MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. — In response to this month’s arrests of De’Nylon Morrissette and Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint on vehicular-related charges, Kirby Smart said that education will remain the key to keeping future instances from happening.
“Education is the first thing because everybody wants to know what the punishment is. Players know what the punishment is and that’s important for our players to acknowledge and understand,” Georgia’s head coach told reporters Tuesday at the Sandestin Hilton on the first day of the SEC spring meetings. This is according to reporting from UGA insiders with UGASports.com.
“No one is more embarrassed than Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint and his parents. They’re crushed,” Smart said. “But Marcus has to learn from this, and so does De’Nylon. Part of being an 18- 19-year-old young man, a 20-year-old young man is learning from mistakes. I was that age once, too."
Smart emphasized that the team does not back these actions and is looking at ways to educate his players.
"We don’t condone anything. They’ve got to do a good job of making good decisions off the field and we’ve got a lot more educational things lined up about that," he said. "But it’s not just about that, it’s about everything that they can get into as far as gambling, drugs and alcohol, and treatment of the opposite sex.”
Morrissette – who was arrested on multiple driving-related charges including DUI – and Rosemy-Jacksaint – who was charged with speeding and reckless driving – were the fourth and fifth arrests of Bulldog players since January.
Others include Jalen Carter who was charged with racing and reckless driving in relation to the accident that killed Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy, Juman Dumas-Johnson (racing and reckless driving), and RaRa Thomas, who was charged with felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery/family violence. The felony false imprisonment charge was ultimately dismissed with Thomas entering a pretrial diversion program.
“Just like you would as a parent, you want to look at every level you can pull,” athletic director Josh Brooks said during last week’s UGA athletic department spring meeting. “There are obviously disciplinary measures, there are educational measures. We’re going to look to intensify all of those efforts. I don’t think it’s just one thing you do. There’s discipline, there’s education and I think there’s no shortage of things we’re going to keep doing to rectify this problem.”
SEC prepares for potential issues with gambling
Issues with gambling are another subject that’s expected to be addressed during the week-long session of the SEC spring meetings.
With more and more gambling apps available on social media, there’s more opportunity than ever for student-athletes to get themselves in trouble.
“We’ve had issues with that in the past, too. It’s more prevalent. I can’t turn the TV on now without seeing something. There’s a lot of debate out there about what’s right and what’s wrong, but the NCAA rule is pretty harsh for gambling relative to some other things. It’s pretty obvious why,” Smart said. "We just try our best to educate the players and, sometimes, it takes somebody having a pitfall for somebody to learn from their mistake."
It's not just gambling on sports like football, baseball, and basketball that are available for betting.
“I didn't even understand the app. I didn't even know because I don't gamble. I don't bet. I don't have those apps. Well, when you go start researching it, there are things like Chinese baseball games and stuff that people are gambling on,” Smart said. “They're betting on horse racing in another country. It's literally crazy how easy it is and the access they have to it, and then the punishment you have to ask yourself, 'Oh my gosh, this guy could lose his entire eligibility forever for betting on a horse race, you know, in another country.'”
Anthony Dasher writes for UGASports.com