Georgia Suspends Washaun Ealey Indefinitely

by Year2 on Feb 9, 2011 9:56 AM EST in SEC Football

Washaun Ealey seemed at first to be the proper heir to Knowshon Moreno. He wore the same number. He had an effective freshman season. As an added bonus, Mark Richt didn't redshirt him as he did Moreno, meaning the Bulldogs would get at least three seasons out of him.

As it turns out, first impressions can be deceiving. Ealey has spent much of the last year or so on Richt's bad side, and yesterday the coach announced that he'd suspended the running back indefinitely from all team activities. One of ESPN's sources fingered the cause as Ealey missing a "punishment run" at some point last week. It's left to our imagination what that run was punishment for.

The timing of the announcement also leads the mind to wander. Richt said last week that highly touted running back signee Isaiah Crowell would have a chance to win the starting running back job for next year's opener against Boise State. I, like I think most people, assumed it was just a reference to the running back carousel Georgia had last year when neither Ealey nor Caleb King could win the job for good.

Now, it appears Richt might have had this in mind when he made that announcement. At the very least Ealey was expected to show up for this punishment run at that time, and he might have already missed it for all we know. Georgia's rushing attack is not schematically complex, so it stands to reason that if Crowell is as good as advertised, he could get that first carry from the tailback spot next season.

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I think

everybody is making way too much out of this. He’s suspended from team activities for missing a “punishment run”. Richt has already said he can get back on the team. I think this is just trying to send him a message and he’ll spend a few spring practices suspended. Out of all of UGA’s overblown driving arrests, this isn’t even on that level. God only knows what kind of a scandal Clay Travis will make out of it.

by Mark Mandingo on Feb 9, 2011 11:12 AM EST reply actions

Speaking of driving arrests, Ealey is the one who got arrested for driving with a suspended license last summer after specifically promising a coach and UGA staff member that he wouldn’t drive. That got him suspended from last year’s opener.

In a vacuum, yes, it probably doesn’t mean a whole lot. However Ealey has a history, and he must have got himself in some kind of trouble recently to earn that punishment run. It sounds like he’s skating on some pretty thin ice with this one.

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by Year2 on Feb 9, 2011 11:39 AM EST up reply actions

by thin ice

if you mean if he doesn’t do whatever his punishment is this time he will be off the team, then yes, thin ice. But I think that if any player doesn’t show up for punishment, he’s on thin ice. It’s already been stated by Richt that he can come back. He just has to own up to whatever ticky tac thing he did to get punished in the first place. It’s probably not an arrest because that’d be out by now.

I’m just saying don’t make a thing out of it. Specifically a “Richt might have had this in mind when he made that announcement” thing. That’s a reach. All coaches always say players will have a chance to compete, whether it’s true or not. Getting Crowell may be fortuitous given the circumstances. But don’t read too much into it.

by Mark Mandingo on Feb 9, 2011 3:25 PM EST up reply actions