Tomorrow, Tomorrow . . .

by MaconDawg on Aug 3, 2007 8:24 PM EDT in Football

It's only a day away. The Athletic Association website is providing some nuggets before the first real football news of the season hits, as the Dawgs prepare to kick off practice tomorrow afternoon. The news of the day is a mixture of good, bad and indifferent.

Good in that everybody who was expected to report actually did. No George Fosters this year, thankfully.

The bad is the news that sophomore center Ian Smith will be leaving the team for medical reasons. We'll always have Amici, Ian. Thanks for the memories.

The indifferent is the wholly predictable news that Blake Barnes and Tripp Chandler will each serve a one game suspension for the heinous sin of walking down Lumpkin St. with a beer. Darn scofflaws.

The Ian Smith absence is the only item that really constitutes news. Smith was to be suspended for the first five games of the season due to his repeated alcohol arrests last year.

I can't help but note that Ian hasn't had a whole lot of injuries in Athens (heck, he hasn't gotten to play a whole lot of football), so I wonder how much of his leaving was medical and how much was just frustration, dejection and the feeling that he's being left behind as the coaches go on with other players. We'll probably never know. But I would like to wish him all the best as he completes his studies.

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Well put

As Paul Westerdawg has noted, Ian Smith's first arrest (the infamous incident in which the police broke down a locked bathroom door to find him passed out on the commode, then proceeded to arrest him for being drunk in "public") was funny, but his subsequent alcohol-related arrests, far from being humorous, made you wonder whether the young man might have a problem.

I have no way of knowing whether that is the case, of course, but that might explain the use of the euphemism "medical reasons" to describe the departure of a player without any known serious physical conditions in need of treatment.

In any case, all of us in Bulldog Nation wish the young man well and hope that his path in life will take him upward rather than downward.

I am glad to see that Blake Barnes and Tripp Chandler will be serving only one-game suspensions. That is a fit punishment to suit their crimes, which were harmless and technical violations that by no means warranted an arrest.

by T Kyle King on Aug 3, 2007 9:52 PM EDT reply actions

Could it be...

Alcohol rehab a la Lindsey & Brittney? I mean that is a medical reason if you are battling alcoholism.
This is pure speculation and I have no evidence to this guess.

by fotodog on Aug 4, 2007 12:50 PM EDT reply actions

Re: Ian Smith

Coach Richt actually just answered the question during his opening press conference. He cited a combination of concussions, migraine headaches and other stuff. Just generally sounds like Smith was broke down and worn out.

Alcohol problems may play a part, but my guess is that he's more hurt by the fact that he would probably be at least 3rd on the depth chart at center, and won't see significant playing time even after his return from suspension. After all, playing college football is an unbelievable mental grind. Sometimes people just don't have the want to any more. Ultimately, we'll never really know. But I hope things turn out well for him.

by MaconDawg on Aug 4, 2007 3:02 PM EDT reply actions