Damian Swann, on Josh Harvey-Clemons’ suspension:
“It happened,” Swann said. “It hasn’t been the first time we’ve gone into a season with guys suspended. It’s something we don’t want to deal with but we’ve kind of gotten used to dealing with it and now we’ve just got to go and play.”
Sigh.
Get The Picture 
What a depressing statement.
LikeLike
We have gone to Clempson before with players suspended…we will be fine.
LikeLike
“sigh” is right.
LikeLike
Here is the deal…if the AD and UGA brass are going to suspend players for failed drug tests, it is painfully clear that the punishment is not harsh enough. Stop dicking around and drop the hammer. First failed test/ drug arrest/drug altercation = 6 game suspension. Second violation = 1 complete year. Third strike and you are done. If you are going to adhere to this drug policy, why not make the punishment count? In for a penny, in for a pound. Either that or stop with this nonsense. As it stands right now, the Dawgs are merely standing in the middle of the road getting hit from both sides.
LikeLike
Trolling?
LikeLike
Not trolling at all. Either drop the hammer to ensure no one pops positive or reduce the punishment all together. Either you mean business and you sincerely want kids to stop smoking up, or you don’t. Either way I don’t care. I am just tired of this 1-4 game crap we face every year.
LikeLike
Draconian punishments would not eliminate the problem. With the frequency of drug tests, players SHOULD recognize that there is a substantial possibility of getting caught. Despite this, some players still toke up. When doing so, I seriously doubt that the violators do a cost-benefit analysis and decide that a 1-game or 3-game suspension is worth the risk.
They don’t appreciate the risk of getting caught; it’s the recklessness of youth. If UGA “dropped the hammer,” it would simply be trading “1-4 game crap” for suspensions ranging from 6 games to full seasons. Such a harsh policy might deter 1 or 2 players from using drugs, but the resulting longer suspensions would only create a bigger headache for the program.
Furthermore, cracking down is one thing (which CMR is and has been doing), but at some point, increasingly harsh policies become completely unfair. Players shouldn’t have their careers wrecked by youthful indiscretions, and the program should give them sufficient opportunity to grow up, mature, and reform before it casts them out.
LikeLike
+1. Skeptic, you are FOS. The real problem is that we expect these 18-21 year old kids to be better than we were when we went to school in Athens. I smoked grass. There, I said it. I also drank beer and got some poontang when I was able to fool some co-ed into thinking I was a redneck Carey Grant. Pardon me for living. And pardon the kids on the football team from living, too. They are supposed to be STUDENT athletes remember and get the college “experience.” If not, let’s just skip the pretense and pay them for playing. I wish somebody would do a drug/alcohol test on the faculty, particularly Mike Adams!!! Now that would provide some fodder for an interesting blog post. Hypocrisy, alive and well in Athens, GA.
LikeLike
Mayor, who is this Cary Grant of which you speak? Sounds like a tennis player…
LikeLike
Horse shit. These kids are given every opportunity to excel. A great education, tutors who will work with them as long as they need, meals and room/board through scholarships, the list goes on and on.
They aren’t regular students. More is expected of them because they agreed that more would be expected of them when they decided to accept a football scholarship at UGA. Whether that is fair or not is irrelevant, it is what they agreed to. If they didn’t want the extra responsibility that comes with being a student athlete then they should not have agreed to it.
LikeLike
They still cut off the hand a thief in Saudi Arabia. Apparently that “punishment is not harsh enough” since there continue to be thieves who get their hands cut off under sharia law. Commit murder and spend thirty years in prison or lose your own life. How’s that working out? Who would choose those consequences if the choice were framed that way? The problem with athletes breaking rules – as with criminals breaking the law – is poor impulse control and an inability to anticipate the consequences of one’s actions. These are significant developmental problems, and it’s not difficult to imagine that many student athletes – especially those from disadvantaged homes – suffer from them. What level of punishment for a student athlete at UGA is appropriate for toking up? Whatever it is, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a harsher penalty is in order simply because some kid decides to hang with his boyz and share a joint. That’s what kids do.
LikeLike
The suspensions will never be a real deterrent because these are all college kids which makes them idiots. They all think they won’t get caught.
LikeLike
exactly.
LikeLike
Hey, I was an idiot college kid and I didn’t get caught. But then, I didn’t play on the football team and have some sanctimonious asshole constantly watching my every move and testing me to see if I drank any alcohol or smoked any weed either.
LikeLike
You are painful. Sorry. Out of 85 plus players some are going to smoke weed and a few will get caught. Lord only knows how many don’t get caught for every one that does. I’d guess 10 to 1 but that’s pure speculation. Your hammer approach is just stupid, plain and simple. Our cops are apparently tougher than most and our drug policies are tougher than most. Add the two together and you get this. Life ain’t fair, just ask Les, so just grin and bear it. Again, sorry to be rude about it, but damn…
LikeLike
So you suggest we sit back and accept the fact that the Dawgs will always have a few kids suspended to begin each season? My point is that Georgia’s current drug policy is a farce. It looks agreat on paper, yet carries little to no weight. Players obviously give a game suspension zero thought and it does not hurt. As I said earlier, either make the punishment so harsh that it really hurts, or give them a slap on the wrist and stop hampering the program. If someone is going to smoke up knowing they might miss half of the season, then we know where their head honestly is. I do have issues with the kids, but the larger issue is with the rules/punishment.
