You can just imagine the dirt showering over Mark Richt’s shoulders right now.

ZACH DILLARD

This time around, it was junior tight end Aron White who decided to pick up the shovel — or a pen — and pull his weight for the program by digging deeper into the hole that Georgia football program already finds itself in.

In a letter written to The Red & Black published Tuesday, White responded to a previous column by claiming Bulldog fans need to put the incidents of arrested football players “into perspective.” He also said fans need to understand that if “any other student organizations were watched as closely as our student-athletes are then perhaps they would have more arrests and incidents too.”

Come on, No. 81, are you really going to play that card?

While Georgia fans should be proud to have such players as yourself who are making the most out of their college experience, other students are not going to feel sorry for a program who can not stay out of trouble — regardless of whether players are in a highly-scrutinized situation or not.

See, Aron, you are missing the point.

This was the part of an argument with your parents where it is better to just stay silent and accept the reprimands for previous actions. You know, the same part where the police explain that anything you say can and will be used against you — surely your ex-teammates can explain that drill.

Instead, excuses were inconceivably made, warranting yet another response coming down on a team that has been an embarrassment to the University of Georgia and, surely, its head football coach.

Whether the reasoning is fair or not, being part of a team means that well-behaved athletes such as yourself are going to receive portions of blame when multiple teammates fall from grace. Outside opinions will undoubtedly perceive the lawless actions of a few as a reflection of the entire program.

This is why the voices of leaders, such as yourself, are so vital in a world of college athletics where there are so many potential pitfalls. So try voicing that strong opinion toward a troubled locker room — not to the media and fans.

And yes, Zach Mettenberger is just a (redshirt) freshman, so perhaps he does deserve a pass for the one mistake he made in his Bulldog career.

But Josh Parrish was just a redshirt freshman when he was arrested on April 11.

Montez Robinson was just a rising sophomore during all three of his run-ins with the Athens-Clarke County Police.

Trent Dittmer is just a senior.

Two is company, three’s a crowd — and four warrants a few degrading columns from the media about the Georgia football program, one that seems to receive more ink in the Crime Notebook than in the Sports pages.

The fact of the matter is that upon signing their letters of intent to Georgia, football players have bound themselves to different standards. As far as media attention and legal issues are concerned, these standards are higher.

In other instances, though, far less is requested of student-athletes than their collegiate peers.

Feel free to keep petitioning on how the football program should be looked upon no differently than “any other student organization” — then try to explain why football players’ average SAT scores were allowed to be 334 points lower than the average male student when your class was admitted back in 2007.

So by all means, Mr. White, keep making insubstantial excuses as to why four Georgia players have been arrested in the past two months, and how the subsequent media attention is unjustified.

Here’s your shovel back.

Keep digging — you are bound to hit rock bottom eventually.

— Zach Dillard is a sportswriter for The Red & Black