UGA 5-star LB Ray Drew injured in Sunday scooter accident

Ray Drew poses for his AJC Super 11 photo last summer. (Photo by Jason Getz)

Ray Drew poses for his AJC Super 11 photo last summer. (Photo by Jason Getz)

ATHENS – Another weekend, another scooter crash.

The latest victim is linebacker Ray Drew. The star freshman from Thomasville apparently wiped out on his scooter Sunday coming home from church and suffered a sprained shoulder as a result. UGA announced the accident in a two-sentence news release sent out at 9:01 a.m. Monday morning. The exact extent of Drew’s injuries is unknown but availability for practice is “day-to-day,” according to UGA director of sports medicine Ron Courson.

Drew was a five-star-rated recruiting prospect and high school All-American coming out of Thomas County Central. He’s currently running second-team weakside (or Will) linebacker behind junior Cornelius Washington.

Drew was not available for comment but sent out a tweet on Twitter.com indicating his was going to be OK. “I’m so glad I don’t look like what I’ve been through . . . praise God.”

Defensive end Derrick Lott suffered a gash on his right leg in a scooter accident earlier this summer and was sidelined for a month. Linebacker Chase Vasser had an accident with injuries in the spring of 2010. And, of course, baseball player Chance Veazey was paralyzed after a scooter accident in 2009.

Dozens of football players and other UGA athletes use the small, motorized scooters to zip around campus because they’re easy to park and inexpensive to operate. An area next to the Butts-Mehre football complex is known as “scooter alley” because of the dozens of scooters parked there daily.

328 comments Add your comment

same ole same ole

August 15th, 2011
12:36 pm

If players at UGA are not getting injured on the practice field they seem to do it elsewhere. Let the excuses begin for the injury bug.

schmeckdawg

August 15th, 2011
12:37 pm

Just say NO

August 15th, 2011
11:52 am
The coach should make a rule that nobody rides scooters, period. If these guys can bench-press 800 lbs and run a 4 second 100 yard dash, I don’t think a little walk to class is going to hurt their tender little feet.

———————————————————————————————————————-

Well said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GT4ever

August 15th, 2011
12:38 pm

LMAO can’t heal stupidity/laziness.

'94 UGA Alumni

August 15th, 2011
12:38 pm

Here a look at Practice # 2:

8:00 – 8:30 What to do after the Accident (since it’s a foredrawn conclusion)
8:30 – 9:00 Escaping before the police get there (Run Forest Run!!!)
9:00 – 9:30 Dealing with the media (I swear I didn’t see the semi pull out in front of me)
9:30 – 10:00 Making you court date – Write the date on your forehead (or your scooter if it’s still driveable) so you don’t miss it!

scooters galore

August 15th, 2011
12:40 pm

any stolen riding helmets this year? …….. its not too late and btw keep them lockers secured!

Devil's Advocate

August 15th, 2011
12:40 pm

Forget the indoor practice facility, we need cedar chips on all surfaces used by the football team including existing practice locations, Sanford Stadium playing surface, classrooms, and all pathways and walkways used to transverse these locations. Also, UGA should lobby for the redesign of the modern football field. We must remove sharp edges created by yard lines intersecting at 90 degree angles with boundary lines of the field. I have no idea what the solution should be but we must find an answer before it is too late!

mdr

August 15th, 2011
12:44 pm

SERIOUSLY…..Can we stop with the F-ing scooters now!?!?!?! Ride the friggin bus like everyone else, OR WALK!!!!!

Loser on a scooter!

August 15th, 2011
12:47 pm

He is from south Georgia….he is better suited for a Tractor.

chickenman

August 15th, 2011
12:47 pm

getting kinda ridiclous… walking isnt gonna kill ya… baxter street will though

Contractor

August 15th, 2011
12:49 pm

“Dozens of football players and other UGA athletes use the small, motorized scooters to zip around campus because of they’re easy to park and inexpensive to operate”

Well apparently the medical bills these guys incur aren’t inexpensive, and it would be hard to park a totaled scooter. Get them a tank since they can’t seem to navigate a tiny scooter without getting hurt.

scooters galore

August 15th, 2011
12:49 pm

I bet Drew was head bobbing listening to his ipod for the new hip hop “Go georgia bulldogs ” song.

Joey

August 15th, 2011
12:54 pm

More likely Drew was listening to gospel music on his ipod.

He’s a preacher, Dufus.

Loser on a scooter!

