In his first visit with the media in a week, Georgia coach Kirby Smart addressed the arrests of two players over the weekend, emphasizing that his Bulldogs are going to have to make better decisions when heading to downtown Athens.
Senior receiver Tyler Simmons and recently enrolled defensive back Tyrique Stevenson were arrested early Sunday morning on charges of disorderly conduct after an alleged barroom fight downtown.
Simmons was taken to the hospital complaining of an undisclosed injury, but was seen practicing Tuesday. Of Simmons, Smart said, “He’s fine. He practiced today. I’m not sure – it was something with his ear.”
What’s not fine is what occurred Sunday morning, Smart said Tuesday evening.
“Obviously very disappointed,” Smart said. “There’s a standard of behavior that’s expected for student-athletes at the University of Georgia, and that’s not indicative of the behavior we want at the University of Georgia. It’s very obvious those guys made poor choices and decisions, and they will be disciplined. They’ll be disciplined internally.”
“Got to find a way to make better choices and decisions, especially if the young men are going to represent this university. Those things will be handled, and they’ll be handled the right way.”
When asked if a senior and a freshman at the center of an incident where law enforcement was called offered some glimpse of leadership, or the lack thereof, Smart said, “There’s always frustration when you have this.
“I don’t think it’s about a senior and freshman – I don’t think those two guys were even together. They didn’t go there together – they ended up there. That’s not my concern. The concerns I’ve got are the decisions they made to put themselves in that situation.”
Smart added that as far as he knows, no other players were involved in the Sunday morning incident.
“It’s over and done with,” he said. “Our communication (with police) was those were the guys involved. There were other guys there, but they weren’t involved.”
Cobb County native Simmons – whom the Bulldogs faithful still insist wasn’t offside on a blocked punt in the national championship game against Alabama in 2018 – started six of 13 games last season with nine catches, 138 yards and two touchdowns.
Stevenson, who signed with Georgia in December, announced it in January and enrolled for the spring semester, was a four-star prospect from Miami Southridge High School in Florida.
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