Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint arrested on driving-related charges

Georgia receiver Marcus Rosemy-Jacksaint was arrested on Tuesday afternoon for misdemeanor charges of reckless driving and speeding by Athens-Clarke County Police. Rosemy was booked at 4:33 p.m. ET and was released bond totaling $2,000 less than an hour later at 5:28.

Rosemy is the fourth player on Georgia’s 2023 roster to be arrested since the Bulldogs brought home the 2022 national title in January. Others were Rara Thomas, Jamon Dumas-Johnson and most recently De’Nylon Morrissette.

Two players from that national title-winning team that are now in the NFL – Jalen Carter and Stetson Bennett – have also been arrested. Including Carter’s arrest in the count, this is the fourth driving-related arrest of a Bulldog in less than five months.

Rosemy-Jacksaint on the field…

Rosemy, going into his fourth season with the program, has played in 34 career contests. Last season alone Rosemy played in all 15, starting in eight.

A native of Pompano Beach, Fla., Rosemy totaled 29 catches for 337 yards and two touchdowns. Those totals topped his previous ones of the two seasons prior combined.

Rosemy catch multiple passes in 10 of 15 games last season including a stretch of five straight over the course of October and November. Included in that stretch was a three-catch day in a win over No. 1-ranked Tennessee where he hauled in a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone early in the second quarter. Rosemy also added four tackles on special teams over the course of the season.

Rosemy is expected to be a major contributor to Georgia’s passing game this coming fall as well as an excellent blocker on the outside.

Kirby Smart comments on culture concerns…

Georgia’s program culture has been called into question at several times this offseason. The latest arrest certainly won’t quiet any of those questions.

Given the tragic accident that took the lives of members of the football program Chandler LeCroy and Devin Willock, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart was forced to speak on the topic.

“The first thing I’ll address and talk about a little bit is the expectations we have here at Georgia for our student-athletes. Certainly, we haven’t met some of those requirements and we want our student-athletes to meet those. We take those things very seriously,” Smart said on March 14th to open up his spring practice preview press conference.

“The standards have been created here for a long time and that doesn’t change. We want our players to live up to those and mistakes they make, we treat them like we do our kids. We discipline them, we try to prevent them, we try to educate them. We try to do all we can to help our student-athletes in a positive way,” he continued. “It’s been a tough go with the death of Chandler and Devin. As you guys know, it’s a tragic accident and our players have been through a lot when you talk about the health and mental health that some of our guys have needed since the accident. It’s been a really tough go of it for them. I feel like our players are starting to be able to acknowledge and they understand when you make mistakes, decisions that are costly can cost you your life. That’s not to be taken lightly. I think our guys understand that and we continue to educate them and we’ll continue to do all we can as a university to make sure they behave and do that in a proper way.”

Smart added that he and others within the program have made safety on the roads an emphasis in their educational efforts. Last summer, Georgia brought in members of the police department from Athens Clarke Country and surrounding areas to address the issue that they had seen in the community.

“To be honest with you, I’ve never been a part of a program where that was something that you had to repeatedly address,” Smart said. “… We brought in Athens Clarke County police and UGA police to address a lot of these issues with our team in a team meeting setting and played some video of things that were going on in Atlanta drag racing and things. Things that just concern you. We do that with drugs and alcohol, we do that with domestic violence. We try to have education programs.”

“Education is not enough. You have to do a great job of making sure your players understand the risks and dangers that are out there with vehicles, especially nowadays that go really fast. You’ve got to be extremely careful,” he continued. “We try to educate and make sure our players understand those risks, but the ongoing part of that is to continue to educate them and let them know. That’s a programming piece for us we do in the fall and we do in the spring. We spend a lot of time educating our players on the dangers they can get into. We’ll continue to do that and we treat it very seriously.”

Ultimately, Smart said it is his responsibility as the point person in the organization to make sure that he as control of those within his walls. He felt confident at the time that he did but was aware that mistakes will be made by the young student-athletes.

“We’ve got complete control of our program and our kids in our program. Do kids make mistakes? Yes, young student-athletes make mistakes. They do. It happens all across the country and it happens here,” Smart said. “There’s no lack of control in our program. I think our kids across the board will tell you that we have an incredible culture here, we have connective tissue that brings our team together. Our guys do make mistakes. That’s historically probably going to happen when you’re 18 to 22-year-olds. Our job as coaches is to prevent that from happening and that starts with me. You do it by how you educate your players and how you discipline your players and we’ll continue to do that at a high standard.”