‘Like a family’: UGA football emphasizes mental health after Georgia Southern death
For a coach who began his career without knowledge of mental health, the passing of Georgia Southern freshman Jordan Wiggins evoked strong emotions from Georgia head coach Kirby Smart.
Smart sees the effects of mental health each day as he instructs and mentors over 100 student-athletes. His awareness of the issue has been a gradual progression over a 19-year coaching career. Upon hearing the news, a thoughtful message made its way from Athens to Statesboro.
Wiggins, an Eagles’ offensive lineman, passed on Oct. 21. His death was eventually reported as suicide by overdose, according to The George-Anne. He was 18.
Georgia Southern head coach Chad Lunsford has received an outpouring of support from fellow in-state football programs. Georgia Tech sent the Eagles a signed poster of Wiggins from head coach Geoff Collins and the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech defensive tackle Brandon Adams passed on March 23.
“It’s a big thing, because we are all like a family,” cornerback Eric Stokes said. “I know inside the lines we might be enemies, but we can be there for each other.”
Georgia’s players wrestle with mental health, as does every program across the country. For these athletes (Smart adds all college students under the umbrella, too), some of the difficulties can include anxiety, social media, pressure to perform. Smart doesn’t claim to be an expert, but Wiggins’ death served as an opportunity to remind his players about the importance of mental health.
Smart’s brother, Karl Smart, is a family nurse practitioner with the Georgia Behavioral Health Professionals Group in Athens. Within the program, there’s an avenue of help for individuals dealing with life-related issues. Georgia has Lovie Tabron — formerly at Southern University and now a full-time employee after the paralyzing injury to Devon Gales in 2015 — on its staff as a behavioral medicine coordinator.
Mental health is no longer an afterthought, but a priority in sports.
“It’s way more prevalent, and we talk about it in SEC meetings, we talk about it all the time,” Smart said. “... I’m not a professional dealing with that so we have to reach out and get help on how to manage those kinds of situations.”
Players understand the need for mental health to be imperative, too. Georgia players try to make themselves available for teammates, Stokes said, to pass along a pick-me-up and avoid a feeling of loneliness or misplacement.
“It’s difficult because college football can be draining,” linebacker Monty Rice said. “It can be very stressful, so you have to have something you can do or someone to talk to in order to get through it.”
For Rice, it takes a second to discuss mental health. He lost his cousin, Haraesheo Rice, in an officer-involved shooting in 2017, according to AL.com. Haraesheo suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. When hearing of Wiggins’ passing, the Bulldogs’ junior could empathize.
“It sucks. I wish they could’ve found a way to help the guy at Georgia Southern before it happened,” Rice said. “You just have to believe in God, pray and everything is going to be OK.”
Anyone struggling with thoughts of suicide can reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/.
This story was originally published October 30, 2019 at 7:00 AM.