August 15th, 2011
12:55 pm

The scooter was part of his signing bonus! Give the guy a break. Scooters are easier to hide from the NCAA investigators.

schmeckdawg

August 15th, 2011
12:55 pm

mdr

August 15th, 2011
12:44 pm
SERIOUSLY…..Can we stop with the F-ing scooters now!?!?!?! Ride the friggin bus like everyone else, OR WALK!!!!!

————————————————————————————————

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[...] running his scooter into a wall and injuring his right leg.  Now, UGA 5-star linebacker Ray Drew crashed his scooter on Sunday suffering a sprained shoulder sidelining the young super [...]

Loser on a scooter!

August 15th, 2011
12:57 pm

Has anyone else noticed, that since mid July the number of issues that keep coming out of the football team? Everyday another setback or troubling issue, or injury or bad news. And yet we have all these bloggers spinning everything in a positive way. Mark Richt has spun his mastery web over our football family.

Toccoa Dawg

August 15th, 2011
12:58 pm

Because they are so easy to CRASH. enough with the scooters.

WDE

August 15th, 2011
1:09 pm

@GT4ever you can’t heal probation either can you now?

Tech-nically Speaking

August 15th, 2011
1:10 pm

Our athletes ride tricycles so you won’t see this problem at Tech.

Just the muggings and armed robberies, but those aren’t a big deal.

AltamahaDawg

August 15th, 2011
1:11 pm

What list of setbacks, troubling issues, or bad news?

I recall this being a pretty good month so far with most news unusually good, including about some things that we expected the worst. Not freaking out over a few sprains that will be fine in a few days is hardly spinning it.

Even the troll count seems to be up a bit.

you guys act like every player is owned

August 15th, 2011
1:12 pm

just because they are on scholarship doesn’t mean jack. hundreds of other kids are on athletic scholarships and they can do as they darn well please.

kids are kids. these guys are enjoying their college years. 95% of them WILL NOT GO PRO. these guys deserve to be as normal as can be on and around campus, and that means getting rid of much of the special treatment. no dorms, no tutors, no easy credits. do them a service and challenge them and let them learn to live in a society that mimics the real world as much as possible. football is not their eventual vocation

ARdawg

August 15th, 2011
1:13 pm

Scooters are a setback and troubling issues?

Loser, you obviously don’t get out much, do you?

Dawg Days

August 15th, 2011
1:14 pm

Apparenlty there are no scooter safety classes for the atheletes. Get rid of the scooters.

We all should be pretty familiar with how shoulder sprain injuries have limited one former UGA QB in the NFL and ended the college career of another at Oklahoma. These should sprains become chronic. Those guys don’t have to deliver blows. Does anyone know if this is a grade 1,2, or 3 sprain?

Dawghater

August 15th, 2011
1:16 pm

A UGA player that can’t drive. Now that’s a shocker, NOT!

AltamahaDawg

August 15th, 2011
1:16 pm

One thing that being on scholarship means is that you could not have a scholarship.

AltamahaDawg

August 15th, 2011
1:17 pm

….checking my text alert for the grade right now.

Jacket Man

August 15th, 2011
1:18 pm

Ray was injured on his way home from Church, so this leads one to believe that he isn’t some speed demon or some player with a sense of “entitlement,” as some of you have indicated. If any of you had followed Ray’s recruitment, you’d know that he’s a humble, polite, young man, and I can assure you that if he had a choice, he would never be involved in an accident and miss practice and an opportunity to play with his team.

Ray has been driving for several years, so if he felt comfortable driving the scooter, the I suggest everyone give him the benefit of the doubt and just call this an unfortunate accident; wishing him well; hoping for a full recovery and speedy recovery so he can rejoin his team mates. I certainly do.

Rodster

August 15th, 2011
1:19 pm

How painfully ironic for UGA. The kid was on his way home from church!

DawginLex

August 15th, 2011
1:19 pm

loser on a scooter has us confused with other SEC schools

Arkansas-DUI
Tennessee-arrested player
Auburn-4 felonies and 2011 Fulmer Cup champions

We have a kid wreck a scooter and this loser wants to compare us to DUI’s and felonies.

Must have gone to school at Bama

Taco

August 15th, 2011
1:20 pm

Somebody buy a damn car for these homies!@%$#

schmeckdawg

August 15th, 2011
1:20 pm

WDE

August 15th, 2011
1:09 pm
@GT4ever you can’t heal probation either can you now?

