ATHENS, Ga. — Two University of Georgia football players were arrested earlier this week on reckless driving charges.
According to booking records from the Athens-Clarke County Jail, senior linebacker Smael Mondon, Jr. was arrested on July 10, and redshirt freshman offensive lineman Bo Hughley was arrested on July 9.
UGA Insider Radi Nabulsi first reported the arrests Thursday morning.
According to an incident report for Mondon's arrest, the two arrests are believed to be unrelated.
The night Mondon was taken into custody, a police report indicated that an officer saw two vehicles side by side accelerate at a high rate of speed and race each other near West Broad Street near The Plaza. The officer then got behind one of the vehicles, which slowed down while the other vehicle continued to speed.
The report stated that the speed limit was 40 mph, and Mondon's vehicle, a 2022 Dodge Charger, was allegedly going 75 mph. The officer eventually pulled him over, where Mondon denied that he was racing and stated he did not know the driver of the other vehicle, despite the police report saying Mondon leaned over to his teammate and said, "Do not say anything in the group chat."
The driver of the second vehicle, a 2021 Porsche Panamera, then stated that Mondon was his teammate. The report stated both drivers were football players at UGA.
According to the report, the second player was released on a citation for racing since he voluntarily pulled over despite not being the vehicle the officer was trying to pull over. Mondon was then taken into custody for racing and reckless driving. On the way to jail, Mondon continued denying that he did not know the other person involved. 11Alive is not naming the player who was cited for racing, as he was not arrested.
Booking information showed he was later released on cash bond amounts totaling $26 after about an hour and a half.
For Hughley's arrest, a police report stated that he and another football player were involved in a single-vehicle car accident on Carolton Street on July 9.
The report stated when police arrived, they found a crowd of people surrounding a wrecked vehicle. The officer then met with Hughley, the driver of the wrecked car, a 2017 Chrysler 300.
According to the report, Hughley told police that he had issues with his car before and that he was attempting to navigate a curve near a parking lot when he lost control, hit the curb, drove into the grass, hit a speed limit sign and finally stopped back in the roadway. Hughley also told police that he was driving the posted speed limit of 25 mph.
The officer then inspected his vehicle and the accident scene, noticing that the damage was consistent with what Hughley told him. However, the officer suspected that Hughley might have been speeding. The officer then spoke with the other UGA football player, who was in the passenger seat at the time. The other football player told the officer that Hughley lost control of the vehicle and spun off into a dirt road while going the posted speed limit.
Police then obtained camera footage of the area moments before the accident. The footage allegedly showed Hughley accelerating around another car, contradicting both Hughley's and his teammate's statements. After investigating the damage to the scene, the officer said in his report that the impact was strong enough to snap the metal at the bottom of the speed limit sign and drag debris dozens of feet away from the point of impact.
"Those areas are commonly used by pedestrians that could have been seriously injured or even killed by an out-of-control vehicle," the officer stated in his report.
The report added that Hughley was possibly going a speed that was considered "high" and possibly over the posted speed limit. In the camera footage, Hughley's car was allegedly going 42 miles per hour while passing the Joe Frank Harris Commons Loading Dock and accelerating into the curve where the accident happened.
Hughley was also arrested for reckless driving and failure to maintain lane/improper driving on the road and also released on bonds totaling $26 after about an hour and a half.
The two football players were arrested by separate agencies -- Mondon by Athens-Clarke County Police, and Hughley by University of Georgia Police.
The two arrests are the latest in a string of driving-related citations and arrests involving the UGA football program.
"I'm disappointed any time we have traffic incidents," Coach Kirby Smart said last year on the issue. "What concerns me most is the safety of our players and when you drive at high speeds, it's unsafe, and we don't want that to happen."
This is a developing story. Refresh for updates.
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