Crowell’s story all too familiar for UGA fans (UPDATED)
Isaiah Crowell's time in Athens was troubled from the start. (Associated Press)
Seems like we’ve been here before.
Another Georgia tailback’s career derailed — probably ended — by his own actions. This time it’s Isaiah Crowell, arrested early Friday morning on three weapons charges.
For Crowell, his immediate suspension from the Georgia Bulldogs is the least of his troubles. Two of those charges are felonies.
Update: Crowell has been dismissed from the team according to an announcement Friday afternoon by Bulldogs head coach Mark Richt. “We have a dedicated and committed group of men who are working hard to prepare for the coming season,” Richt said. “Our total focus will be directed toward the team and this effort.” That was the coach’s only comment.
The 19-year-old from Columbus came to Athens as one of the most heralded recruits signed by the Bulldogs since you know who, but almost from the start the vibes were bad.
Word leaked out last summer that Crowell wasn’t in good shape and had skipped some workouts. Members of the team felt the need to pay him a visit and tell him he needed to get it in gear.
Once the season started, we saw that Crowell was every bit as talented as had been billed, but fans couldn’t help but notice that he wasn’t exactly the hardest working kid on the field, frequently taking himself out of the lineup.
He hit his stride midseason, carrying the ball 30 times against Ole Miss for 147 yards, one of four 100-yard rushing games he had for the Bulldogs.
Then Crowell sat out the first quarter of the Vandy game for an unspecified rules violation and was suspended for the entire New Mexico State game along with some other teammates who reportedly failed a drug test.
Struggling with an ankle injury, Crowell was never the same after that, running only 15 times for 31 yards in the Dogs’ last four games, and he wound up being booed by fans at the Georgia Dome when he limped off the field during the SEC championship game.
Still, the 850 yards and five touchdowns he did manage were good enough for him to be named SEC freshman of the year, and the happy talk in the offseason was that he was a rededicated and more mature player He wound up the spring sharing the No. 1 tailback spot with Boo Malcome.
But apparently even the more mature Isaiah Crowell still figured rules didn’t apply to him, and so we get this sorry story of him being arrested for having a 9mm Luger with an altered ID number hidden under the seat of the car he was driving when stopped by a police roadblock in Athens. Sheer stupidity.
So, where does that leave the Dawgs at tailback? Pretty much where they were a year ago, with a relatively unheralded veteran likely to be the starter and a super-talented, highly recruited true freshman — this time Keith Marshall — in the wings.
Actually, Georgia is better off this time around, because Marshall started school early and has already been through spring drills and shown himself to be a hard worker. Plus, there’s another super-talented, highly recruited freshman joining the team in August: Todd Gurley.
Bottom line: Isaiah Crowell had the talent to be one of the best running backs in the nation, but never showed the desire and dedication to make that happen. While fans were hoping that competition from Malcome, Marshall and Gurley would spur him to live up to his potential, chances are the rising sophomore’s obvious strong sense of entitlement would have tripped him up in the end.
The Dawgs likely will be better off without him.
Feel free to share your own views of Georgia’s prospects at tailback, but please keep your comments civil and within the bounds of good taste or they’ll be removed and you’ll be banned from future commenting.
Got something you want to discuss concerning UGA athletics or a question for the Junkyard Blawg? Send it to junkyardblawg@gmail.com.
Find me on Facebook.
Follow me on Twitter.
— Bill King, Junkyard Blawg
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
391 comments Add your comment
Isaiah's Grandmother
June 29th, 2012
12:09 pm
But my little Isaiah is such a good boy…
claytondawg
June 29th, 2012
12:11 pm
@Blake…Great comment. Thanks.
Professor Max Roland Reinhart
June 29th, 2012
12:11 pm
CMR let this guy back on the team. Stood up for him, stated that he had “learned his lesson”
Now this guy gets several incoming freshmen involved in this “incident” and leaves yet another black eye for the state flagship university.
When will Richt will be held accountable? He let this clown back on the team!
Blake
June 29th, 2012
12:12 pm
Richt can’t be blamed for this either. He’s talked the kid, disciplined the kid, suspended the kid, and he still does this. Some people are just bad eggs. You also can’t fault Richt for recruiting him either. He was the #1 rated back in the country and he was from your home state. Everyone on this board would have destroyed Richt for not recruiting him. Did he have some of what seemed to be minor character issues in High School? Yes, but nothing like this. Either it was covered up, or he was never caught in Columbus. If we’re gonna kill Richt for recruiting him, then you also have to kill half the coaches in America, including “the god of all coaches” Nick Saban. The only reason he came here instead of Bama was because he chose Georgia on signing day. If he had ended up at Bama we would’ve never heard of this, nor would he have been suspended at all last season.
