Hours before Georgia football practiced Tuesday afternoon for Saturday’s game at Mississippi State, wide receiver Colbie Young was released on bond from the Clarke County jail after his early morning arrest.
The Miami transfer was charged with assault on an unborn child and battery, both misdemeanors, after police spoke to a woman who identified herself as Young’s ex-girlfriend.
“It’s a pending legal matter,” coach Kirby Smart said. “He’s not with us right now. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him.”
The female had a bruise and discoloration on the bottom of her chest where it meets the abdomen and redness on her right flank, according to a police incident report obtained by the Athens Banner-Herald. The woman told police Young picked her up and squeezed her torso and abdomen very hard.
Young denied grabbing the accuser, police said.
Kim Stephens, Young’s attorney, said in a statement to the Banner-Herald that Young was arrested “after he asked his ex-girlfriend to leave his apartment. He did not make physical contact with her in any way that could even be considered a crime. I expect Mr. Young to be fully exonerated once our investigation is complete and the truth is revealed.”
Smart said he found out about Young’s arrest when he woke up Tuesday.
“It was one of those 7 a.m. deals,” he said.
Young is the seventh Georgia football player known to be arrested this year. Georgia has had 16 incidents this year where players have been arrested or charged with reckless driving, racing, speeding or battery.
“When you have 130 17 to 23 year-olds, you’re going to have issues,” Smart said. “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 and we’ve got really good people, man.”
Georgia’s two most high-profile transfer additions this offseason were arrested in their first year in the program.
Running back Trevor Etienne was suspended for the opener against Clemson after his arrest for DUI and reckless driving. The DUI charge was dismissed and he plead no contest to reckless driving as part of a plea deal.
In Georgia, “a person commits the offense of assault of an unborn child when such person, without legal justification, attempts to inflict violent injury to an unborn child,” according to Georgia code 16-5-28 listed on the website law.justia.com.
Wide receiver Rara Thomas, a transfer from Mississippi State, was arrested July 26 for felony cruelty to children in the second degree and two misdemeanor counts of family violence/battery. He was dismissed on the first day of preason practice.
Thomas in 2023 entered a pretrial diversion program for a charge of battery/family violence while a felony charge of false imprisonment was dismissed. Those charges came after a Jan. 23, 2023, arrest for an incident with a female in a UGA dorm.
After the season opening win over Clemson, Smart called Young “a high-quality kid. We talk to these kids, visit with these kids. I want my team to stay my team. I’ve always said that. If you could give me every team kid I sign, they stay at my program for four years and they can’t leave, I would take that every day of the week. But if we’re going to lose kids, we’ve got to replace them with high-quality kids that are character kids that are looking to have an opportunity to win a championship, that want to go somewhere and play, because otherwise you can’t survive in the SEC without the depth you need. It’s a forced situation. You have to use it.”
–More to come
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