be tolerated?
Richt figured to be a flash point in this debate. Anybody who has sought a coaching change was bound to use the arrests as an opening. Then Kirk Herbstreit, the ESPN college football analyst, inadvertently turned the burners to full blast Tuesday with this message on Twitter: “Clearly some of the UGA players take advantage of Coach Richts forgiving heart. No fear of the consequences leads to ongoing shananagins (sic.)”
Herbstreit is not an attack dog, but the problem with his tweet is it was based on a falsehood.
Richt absolutely has a “forgiving heart.” But the “no fear of consequences” reference is baseless. The exit ramp from Athens was paved three years ago, beginning with serial knuckleheads Washaun Ealey and Caleb King.
I’ve been as critical of Richt as anybody through the years. He was like the kindly grandfather who didn’t have the heart to make a young man feel the consequences of his actions. He patted them on the head and made them promise not to do it again. He learned from the master, Bobby Bowden.
But he changed. Maybe it was the realization that enabling wasn't stemming the flow of arrests. But Richt has gotten rid of several problem players. He kicked out running back Isaiah Crowell (weapons charges), the jewel of his vaunted 2011 recruiting class (which had other casualties). He dismissed Zach Mettenberger (sexual battery), who went on to start at quarterback for LSU, and Nick Marshall (campus theft), who led Auburn to the SEC championship and a BCS title-game appearance.
Just last month, starting safety Josh Harvey-Clemons was told to go after multiple failed drug tests. Richt also works on a campus with one of the nation’s tougher drug policies.
Every program has problems. Missouri had four players arrested Saturday for marijuana possession; Tennessee had nine arrested or cited for everything from underage drinking to resisting arrest in February; LSU, otherwise Enabling Central, finally kicked out running back Jeryl Brazil following felony burglary charges recently.
Richt knows that as the relative CEO of his program, he shares culpability for everything that happens. He recruits, coaches and, to some degree, raises, these kids. It’s not a responsibility he runs from. But anybody who thinks he hasn’t been doing the right thing in these circumstances just hasn’t been paying attention.
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