SSIgator
June 29th, 2012
12:12 pm
Well, this has all been great speculation up until this point. What we really all should do is hold up on any further comments until AltamahaDawg and his friend Nancy clock in today. They will clear all of this up because they know everything and if you don’t believe them, just ask them.
Cgator
June 29th, 2012
12:17 pm
I’m sure many of you have seen this picture before, but just in case, here it is again. And I agree, dumber than a bag of hammers. And don’t attack me, I wish “Time to Die” was shown the door too.
http://grittree.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/71526_101124429955863_100001749184644_3485_3023451_n.jpg
What a Difference a Year Makes
June 29th, 2012
12:19 pm
Mr. SEC
February 2nd, 2011
10:51 pm
Isaiah,
Welcome to the UGA Nation; now back your credits! Where does the leadership start with the “Dream Team”, who is going to stand up? Start thining! It is only right to give the Dream Team at least 2 years before being highly critized by some. Some of you will be impact players next year; I hope ALL of you have great UGA careers!
Live the Dream, make it happen in due time!
Bhorsoft
June 29th, 2012
12:20 pm
Well on the way to being the 2012 Fulmer Cup winners again. Just sayin’
Holy Guacamole
June 29th, 2012
12:20 pm
Well, if Josh Harvey-Clemons was in the car too, it was just to provide bail money when the inevitable happened.
When can the Buckeyes play in a bowl game again?
June 29th, 2012
12:20 pm
You are an idiot Buckeye! Last time I checked your program was on probation because not only did the athletes break the rules but so did your coach. You def should be on here bashing UGA. Makes a lot of sense you moron. Enjoy bowl season you idiot!
And let me guess……..the buckeyes didnt recruit Crowell. what a joke!
GTBob
June 29th, 2012
12:20 pm
Richt can’t be blamed for this either. He’s talked the kid, disciplined the kid, suspended the kid, and he still does this. Some people are just bad eggs. You also can’t fault Richt for recruiting him either.
This isn’t the first UGA football player to get into trouble. Either Richt is doing a poor job with discipline or he is continually recruiting guys who can’t be disciplined. How you guys can keep saying that it isn’t Richt’s fault at all is incredible. How many other programs have continual problems like this?
Blake
June 29th, 2012
12:25 pm
We’re gonna be better off anyway. If it were last year this would be devistating, but with the talent of Marshall, Gurley, and Malcome, we’re gonna be just fine. Not to mention Samuels and Harton can give us a few quality carries if we need it. I hope the kid finds his way, because the way it looks right now is that he will be in and out of jail and a drain on the economy for the rest of his life. Sorry he didn’t learn his lesson at UGA. Now he’s on his own.
Brewmaster
June 29th, 2012
12:26 pm
Hey GTBob, have you forgotten about Corey Alford, your thug linebacker who resisted arrest in Athens ? Why wasn’t Moobs able to control this situation ?
bucket
June 29th, 2012
12:27 pm
How sad that all the mature adults on this blog are rejoicing in the faults and failures of a 19 year old because you hate UGA. That says alot more about your character than it does Crowell’s.
No news here
June 29th, 2012
12:28 pm
jus another day in dawg land
Joe
June 29th, 2012
12:28 pm
2005 Mercury Marquis….A souped up “gangster” car driving around at 3 AM in the morning? There is an event waiting to happen.
Response to GT Bob
June 29th, 2012
12:29 pm
There are a lot of programs with continual problems like this. Most of them are winning programs. Just because you don’t live in Gainesville, the plains, or for that matter Eugene OR and read about it as much doesn’t mean it is happening. Just ask Buckeye!
Doesn’t make it right and we are all tired of the arrests. But make no mistake the AJC covers UGA like white on rice and you read and hear every day about all things UGA. Name another major market and publication tied more tightly to a University than UGA and the AJC.
Blake
June 29th, 2012
12:30 pm
GTBob,
This happens everywhere, but you don’t hear about it everywhere. Up until last year we all thought that Penn State and Ohio State were two of the most up standing institutions in the nation, but what’s you’re view of them now? Richt is a good guy and most of the time gets it right. I admit we have some knuckleheads on this team, but for the most part, most of these kids keep their names out of the jail report. I don’t blame you though….I would be for getting rid of a coach that is 10-1 against my team too.
Joey
June 29th, 2012
12:34 pm
It is, but you don’t have to pile on, as if UF, or other programs are immune.
DawgInaTruck
June 29th, 2012
12:36 pm
I worry for his future, athletics or not. We do background checks on all job applicants and we do not hire convicted felons. I suspect there are many other companies like mine out there. As a UGA grad and football fan I believe he has to go but he has created a problem for himself that is not going away.
