Felony Football: Issues in Pro and College Football.

(CONTENT WARNING: SA/SUICIDE)

Isiah Bond during the 2024 season. (image acquired via. “NFL Draft Prospect Isaiah Bond Files Federal Complaint against Accuser.” The New York Times, 16 Apr. 2025)

There are many known instances where professional or college football players have had run-ins with the law that lead to the end of their career. For one instance, Henry Ruggs III and his DWI crash in late 2021 that killed a woman and her dog and almost Ruggs and his pregnant fiancé. But what about the ones no-one talks about?

 The, formerly, most predominant college football program in the country, the University of Georgia Bulldogs, had over 24 vehicle related incidents involving program players that are on scholarship along with other criminal charges like assault, shoplifting, and assault on a peace officer. Many of these, excluding the two assaults on a peace officer, charges are dropped or a simple slap on the wrist is given for these players along with some punishment from the football program. The most remarkable part is that Georgia corner Daniel Harris was arrested on a reckless driving charge after "police said he was driving 106 mph which was over 41 miles per hour above the 65 speed limit," ("Another player from top-ranked Georgia arrested for reckless driving", September 13, 2024. AP) which is absurd but they also allowed him to play in the game the following evening. Head coach Kirby Smart stated during a press conference that, "there is only so much you can do; the kids set the standard for themselves and the team and should hold each other accountable."

Along with many coaches running into issues with players not acting up to program standards; there is another issue, the transfer portal. With the transfer portal being a thing players can get into trouble and then threaten coaches with transferring for a lesser or no punishment at all in some programs; because they cannot afford to lose that player(s). Georgia football head coach Kirby Smart stated to Sports Illustrated that "the climate of college football is worrying, if a kid gets in trouble he can just transfer and not face any punishment.(Geitheim, Eva. “Georgia’s Kirby Smart Gets Brutally Honest on Current State of College Football.” SI, Sports Illustrated, 3 Apr. 2025)."

The issues with college football have become increasingly more noticeable with the case of Kyren Lacy and Isiah Bond. Kyren unfortunately passed after ending his own life on April 12, 2025. following multiple court cases, including hitting and killing an elderly man and assaulting his fiancé. Lacy was being pursued by Houston police who later found him in his car, diseased. Another unfortunate case is Isiah bond who turned himself into the police after a sexual assault warrant was issued following an allegation of him forcing himself onto a woman. Although his name was cleared he is suing the woman because of the damage done to his reputation; he was expected to be a 1st round pick for the draft but has now fallen to an undrafted free agent.

There has also been lots of other issues with the transfer portal as mentioned earlier, Nico Iamaleava, former Tennessee quarterback and now UCLA's starting quarterback, ditched practice before demanding 4 million dollars of NIL money from the University of Tennessee which was double their agreement in a contract which was signed by both parties. He has now transferred to UCLA and is being paid an unspecified amount of money by the university and they have also declined to share it publicly. Iamaleava was expected to be an all American quarterback following the 25' football season but now is expected to have a fall from grace. This issue has been massive and is part of the reason why legendary coach Nick Saban stated it was part of the reason he retired from coaching. The NIL system has allowed players to either set a price tag on how much they get paid to play or gives them an extra incentive to play well.

Overall there has supposedly been a general consensus around college football that the NCAA needs to step in to help with the issues but they have also made it clear that they see it as a business and less of a sport. The NCAA makes money from fining schools and players for violations of the rules, although they do nothing to help schools with fixing violations. Every few months there's a new issue with college football which is so sad. There have been many great careers ruined because of ongoing issues with college football and the NFL but unless teams and players come together to fix it they will continue to grow.