Georgia coach Kirby Smart ripped backup safety Jake Pope on Monday after he was seen appearing to celebrate with a group of Ole Miss fans after the Rebels’ 28-10 win this past weekend.
Pope was seen on the field jumping around with fans at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Mississippi on Saturday after the Rebels’ huge upset win over the Bulldogs. While it turned out that Pope was actually celebrating with old friends of his from high school that he hadn’t seen in a while, the optics certainly weren’t great.
“What an idiot. I mean, just stupid,” Smart said on Monday, via ESPN. “I didn’t see it until today, but he’s embarrassed about it. He’s upset about it. That’s obviously a childhood friend of his that he grew up and played with there at Buford and he knows him, hadn’t seen him in forever, but just not real smart.
“To be honest with you, I don’t have time to waste energy on that. My focus is on Tennessee. I’m not worried about that.”
Pope transferred into Georgia this season after spending his first two years at Alabama. He’s appeared in three games for the Bulldogs this season.
Pope apologized in a statement on social media on Monday, too.
“This is not representative of who I am in any way,” Pope said in the statement, in part. “In no way, shape or form would I ever celebrate a loss in this program and anyone who knows me well knows that. My long-time family friends had come up to me unexpectedly after the game as I was trying to get off the field to safety and were extremely excited to see me after the game.
“I was also surprised to see them as well and that’s why you saw the reaction that I gave via the video … I am Georgia through thick and thin and have never loved a group of guys more than the guys I go to battle with day in and day out.”
Georgia, now at 7-2 on the season, fell nine spots in the latest AP poll to No. 11 after its loss to Ole Miss. The Bulldogs will host No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday in a game that could very well keep the loser out of the College Football Playoff this season. The Volunteers will enter that contest with an 8-1 record. Their only loss was at Arkansas in October.
