Georgia DB Javon Bullard arrested on DUI charge
A starting Georgia defender was arrested by the UGA Police Department on Sunday morning. Sophomore defensive back Javon Bullard was brought in for driving under the influence of alcohol along with a number of other traffic offenses. Seth Emerson of The Athletic was the first to report.
According to the Athens-Clarke County jail log, Bullard was booked into the jail at just before 5 a.m. ET on Sunday morning. He was released approximately two and a half hours later on bond.
He was charged with seven offenses. Those include not carrying a license, improper turning, minor in possession of alcohol, failure to maintain lane, failure to use head lights, operating a phone while driving and driving under the influence. Bond for those offenses combined came out to $4,750 according to the ACC Jail Log.
Since Bullard is under the age of 21, the DUI threshold is different. As lone as he registers 0.02 or higher, he can be charged with driving under the influence.
Javon Bullard was just over 12 hours removed from Georgia’s 39-22 win over Kent State. The Milledgeville, Ga. native had three solo tackles in that contest. He has seven tackles on the 2022 season with one pass breakup. He has started each of Georgia’s first three games.
Georgia signed Javon Bullard out of Baldwin County High School in the 2021 class. He played sparingly a year ago, primarily in mop-up time and on special teams.
The Bulldogs entered 2022 with a returning starter at STAR/nickel in William Poole. Javon Bullard had a different idea. He proceeded to put together a strong preseason camp and win the job. Poole has since elected to step away from team to deal with some personal matters. Bullard’s primary competition at STAR/nickel is West Virginia transfer Tykee Smith.
“He is extremely tough and physical,” Kirby Smart said of Bullard recently. “His high school tape displayed toughness. He was one of the COVID kids that was during the time where you didn’t get to bring them on campus. He sent tape in of his workouts very similar to the way other players did. We liked his workouts. We thought, ‘Man, this guy is dedicated to working out in a time when the rest of the country stopped doing anything.’ We liked the kid. He has the core values we like of physical toughness. We loved the way he practices every day.”
If Javon Bullard has to miss any time, the Bulldogs would likely turn to Tykee Smith to take on the bulk of the snaps at STAR/nickel. They also have the option of moving Christopher Smith from his strong safety position to STAR, putting Malaki Starks and Dan Jackson as the two safeties. Christopher Smith played the nickel position in Georgia’s win at Tennessee in 2021.
Next up for Georgia is its second SEC road test of the season. The Bulldogs will take on Missouri on Saturday, October 1. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on The SEC Network.