—————————————————————————————–

CLASSIC WDE!!!!!!!!!!!

Lowcountry Bulldawg

August 15th, 2011
1:22 pm

If he ell down on th esidewalk while walking and injured his shoulder, would we be saying off with his legs? Just wondering…

Lowcountry Bulldawg

August 15th, 2011
1:22 pm

AltamahaDawg

August 15th, 2011
1:23 pm

here it is: the grade of Baldwin street is about 6.5.

Mr. SEC

August 15th, 2011
1:24 pm

Can scooters be banned from athletes using them at UGA? At least Waswhan was in a car with no license, but he did not wreck! Coach get these guys a ride to church and back or they might have to accept $180,000.00 from somebody to pay a taxi. This is crazy!

AltamahaDawg

August 15th, 2011
1:25 pm

They don’t have amny of those in downtown Thomasville.

ColumbDawg

August 15th, 2011
1:27 pm

Do our players really ride around on scooters? That’s sort of weak imo. We wonder why we cant complete with Bama and Florida, maybe its because our players are a bunch of sissys riding around on scooters. Seriously? This really makes me wonder about the environment that Coach Richt is promoting.

AltamahaDawg

August 15th, 2011
1:28 pm

Russ, the Temporary Mascot

August 15th, 2011
1:29 pm

Why does Ray look so grumpy in the picture? I like happy players. Happy players play happy ball. Happy ball is more fun to watch. We have not played happy ball in awhile. I think it is because Coach is unhappy. If he’s unhappy now, just wait. When I was a pup I learned to be happy with what you have. I had a brown a$$ and was happy enough until they decided to paint it white in Shreveport before the “big” game. They wanted me to look good on television. I was not the one that needed the help. I am rambling now and that happens to little dogs when they blog.

DawginLex

August 15th, 2011
1:31 pm

Auburn just lost half of its famed “best in the SEC” running backs since Dyer is ineligible

Dawgs1

August 15th, 2011
1:33 pm

Are you kidding me with the scooters? WTH is going on? We get a baseball player paralyzed on a scooter which is horrible; then, all these stupid things like emerging from an alley, wrong way, no scooter license, and now….

WDE

August 15th, 2011
1:34 pm

@DawginLex sorry but you forgot the drunken QB and QB coach at USCe…..as well as what a few dozen pot smoking issues at UF….and well that whole we just won’t listen to the NCAA stunt that Bugville pulled to land on probation…

Russ, the Temporary Mascot

August 15th, 2011
1:35 pm

Being a little dog and being the best speller on the UGA blog should tell us something. I work my a$$ off on game days and what do I get? Still a Temp. They are trying to get another inbred bulldog ready to take my place. Remember Big Bad Bruce? He was a wetter. He would wet the floor and roll around in it. He couldn’t ride a scooter, either.

JimtheDawg

August 15th, 2011
1:35 pm

Check the latest video of downtown Athens. Scooters, Scooters, Everywhere..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIFc6RmKUWU&feature=related

Delbert D.

August 15th, 2011
1:37 pm

Unless the “scooters” are 50cc and under, you have to have a motorcycle license (class M) in Georgia. Little scooters and big people don’t make a good combination. My 250cc Honda scooter has a total load carrying capability of 350 pounds (the vehicle itself weighs 370 pounds).

schmeckdawg

August 15th, 2011
1:40 pm

Mr. SEC

August 15th, 2011
1:24 pm
Can scooters be banned from athletes using them at UGA? At least Waswhan was in a car with no license, but he did not wreck! Coach get these guys a ride to church and back or they might have to accept $180,000.00 from somebody to pay a taxi. This is crazy!

————————————————————————————————————————–

Don’t mean to be picky; however, Washout did wreck. Remember he got popped for a hit and run in an on campus parking garage.

UGAY " Nuff Said"

August 15th, 2011
1:40 pm

So the mutts are so dumb that they cannot properly handle a scooter either? Wow… Looks like another worthless course ‘Scooter 101″ will be in the criteria shortly… Stay tune

DawginLex

August 15th, 2011
1:41 pm

Apparently the whole Michael Dyer is ineligible thing was cooked up by some bammers on 24/7 sports.

My bet is it is a lie

S.W. Ga. Dawg

August 15th, 2011
1:42 pm

What about scooter training for these non-riders ?

DC

August 15th, 2011
1:45 pm

it is a lie dawgin…those bammers are always in need of attention…

Dyer did miss practice due to injury this past friday..but he will be ok..