ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia operating again Trevor Etienne faces disciplinary motion from each the college and athletic division following his DUI arrest over the weekend, coach Kirby Sensible mentioned Tuesday.
Below athletic division coverage, Etienne will miss 10% of Georgia’s season — which equates to no less than one sport below the Bulldogs’ 12-game schedule — if discovered responsible of DUI. The Bulldogs open the 2024 season Aug. 31 in Atlanta in opposition to Clemson.
Etienne was touring 80 to 90 mph in a 50-mph zone at roughly 1:50 a.m. Sunday and twice crossed over a double yellow line to move autos, in response to an Athens-Clarke County Police Division report. Etienne, a switch from Florida, advised police he was making an attempt to get house and admitted to consuming three beers “manner earlier.”
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Etienne, the youthful brother of Jacksonville Jaguars operating again Travis Etienne, was driving a 2024 Audi RS7 and declined to consent to a subject sobriety check. Police mentioned he had slurred speech, shiny eyes and was swaying forwards and backwards whereas standing on flat floor. When the arresting officer requested Etienne for an ID, he gave him his automotive key.
Along with DUI, Etienne was additionally charged with reckless driving, failure to keep up lane/improper driving on the street and affixing supplies that cut back visibility of home windows/windshield. The DUI cost is classed as “much less protected,” which in Georgia means he may be convicted even when his blood alcohol degree is lower than .08.
Sensible mentioned a part of the method in figuring out Etienne’s self-discipline is permitting the authorized course of to run its course.
The coach opened his weekly information convention Tuesday by praising Etienne as a “nice child, nice particular person” and noting how a lot he loved being coached and beloved the competitors.
“As we additionally know, children generally do not make the perfect selections,” Sensible mentioned. “The older you get, generally the harder the results are to your errors. So, he is not going to let this error outline him. He is embarrassed. He is upset. He is aware of he made a mistake. It is a instructing second, and we hope he will get higher from it.”
Etienne, 19, rushed for 1,472 yards and scored 15 touchdowns in two seasons with the Gators. He was being counted on to be a serious cog within the Bulldogs’ operating sport this season.
Georgia soccer gamers had been arrested or cited for dashing or reckless driving no less than 14 occasions final 12 months after the Jan. 15, 2023 crash that killed offensive lineman Devin Willock and recruiting staffer Chandler LeCroy. Dashing and alcohol performed a job in that crash, police mentioned.
Sensible advised ESPN that his gamers are regularly recommended on the risks of driving recklessly and/or impaired. Visitor audio system are usually introduced in to speak to the crew, and one who spoke to the Bulldogs previous to the beginning of final season was former NFL receiver Donte Stallworth, who killed a pedestrian in Florida in 2009 whereas driving drunk.
“It wasn’t simply due to a few of the points we have had, however we bought [Stallworth] in right here as a result of over and above getting a DUI and all that entails, you possibly can kill any person,” Sensible mentioned. “I needed our youngsters to listen to it from any person who had gone by way of one thing that horrible.”
Sophomore offensive sort out Earnest Greene III mentioned gamers have had classes with law enforcement officials, athletic director Josh Brooks and Sensible about not placing themselves ready to drive drunk. Sensible has additionally careworn the significance of gamers searching for one another and policing one another.
“It is on us,” Greene mentioned.