If he has NFL talent, he needs to handle his personal life better from now on, go play college football somewhere else, pray for good health, and sign an NFL contract one of these days. Degree or not, this will come up whenever he applies for a job anywhere. It is sad to make such a mistake at such a young age but I’ve seen it before and it creates long, long range consequences and problems.
Get Over It
June 29th, 2012
12:37 pm
For you UGA fans that have adopted the mentality that UGA and ONLY UGA penalizes any football player for any offense and that no other team in the country does…
Well…UGA should immediatlely drug test Crowell and the other 3 players in the car with him. My bet is that all of them would fail the test. What are the chances it will happen? ZERO
preston thompson
June 29th, 2012
12:37 pm
What a real waste. I won’t say the team will be better off without him, but there will be a lot less headaches for the school. Just look at the teammats he turned his back on. The one that have had faith in him that his act was in order. A real shame. Crowell is not a team player in any sense of the word. He should be a tennis player where it’s just one on one. I hate to say it but the fellow is a loser, of the worst kind. To him nothing matter but himself. If that’s how he was raised it’s such a shame to see it. Maybe when he’s older things may line up for him. But for now, he’s a self centered no rules apply to him punk. What a waste.
By the way, the report was he was in his car at 2:00 in the morning. Damn, what will it take. Prison?
DP
June 29th, 2012
12:39 pm
Blake, you’re nuts. If Crowell had showed up at Alabama out of shape and gone on to dog it and violate team rules like he did at Georgia, he’d have been redshirted, in the doghouse and gone, in that order.
GTBob
June 29th, 2012
12:40 pm
Hey GTBob, have you forgotten about Corey Alford, your thug linebacker who resisted arrest in Athens ?
Nope, didnt forget about him and he should be off the football team at this point. Would you really like to compare the overall arrest record of UGA vs GT in the past few years? Are you really going to pretend like one drunken idiot from GT makes up for the 50 or so arrests at UGA the past few years?
Buckeye
June 29th, 2012
12:41 pm
We’ll be in the new playoffs 2-3 times before WIn WIth sniffs his first playoff game.
GTBob
June 29th, 2012
12:41 pm
I would be for getting rid of a coach that is 10-1 against my team too.
99% of coaches in the country would be 11-0. With Richt around we have a shot. My concern isn’t football at this point though. I am convinced now that if Richt were to get fired then the crime rate in Georgia would go down.
LogicalUS
June 29th, 2012
12:43 pm
“Dawgs likely will be better off without him”
Delusional dribble…UGA running game was on life support even with Crowell returning to the position and now it is back down with UK\Miss level. This is more of the usual beaner spin from the AJC. How long before the usual suspect beaners turn it into the guaranteed reason that UGA should be the preseason MNC again.
Half the defense is ineligible for games, below average running, no WR threats and a QB who lead the SEC in interceptions …everything is fine.
#1Dawg
June 29th, 2012
12:43 pm
Doesn’t anybody belive in taking responsibility for one’s self? This is IC’s fault & only his,leave RICHT alone! That being said IC need’s all the prayers he can get!
SarcasticDawg
June 29th, 2012
12:43 pm
I thought the Right Wing fans would be harping on his right to carry a gun instead of wanting to kick him off the team! You cannot have it both ways…
SSIgator
June 29th, 2012
12:44 pm
The really sad part of this is who will now be the one to step up and take the reins as the stash coordinator for the Doobie Brothers backfield? Isabel did do a fine job of running that string of mules.
#1Dawg
June 29th, 2012
12:46 pm
Oh almost forgot, if you think this is going to help you tech,your’e in for a VERY RUDE AWAKEING!
evillurks
June 29th, 2012
12:47 pm
As always (since this kind of recurring incident happens like clockwork every two or three weeks for THuga), the rallying cry is “we’re better off without him”.
Which is funny…because just last month were the articles / blogs on here with all the mutts yelping about how great IC was going to be (kinda like they were screaming preseason last year) and he was a “totally changed” person…blah blah blah.
Now you don’t need him.
That’s the problem with you THug U fans. No matter how disgraced your program is….it’s all fine. You people live in a perpetual fantasy.
You won’t even make it to the SECC this year with the easiest schedule in SEC history….FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW!!
What underachievers!!!
Bubba Bean
June 29th, 2012
12:51 pm
Isaiah……..practice this phrase: “Would you like fries wit dat?” You’ll need it when you get out of jail.
big don
June 29th, 2012
12:52 pm
Big shocker. Really, never saw this coming. Caught off guard. Folks: I smoked pot for nearly 30 years before I quit several years ago and that included 4 years and graduatin from UGA. Never once did I come close to getting caught in that whole time. Why? I didn’t ride around in a car at ANY TIME smoking weed and expecially not 3:30 am. Good riddance. But seriously, who really GAF. I’m sure he can get a job on the golf course in Columbus.
