Georgia receiver Young suspended after arrest
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Mark Schlabach
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Mark Schlabach
ESPN Senior Writer
- Senior college football writer
- Author of seven books on college football
- Graduate of the University of Georgia
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Chris Low
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Chris Low
ESPN Senior Writer
- College football reporter
- Joined ESPN.com in 2007
- Graduate of the University of Tennessee
Georgia coach Kirby Smart said Wednesday that wide receiver Colbie Young has been suspended indefinitely from the team following his arrest early Tuesday morning on misdemeanor charges of battery and assault on an unborn child.
Smart said he met with Young on Wednesday morning.
“He’s been suspended indefinitely until this legal matter is resolved,” Smart said on the weekly SEC coaches teleconference. “We can’t really comment any further on the specifics of it, but I 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.”
Young, from Binghamton, New York, was booked into the detention center at 4:18 a.m. ET and released later Tuesday on $3,800 bond. Young is at least the eighth Georgia football player arrested in 2024, although three of those players — Trevor Etienne, Smael Mondon and Sacovie White — either pleaded down or had their driving-related charges dismissed.
Young played two seasons at Miami before joining the Bulldogs in December.
According to an Athens-Clarke County Police incident report obtained by ESPN, a 20-year-old woman, who described herself as Young’s ex-girlfriend, told police that she went to his apartment around 12 a.m. ET Tuesday to discuss their relationship.
When the conversation became heated after she discovered he was on the phone with another woman, the complainant said Young “grabbed her left arm near her biceps and triceps and physically pulled her out of his room.” The woman said Young was “using derogatory terms and being demeaning of her.” She said Young went back to his room and locked the door.
The woman told police she started to collect her belongings when a friend called her phone. When she answered, the woman told police, “Mr. Young came out and grabbed her from behind. She said that he picked her up and began to squeeze her torso and abdomen very hard. She said she felt like [Young] was trying to harm her.”
The officer noted in the report that he observed a bruise and discoloration on the bottom of the woman’s chest where it meets the abdomen and redness on her right side. The police officer transported the woman to an Athens hospital for treatment.
When the officer interviewed Young, he said he escorted the woman to his front door when the conversation became contentious and denied grabbing her. When the officer asked how the woman suffered her injuries, Young said “it wasn’t from him.”
“Colbie Young was arrested last night after he asked his ex-girlfriend to leave his apartment,” Kim Stephens, Young’s attorney, told ESPN on Tuesday. “He did not make physical contact with her in any way that could ever be considered a crime. I expect Mr. Young to be fully exonerated once our investigation is complete and the truth revealed.”
The senior receiver had 11 catches for 149 yards with two touchdowns in the No. 5 Bulldogs’ first five games. He had three receptions for 51 yards in Saturday’s 31-13 victory against Auburn at Sanford Stadium. Georgia coach Kirby Smart, speaking to reporters Tuesday, didn’t get into the details of Young’s arrest, but said the string of run-ins with the law involving Georgia players has worn on everybody associated with the program.
“When you have 130 17- to 23-year-olds, you’re going to have issues,” Smart said. “It’s not going to be perfect. 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, and our kids go out there, and they have one of the best practices we’ve had all year on a Tuesday. They’re out there competing, working. You just want them to make better decisions as men off the field. And, you know, I take a lot of responsibility for that. It’s tough, but that’s the cost of leadership.
“You’re going to be judged by the people you lead and you’ve got to stand up and face it and do right by the kids and keep trying to find a better way. I mean, we’re constantly trying to find a better way to make a difference, and that’s in everything we do in our organization.”
Former Bulldogs receiver Rodarius “Rara” Thomas was dismissed from the team Aug. 1 following his arrest on multiple family violence charges. At the time, Smart told reporters, “He can no longer be part of the football team. He understands that. We wish him the best moving forward.”
Thomas, a senior from Eufaula, Alabama, was charged with cruelty to children-family violence, a second-degree felony, and two misdemeanor counts of battery-family violence. His case is pending in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court, according to court records.
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Greg Wyshynski
RALEIGH — Carolina Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said his players have to be smarter about retaliating against the Florida Panthers‘ trademark agitation.
“We know that’s how they do things,” he said on Wednesday, after Florida took a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals with a 5-2 win. “Find a way not to let that get to you. Stick to what is going to win us games.”
At issue for the Hurricanes in Game 1 was center Sebastian Aho‘s roughing penalty against Florida’s Anton Lundell at 6:59 of the first period, which negated a Carolina power play and led to Carter Verhaeghe scoring the first goal of the game on a Panthers’ power play. Aho took a swing at Lundell after the Panthers center cross-checked him. The referees whistled the retaliation but not the initial stickwork that provoked it.
“I mean, the first penalty is bad call, right? You’re going to have those. But that’s my thing: Retaliation penalties are not going to get it done,” Brind’Amour said. “We did a pretty good job with [retaliation], but it just takes one. That’s my point. You can’t have that one, because that really puts you behind the game and now it’s different.”
The Hurricanes are 5-0 when scoring first in the playoffs and 3-3 when they don’t. Carolina’s penalty kill had stopped 14 of 15 power plays at home and 28 of 30 overall in the playoffs until Game 1, when Florida went 2-for-3 with the man advantage.
“They made us pay. It’s a good team that knows how to score goals and finds way to win games when you make mistakes,” Carolina captain Jordan Staal said. “We’ve got to limit those mistakes.”
Another example of the Hurricanes’ retaliation, though a less costly one for Carolina, came in the third period when defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere deliberately shot a puck at Florida forward Brad Marchand. In this case, the Panthers got the worst of it, as Marchand was given a double minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct.
“Just heated. I was pretty pissed off. He tried to take a run at me. I shot the puck at him. We had a little [tussle],” Gostisbehere said.
After Game 1, neither Panthers players nor coach Paul Maurice would discuss the incident in detail.
“It happens. It’s what it is. I mean, we block shots all the time, so what’s the difference?” Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said.
That attitude extends to the Panthers’ composure on the ice. While the Panthers have earned their reputation as an irritating, physical opponent — attributes that helped them win the Stanley Cup for the first time last season — they can dish it out and take it.
Look no further than the Florida crease in Game 1, where the Hurricanes crashed the net of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky with frequency. At one point, forward Andrei Svechnikov‘s hip collided with Bobrovsky’s head. But the goalie wasn’t knocked off his game and his team didn’t retaliate.
“It’s OK. It’s the playoffs. They try to get under the skin. I just focus on my things and try not to think about that,” Bobrovsky said after his Game 1 win.
Maurice praised his netminder’s composure.
“Sergei’s not a kid. He’s been through it. He’s been bumped. He’s just developed a skill set that it just doesn’t bother him,” the coach said. “No one likes getting elbowed in the head, but it won’t be the first time or the last time.”
Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals is Thursday night in Raleigh. The Hurricanes have now lost 13 straight games in that round of the playoffs, including five straight to the Panthers.
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