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Georgia football coach Kirby Smart announced today he has suspended wide receiver Colbie Young indefinitely after Young's arrest on charges of battery and assault of an unborn child.
Young, a senior in his first season with the football program, was arrested yesterday morning by Athens Clarke-County police and was released on bond in the afternoon. Young is alleged to have grabbed a woman who claims to be his ex-girlfriend, pulled her out of a room, and then “picked her up and began to squeeze her torso and abdomen very hard,” according to the police's incident report.
Smart spoke on Young's arrest briefly during the SEC Coaches Teleconference call.
“Yeah, I got to speak to [Young] this morning. He’s been suspended indefinitely until this legal matter is resolved,” Smart said. “We can’t really comment any further on the specifics of it, but had a good meeting with him this morning. We’re committed to continuing to educate our players and do the best job we can of making sure they understand the serious nature of these incidents. It’s very unfortunate, but we want to be responsible in decision-making on and off the field. This is obviously a really tough situation, but he’s suspended indefinitely until the legal matter is resolved.”
Georgia football legal troubles continue with latest arrest
Smart has been criticized with increasing frequency as arrests and other run-ins with the law continue to plague the Georgia football program. Young is the seventh known UGA football player to be arrested in 2024, according to Online Athens. Cornerback Daniel Harris was arrested and charged with reckless driving less than a month ago for allegedly driving over 100 mph on a wet road.
After practice yesterday, Smart did not discuss Young's arrest other than saying it was a “very sensitive matter, a tough thing to deal with.” Instead, he spoke generally about the legal issues that have begun to form a cloud over the Georgia football program.
“When you have 130 17- to 23-year-olds, you’re going to have issues,” Smart said [h/t Atlanta Journal Constitution]. “It’s not going to be perfect, and I certainly recognize we’ve got to do a better job. But it’s hard. It’s hard on our staff because we’ve got really good kids. We’ve got really good people, man. You just want them to make better decisions as men off the field. And, you know, I take a lot of responsibility in that.”
Georgia, which will presumably be out with Young, its fourth-leading receiver, hosts Mississippi State this week before traveling to Austin to play No. 1 Texas.