P.S. After spending those llast 25 years working in and around courthouses and courtrooms let me state that these are very serious charges. He is guily by association. Felonies can and do ruin lots of lives. You can’t vote. You can’t get a job. Yuo’re screwed, blued and tattooed.
St. Bernard
June 29th, 2012
12:53 pm
So do we release him and then watch him play for another SEC school?
mgdawg
June 29th, 2012
12:54 pm
He should be kicked off the team period. You would think a UGA football player wouldn’t need a gun in the car riding around athens, of course this is crowell who can only run two plays in a row then need a breather. Remembering that, maybe he does need a gun, what if a mosquito stings him, he has to have a way to protect himself. One mosquito sting could put him on the sideline for a month.
Hjacket
June 29th, 2012
12:57 pm
Why is this former player front page news in the AJC instead of the positive stories of Resse Hoffa and Bernard James?
Blake
June 29th, 2012
12:57 pm
GTBob,
Just to be clear on this? 99% of coaches in America would be 11-0 against your team? Wow, you really burned me there. Your team really is pathetic.
DP,
Don’t kid yourself, Crowell would’ve been getting plenty of carries behind Richardson. The last team that needs to be talking trash to UGA fans about discipline is a bama fan. How many NCAA sanctions have you guys had again?
mgdawg
June 29th, 2012
12:57 pm
st. bernard, I would love for him to play for another SEC school. Now there’s that word that Crowell doesn’t like, “play.” I would love to play against a team where crowell is a member and might run two plays before getting winded and sitting on the bench. Do you think they would let us pick which team he would be a member of, because whatever team it is the chances of UGA beating them will rise dramatically.
Joey
June 29th, 2012
12:58 pm
“Well…UGA should immediatlely drug test Crowell and the other 3 players in the car with him.”
**********************************************
Way to start a rumor, doofus. Noone has reported that the other guys were football players.
dbc
June 29th, 2012
12:59 pm
Is anyone really surprised? This is a yearly ritual for UGA. The preseason hype machine gets cranked up and then everyone holds their breath from late May until August because you know what’s coming. Happens every year. I know the other players weren’t charged, but what are they doing out with a guy like Crowell at 3:30AM? If I was Richt I would round them all up and pull a Mike Gundy. You want to play football for UGA? Better get your behind in bed by midnight and if I catch you out past that, have fun pumping gas for the rest of your life. Until CMR drops the hammer, this BS will continue year after year, just like it has. “Loving them” ain’t cutting it coach.
St. Bernard
June 29th, 2012
1:00 pm
The sad part about this story is that the kid lost a great chance and now may be going to jail, not that we lost our starting rb.
Nostradamus
June 29th, 2012
1:01 pm
Chuck
February 2nd, 2011
1:27 pm
Kid, with all this hoopla you have built around this announcement, you had better be a stud no matter where you go. Ryan Perrilloux called and said get over yourself already.
Holy Guacamole
June 29th, 2012
1:02 pm
Signs, signs, everywhere are signs. Can’t do this, can’t do that, can’t you read the signs?
GTBob
June 29th, 2012
1:03 pm
Wow, you really burned me there. Your team really is pathetic.
You team has what, about 20 times the talent GT has? With a good coach GT would never get within 2 touchdowns. I agree, its a little pathetic but I usually try to be realistic.
St. Bernard
June 29th, 2012
1:03 pm
MGDawg,
Uh. He was hurt at the end of the year, but there’s no denying the kid has talent. Mett is about to be the starting qb for lsu.
Nostradamus
June 29th, 2012
1:03 pm
War Eagle
February 2nd, 2011
1:40 pm
You can have the kid. What a joke. I think this will be the same type of story line with Mr. King. Not a mature kid and his parents are just stupid to let him act like he did.
GTBob
June 29th, 2012
1:06 pm
Way to start a rumor, doofus. Noone has reported that the other guys were football players.
You should probably read the other blog. The other guys were all football players.
Vance Duly
June 29th, 2012
1:06 pm
Similar to our Spring Practice awards, should we now have a Summer award, entitled the “King-Ealey Award for Wayward Tailbacks”…? Guess who the 2012 winner is?! Also, may I introduce LSU’s next starting tailback, Mr. Crowell….!!?!
Wegl
June 29th, 2012
1:07 pm
When will these kids wake up? This guy has, “had ?”, a great future. Auburn had the same issue w/ Dyer. These people are idiots. Such a waste of talent.