Kirby Smart responds to viral video of Jake Pope postgame at Ole Miss: "Just stupid"
ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia defensive back Jake Pope was seen celebrating on the field after Saturday’s loss at the hands of Ole Miss. Fans stormed the field, and Pope was spotted with a few wearing Reece McIntyre – a fellow graduate of Buford HS – merchandise. While the high school connection provides some sort of explanation, head coach Kirby Smart was asked for his response to the viral video on Monday.
“What an idiot. Just stupid,” Smart said. “I didn’t see it until today. He’s embarrassed about it. He’s upset about it. That’s obviously a childhood friend of his, they grew up and played with at Buford. Hadn’t seen him in forever. Just not real smart. But to be honest, I don’t have time to waste energy on that. You know what I’m saying? My focus is on Tennessee. I’m not real worried on that.”
The Alabama transfer and product of four-star product of Buford has played in three games this season and yet to record a stat. Prior to transferring to Georgia this offseason, Pope spent two seasons in Tuscaloosa, playing in 12 games – primarily on special teams – as a redshirt freshman for a College Football Playoff bound and SEC Championship winning Crimson Tide team.
Pope’s celebration is just another bad look for the Bulldogs after quarterback Carson Beck was spotted on the sidelines smiling in the final few minutes of the 28-10 defeat. Sitting beside backup quarterback Jaden Rashada with the scorebug showing 3:30 left in the fourth quarter and Georgia trailing 22-10, Beck’s emotions sparked criticism from fans.
“I had one of my best friends send me this towards the end of the game yesterday asking me who #10 was because he is an amazing friend and teammate! I watched this video and immediately smiled… I said this is one of Carson’s true besties whom he loves like a brother and in a time when I am sure Carson was feeling this big loss, Jaden could make him smile and laugh,” Carson Beck’s mother, Tracy, shared on social media. “What I don’t like is immediately the media took this as Carson not caring about losing and that he was laughing about the loss! One thing I can promise is Carson cares and he goes back and works harder every day to help his team by figuring out what he can do to improve and what he can do to help his team! Thank you Jaden for being an amazing friend. Being there in these moments for your teammates is what it is all about!”
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“I’m sure there have been countless times Carson has picked up Jaden,” Harlen Rashada, Jaden’s father, added. “This brings joy to my heart to see the bond of two elite competitors holding strong in a moment of defeat. That’s real brotherhood.”
Georgia, ranked outside of the top-10 in the AP Poll for the first time since 2020, takes on Tennessee in a de facto College Football Playoff game on Saturday. The loss to Ole Miss was a second for the Bulldogs this season while the one-loss Volunteers find themselves on top of the SEC standings and fighting for a spot in the conference championship game.
Kickoff time is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC (Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Holly Rowe, Laura Rutledge) with ESPN’s College GameDay and SEC Network’s SEC Nation in town to get the day started at 9:00 a.m. ET.
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