Report: Georgia's NIL collective is fining players over driving infractions

Georgia football’s name, image and likeness collective (The Classic City Collective) has been fining Georgia Bulldog players for their driving violations. The financial penalties have not stopped several Bulldogs from racking up driving infractions this offseason.

“Our Classic City Collective for over a year has been substantially fining guys for those things. That’s not something that’s new,” said Georgia coach Kirby Smart. “That’s something that’s been ongoing outside of my jurisdiction that they decided to implement and have done for a considerable amount.”

Kirby Smart insists that Georgia has been harsher than most other programs on driving-related issues.

“As far as I know there’s not one team in the country that’s ever suspended a player for traffic violations, which that’s what Marcus Rosemy got suspended for (to start last season),” said Smart. Smart has made it clear that he’s not going to announce suspensions of players to the media.

“I don’t necessarily think it’s right to go down to the town square and publicly shame kids when that happens,” said Smart. A pair of potential starters in linebacker Smael Mondon and running back Trevor Etienne are facing suspensions.

“I don’t know if anybody’s ever kicked somebody off the team for that (a traffic violation,” added Smart. “And we have that. And we’re going to continue to be proactive. It’s repeated behaviors that will get you dismissed. Repeated poor behaviors and poor decisions. In some cases, we have repeated behaviors, and in some cases, we have guys that make mistakes, and we’re going to punish them.”

Suspensions are definitely something to watch as we approach Georgia’s season opener against the Clemson Tigers, but we probably won’t know if a Georgia player is out until the last minute.