LikeLike
“So you suggest we sit back and accept the fact that the Dawgs will always have a few kids suspended to begin each season?” –YES, We just need not play Clemson or another good team to begin the season.
LikeLike
I bet our players give it alot more thought than the players at LSU.
LikeLike
The only thing you said that I agree with is that our drug policy is a farce. Until and unless the University of Georgia starts testing the entire student body to see if they are drinking alcohol and/or doing drugs the policy of that august institution regarding drugs is hypocrisy viv a vis the students/players pure and simple.
LikeLike
I am almost to the point that I will volunteer my services free of charge to sue the University and the University System under a discrimination theory.
LikeLike
We need to push the SEC to adopt a uniform policy. Until then the smart thing to do is the exact opposite of what Skeptic Dog is saying, adopt the laxest policy in the league. What we have right now just gets us bad PR as a program and a competitive disadvantage, simply so Michael Adams can get some a buzz from a fake moral high horse. Anybody who says their school has “better” student athletes is FOS. Elite programs all recruit the same kids.
LikeLike
The most sensible statement yet read (besides the Mayor who topped his with a self-confession that I admire).
Advice to Skep: Go out and score a baggy, then smoke a little at first. You may find then that you can approach issues without making such martinet statements of juidgement and condemnation of young person’s actions.After that, you should smoke the entire baggy or make brownies.
LikeLike
Just like the death penalty is supposed to stop people from murdering other people. Bottom line, teenagers are going to make stupid decisions no mater how bright their future may be or what the possible punishments may be.
LikeLike
I fully expect a player or two to start talking about the importance of profits and surplus soon.
LikeLike
OT, but Gordon Gee announced his retirement this afternoon.
LikeLike
SUSPENSIONS TO START SEASON UNDER RICHT
2001 season
Tim Wansley mj arrest
Regan Torbert mj arrest
Durell Robinson mj arrest
Charles Grant (solicitation of prostitution)
Randy McMichael – bar fight
Verron Haynes – domestic battery
Ken Veal -undisclosed
2002
Brandon Williams (rape-later acquitted)
Shedrick Wynn
2003
Chris Hickman
Jemario Smith
Tim Jennings marijauna arrest
Bryan McClendon mj arrest
Mario Raley marijuana arrest
Randall Swoops mj arrest
DeMario Minter mj arrest
Tyson Browning
B.J. Fields
2004
Odell Thurman
Gordon Ely-Kelso
Jeremy Thomas
2005
Tavares Kearney cheating
Chase Green alcohol arrest
Derrick White = bar fight, later dismissed from team
Zeb McKinzey – public drunkenness
Michael Turner- marijuana in car
Kedric Golston – bar fight
Leonard Pope
2006
Thomas Flowers
Daniel Inman
Dannell Ellerbe underage drinking
Ian Smith
2007
Tripp Chandler
Blake Barnes
Remarcus Brown
Donovan Baldwin
Akeem Hebron
Tripp Taylor
2008
Darius Dewberry
Jeff Henson
Donovan Baldwin
Michael Lemon
Clint Boling
Bruce Figgins
Fred Munzenmaier
2009
Bruce Figgins
Justin Houston
2010
Tavarres King underage possession of alcohol
Dontavius Jackson DUI
Zach Mettenberger -dismissed from team misd. sexual battery
Montez Robinson -dismissed from team domestic battery
Trent Dittmer – dismissed from team pub. intox
AJ Green – jersey scandal
Washaun Ealey – hit and run, drivng on sus. license
Jordan Love – arrest for obstruction; false name
Alec Ogletree- theft of scooter helmet
2011
Carlton Thomas
Bacarri Rambo
Israel Troupe
2012
Bacarri Rambo
Sanders Commings
Branden Smith
Alec Ogletree
Nick Marshall (dismissed from team)
Chris Sanders (dismissed from team)
Sanford Seay (dismissed from team)
I tried to list the offense if it was made public. Many were “undisclosed.”
dismissed = dismissed from team (does not mean charges dismissed)
LikeLike
That’s really interesting data, Scott. Brought back some memories of pre-season angst and a few chuckles.
LikeLike
I guess Spurrier was right. But the, how many South Carolina or Florida players got suspended from those teams when Spurrier was HC? I’m betting “none.”
LikeLike
Start with their SC QB of recent history. He suspended him 6 times. OH…and he played him after forgiving him of each one? Gosh, I didn’t know that!
LikeLike
66 players over 12 seasons.
LikeLike
What is the Michael F. Adams Honor Roll of Integrity?
LikeLike
Scott, are you by chance the Tea Party Gov of Fla?
LikeLike
2009 and 2011 were “good” years, hopefully 2013 will be too.
LikeLike